OREGON

TRAINING ON NEW CHILD SUPPORT GUIDELINES

Goal: To provide training to staff on the newly amended Oregon Child Support Guidelines.

Description: Oregon made several changes to the Child Support Guidelines referred to as OAR 137-050-0320 through OAR137-050-0490, which became effective May 12, 2003. We developed training modules (in WordPerfect "Corel Presentations") for the intranet to walk users through the guideline changes. Included are the more difficult concepts of the guidelines calculation and several sample child support calculations. At a time when budget constraints limited travel, the computer-based training enabled us to provide consistent training materials for staff throughout the state. We also posted training modules on our website as a resource for attorneys, judges and customers.

Results: Child Support Program (CSP) staff appreciated the easy access to the guidelines training and provided positive feedback regarding the effectiveness of the online training. We anticipate the tutorial will also be a valuable resource for attorneys, judges and customers to familiarize themselves with the newly-amended guidelines.

Location: The detailed guidelines training modules are available to all staff statewide by accessing the Department's intranet. The tutorial for the public is available to any person who has access to the internet. This type of training has been used by the CSP on a limited basis in the past, but is now being utilized statewide due to limited budget and travel restrictions.

Funding: Regular IV-D funding was used.

Replication Advice: The development of web based training was quite simple. This type of training tool has been extremely effective.

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