DCL-06-23, OCSE 16th National Child Support Enforcement Training Conference

DEAR COLLEAGUE LETTER

DCL-06-23

DATE: July 18, 2006

TO: STATE AND TRIBAL IV-D DIRECTORS

RE: OCSE 16th National Child Support Enforcement Training Conference

Dear Colleagues:

I would like to invite all of you to the Office of Child Support Enforcement’s (OCSE) 16th National Child Support Enforcement Training Conference, September 11-13, 2006, to be held at the Marriott Crystal Gateway Hotel in Arlington, VA.

The theme for this year’s conference, Opening Doors for Children, reflects our joint commitment to improving the lives of America’s children. We want to open the doors that lead to more regular child support and better medical support; doors that lead to new opportunities to live in a strong and healthy family unit; and doors leading to better relationships with our many program partners.

Tentative Agenda

This conference is designed for all state, local, tribal, and federal child support professionals. As the attached tentative agenda indicates, the conference will offer a wide variety of workshops on many subjects important to the child support enforcement community. Dress is business casual throughout the conference.

State Child Access and Visitation Program Coordinators Meeting

OCSE’s State Child Access and Visitation (AV) Program Coordinators Meeting will be held in conjunction with the CSE conference. The Coordinators Meeting will offer a full agenda focusing on their particular needs and their activities within the AV community.

The State AV Coordinators Meeting will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Monday afternoon, September 11, and conclude at noon on Wednesday, September 13. Attendance at the AV meeting is by invitation only. OCSE will send State AV Coordinators separate invitations. For more information, contact Debra Pontisso at 202- 401-4548 or dpontisso@acf.hhs.gov.

Conference Registration

The conference registration fee is $225. For state, local, and tribal IV-D program participants, this fee is eligible for Federal Financial Participation (FFP) reimbursement. Participants may register for the conference electronically (preferred method) or by using the enclosed registration form, which should be faxed (301-495-7174) or mailed to Westover Consultants, Inc. at the address below. Participants registering through fax or mail will receive a written confirmation within four business days of receipt.

To register on our secure web site, go the OCSE homepage at: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse and click on the “16th National CSE Training Conference” icon. Registration information and instructions will appear. Participants registering online will receive a confirmation electronically.

Hotel Registration and Confirmation

Information about the Marriott Crystal Gateway Hotel is contained in the enclosed “Fact Sheet.” Additional information regarding the hotel can be found at the hotel’s web site, http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/WASGW. The cut-off date for the hotel conference room rate is August 21, 2006, after which we cannot guarantee that you can get a room in the hotel. We encourage you to register early. The lodging conference rate for a single room is $181 (plus 10.25% tax) per night. The hotel telephone number is 703- 920-3230. Be sure to mention that you are with the National Child Support Enforcement Training Conference.

We would appreciate your informing your staff about this event. If you have any questions or need additional registration or hotel information, please contact:

Wanda Camper
Westover Consultants, Inc.
4340 East-West Highway
Suite 900
Bethesda, Maryland 20814

301- 657-5808 - office
301- 652-5935 - fax
wcamper@westover.com

or

Warren Johnson
HHS/ACF/OCSE
202- 690-6509 - office
202-205-4342 - fax
wajohnson@acf.hhs.gov

Please join us in our commitment to open doors to improve the lives of America’s children and families. I am looking forward to seeing you at the conference.

Sincerely,

Margot Bean
Commissioner
Office of Child Support Enforcement

Enclosures: Registration Form, Tentative Agenda, and Hotel Fact Sheet

cc: ACF Regional Administrators
ACF Program Managers
ACF Regional Training Liaisons
CSE State Training Liaisons
National CSE Training Work Group
International Work Group