DCL-03-18, 13th National Child Support Enforcement Training Conference

DCL-03-18

DATE: June 25, 2003

TO: ALL IV-D DIRECTORS

RE: 13th National Child Support Enforcement Training Conference

Dear Colleague:

This year's 13th National Child Support Enforcement (CSE) Training Conference will be held September 8-10, 2003 at the Capital Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC. The theme of the conference is "Partnering for Children."

Child support enforcement involves an amalgam of programs and organizations at the federal, state, and local levels. For the program to be truly effective, we must recognize our connections and hone our ability to work together across the borders of our various offices. The conference's workshops and plenary sessions showcase various methods that enhance collaboration among CSE partners. They offer tools and practices to help eradicate the many barriers to interstate case processing, coordination between the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (Title IV-A) and the CSE program, increased medical support to child support-eligible children, and increased services to children of minority groups and children whose cases are international. There are workshops featuring newer partners in the CSE program, such as faith-based, healthy marriage, and fatherhood organizations, and the many entities serving children through the national Access and Visitation program. There are workshops emphasizing the role of the employer, the courts, and other entities important to the CSE program.

The goals of the conference are to improve the effectiveness of the CSE program and its partnering programs and to encourage professionals in these areas to look beyond what has been done in the past and embrace successful, although perhaps unfamiliar, ideas and practices that work for our children.

Web-Casting Events

This year, in keeping with efforts to use the latest technology, OCSE plans to web-cast several of the plenary sessions and workshops. Web-casting expands our capacity to train more people, both in this country and around the world. We will be providing additional information on these services in the next few months.

Tentative Agenda

The enclosed tentative agenda describes the array of workshops and plenary sessions included in the conference. It recognizes the need to improve partnership among states with its inclusion of many interstate case processing workshops. There are several "research workshops," as research is another area important to the CSE program, particularly as it provides opportunities to highlight new efforts and quantify results. Several workshops deal with complex topics such as "paternity disestablishment" and "arrears management." With over 50 workshops and plenary sessions, the agenda offers many opportunities to improve child support enforcement services across the country.

State Child Access and Visitation Program Coordinators Meeting

OCSE's State Child Access and Visitation Program Coordinators Meeting will be held in conjunction with the conference. On Tuesday, September 9, 2003, the conference will feature three Child Access and Visitation Program workshops. These workshops will be open to all conference participants.

On Wednesday, September 10, 2003, there will be an all day event for Access and Visitation Program Coordinators, OCSE staff, and guests only. It will begin at 8:30 a.m. and conclude at approximately 3:00 p.m. OCSE will send participants separate invitations. Please contact (Information Deleted 10/23/2008 - No Longer Current) for additional information.

Invited participants must fax their registration forms to (Information Deleted 10/23/2008 - No Longer Current).

Urban Academy

OCSE will be hosting its second Urban Academy on Wednesday and Thursday, September 9-10, 2003. It will begin at 8:30 on Wednesday and Thursday and conclude at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Thursday. OCSE will send participants separate invitations. Please contact (Information Deleted 10/23/2008 - No Longer Current) for additional information.

Invited participants must fax their registration forms to (Information Deleted 10/23/2008 - No Longer Current).

Conference Registration

The conference registration fee is $125. This fee is eligible for Federal Financial Participation (FFP) at the regular matching rate. Participants may register for the conference using the enclosed registration form, which should be faxed or mailed to the Graduate School, USDA. To register online, go to the OCSE Web Page at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse/ and click on the "13th National CSE Training Conference" icon. The registration form will appear. The site is secure.

Participants will be sent a confirmation letter and additional information within 4 days after receipt of registration.

Hotel Registration and Information

Information on the Capital Hilton Hotel is enclosed. Additional information regarding the hotel can be found at the web site, http://www.capital.hilton.com. The cutoff date for hotel registration is August 17, 2003.

The lodging rate for a single room is $171.75 (i.e., the hotel rate of $150.00 plus tax at 14.5%) per night. If rooms are still available after August 17, 2003, they could be at a higher rate. We strongly urge you to make your plans to attend the conference, and call the hotel immediately for your reservation. The hotel's telephone number is (Information Deleted 10/23/2008 - No Longer Current). Be sure to mention that you are with the National Child Support Enforcement Training Conference.

Please inform your staff about this opportunity as soon as possible and encourage them to attend. If you have any questions or need additional information regarding registration or hotel information, please contact:

(Information Deleted 10/23/2008 - No Longer Current)

We look forward to your participation at our conference.

Sincerely,

Sherri Z. Heller, Ed.D.
Commissioner
Office of Child Support Enforcement

Enclosures
Conference Agenda (52K MicroSoft Word file
Conference Factsheet
Registration Form

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