Work Group and NCSC Contact Information

The Courts/CSE Work Group worked in tandem with the LegalXML CourtFiling Work Group to assess the applicability of the proposed Electronic Court Filing Standard (ECFS), developed by the CourtFiling group, for the exchange of child support information with courts. The Courts/CSE Work Group was composed of 32 members from 13 states, 20 of whom were from CSE agencies and 6 of whom were from court systems. Other work group members were from the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), and Lockheed Martin Corporation, who maintains the OCSE Network.

The group's work on the project spanned a 6-month period, from August, 2001 to February, 2002. Work group participants were asked to contribute documents, offer information on local practices, discuss data exchange processes, review related standards development efforts and XML applications, and help formulate draft standards for data exchange using XML.

The following outlines the steps in the work group's process:

• Collected and distributed states' documentation;
• Studied and reviewed the proposed ECFS for its utility and applicability to child support requirements;
• Generated and reviewed a draft of additional child support requirements and data elements;
• Reviewed and discussed the draft, agreed on scope and the remaining project schedule, planned for a review by IV-D Directors;
• Reviewed and agreed upon proposed modifications to ECFS requirements and data elements;
• Reviewed and concurred upon a draft child support Document Type Definition (DTD) and specifications;
• Prepared and delivered the final DTD and specifications.

Courts/CSE Work Group Membership

The main contact for NCSC is Dale Kasparek, Project Director, NCSC, 1-888-846-6746, dkasparek@ncsc.dni.us. Helen Smith, Federal Project Officer, is the contact for OCSE, 202-690-6639, helen.smith@acf.hhs.gov.