Current through Register Vol. 63, No. 9, September 1, 2024
(1)
(a) As used in this rule, "employee" means a
person employed by the Oregon Department of Justice (DOJ) or a District
Attorney office that provides Oregon Child Support Program services;
(b) "Party" has the meaning given in OAR
137-055-1020, and includes a party's attorney or licensed paralegal, as
provided in ORS 25.010(2).
(2) For purposes of this rule,
"case record" means all information residing in all Oregon Child Support
Program computer systems, electronic data storage, and paper files, including
but not limited to:
(a) The names of the
obligor, beneficiary, and obligee or other payee;
(b) The addresses of the obligor,
beneficiary, and obligee or other payee;
(c) The contact address and address of
service of the obligee, beneficiary, or obligor;
(d) The name and address of the obligor's or
obligee's employer;
(e) The Social
Security numbers of the obligor, the obligee, and beneficiaries;
(f) The record of all legal and collection
actions taken on the case;
(g) The
record of all accrual and billings, payments, distribution, and disbursement of
payments;
(h) The narrative record;
and
(i) The contents of any paper
file relating to a child support case.
(j) All information extracted from other
agencies' electronic records, as defined in ORS
84.004.
(3) Except as provided in section (5) of this
rule, child support case records are confidential and may not be disclosed or
used except for purposes directly connected to the administration of the
program.
(4) For purposes of this
rule, "purposes directly connected to the administration of the program"
includes the following:
(a) The disclosure of
information necessary to process an Oregon Child Support Program legal
action.
(b) Information shared as
provided in 45 CFR
303.21, ORS
25.260(5), OAR
137-055-1320, and 137-055-1360, or another agency rule;
(c) Information shared as required by state
or federal statute or rule;
(d) The
disclosure of information to elected federal and state legislators, the
Governor, or the county commissioners to address a constituent complaint.
(A) Elected federal and state legislators and
the Governor are considered to be within the chain of oversight of the Oregon
Child Support Program. Information about a child support case may be shared
with these elected officials and their staff in response to issues brought by
constituents who are parties to the case;
(B) County commissioners serve as
representatives for their constituents and are entitled to receive information
necessary to respond to questions or concerns about child support cases
received from their constituents. District Attorneys are Department
subrecipients. Therefore, Oregon Child Support Program Administration may also
respond to constituent issues brought by county commissioners on District
Attorney administered child support cases where the constituent is a
party.
(e) The
disclosure of information to a party's interpreter.
(f) The disclosure of information to the
executor of an estate or personal representative of a deceased party that the
deceased party would have been entitled to receive.
(g) The disclosure of information to a
private industry council as provided in
42 USC
654a(f)(5).
(A) The information released under this
subsection may be provided to a private industry council only for the purpose
of identifying and contacting noncustodial parents regarding participation of
the noncustodial parents in welfare-to-work grants under
42 USC
603(a)(5).
(B) For the purposes of this subsection,
"private industry council" means, with respect to a service delivery area, the
private industry council or local workforce investment board established for
the service delivery area pursuant to Title I of the Workforce Investment Act
(29 USC
2801, et seq.). "Private industry council"
includes workforce centers and one-stop career centers.
(h) The disclosure of information about a
child support case to a party to that case.
(i) The disclosure of payment and other
accounting information to a former child attending school to whom arrears are
owed if relevant to the child.
(j)
The disclosure of information to law enforcement regarding a case in which
alleged criminal activity involving the program is being investigated or
prosecuted.
(k) The disclosure of
information that is determined by the division administrator or designee to be
sufficiently program related.
(5) Upon request, the program may, to the
extent that it does not interfere with meeting its own obligations and subject
to such requirements as the Office of Child Support Services may prescribe,
disclose confidential information to state agencies as necessary to assist them
to carry out their responsibilities under plans and programs funded under
titles IV (including Tribal programs under title IV), XIX, or XXI of the Social
Security Act and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP),
including:
(a) Any investigation, prosecution,
or criminal or civil proceeding conducted in connection with the administration
of any such plan or program; and
(b) Information on known or suspected
instances of physical or mental injury, sexual abuse or exploitation, or
negligent treatment or maltreatment of a child under circumstances which
indicate that the child's health or welfare is threatened.
(6) Except as specifically required or
authorized by statute or rule, the following personal information about the
parties and child unrelated to a purpose under section (4) should be redacted
from documents before release. Information about a party need not be redacted
when releasing information to that party.
(a)
Residence or mailing address;
(b)
Social Security number;
(c)
Telephone number;
(d) Employer's
name, address, and telephone number;
(e) Financial institution account
information;
(f) Driver license
number;
(g) Date of
birth;
(h) Day care provider's name
and address; and
(i) Any other
information which may identify the location of the minor child or
party.
(7) All but the
last four digits must be redacted from information described in subsections
(6)(b), (6)(e), or (6)(f) of this rule whenever the information is released
unless the full number is specifically required or authorized by law or is
otherwise necessary.
(8) Case
status and payment history may be provided to a party via the Oregon Child
Support Program web page if appropriate personal identifiers, such as Social
Security number, case number, or date of birth are provided in order to access
such information.
(9) Where there
is a finding of risk and order for nondisclosure of information pursuant to OAR
137-055-1160, all nondisclosable information must be redacted before documents
are released.
(10) Requestors may
be required to pay for the actual costs of staff time and materials to produce
copies of case records before documents are released.
(11) Information that would normally be
disclosed to a party to a child support case can be disclosed to a third party
if:
(a) The party has granted written consent
to release the information to the third party and the third party provides the
party's Social Security number, child support case number, or other identifying
information sufficient to verify the speaker's identity as the authorized third
party;
(b) The party has granted
verbal consent to release the information to the third party, applicable for
the single phone call or conversation during which the party provided consent;
or
(c) The person has power of
attorney for the party, the duration and scope of which authorizes release of
the requested information from a case record at the time that the person
requests such information. The power of attorney remains in effect until a
written request to withdraw the power of attorney is submitted by the party or
by the person, unless otherwise noted on the power of attorney. Each time the
person designated by the power of attorney contacts the program on behalf of
the party, the person must provide the party's Social Security number, child
support case number, or other identifying information sufficient to verify the
person's identity.
(12)
A child support case account balance is derived from the child support
judgment, which is public information, and from the record of payments, which
is not. Therefore, the case balance is not public information, is confidential,
and may not be released to persons not a party except as otherwise provided in
this rule.
(13) Information
obtained from the Internal Revenue Service or the Oregon Department of Revenue
is subject to confidentiality rules imposed by those agencies even if those
rules are more restrictive than the standards set in this rule, and may not be
released for purposes other than those specified by those agencies.
(14) Criminal record information obtained
from the Law Enforcement Data System or any other law enforcement source may be
used for child support purposes only and may not be disclosed to parties or any
other person or agency outside of the program. Information about the
prosecution of child support related crimes initiated by the administrator may
be released to parties in the child support case.
(15) Employees with access to computer
records or records of any other nature available to them as employees may not
access such records that pertain to their own child support case or the child
support case of any relative or other person with whom the employee has a
personal friendship or business association. No employee may perform casework
on their own child support case or the case of any relative or other person
with whom the employee has a personal friendship or business
association.
(16)
(a) When an employee has reasonable cause to
believe that a child has suffered abuse as defined in ORS
419B.005(1)(a)
the employee may make a report to the Oregon Department of Human Services and
must make a report if abuse is witnessed while providing program services. The
report may include otherwise confidential information except information from
the Internal Revenue Service or a financial institution data match, unless
independently verified.
(b) If the
child's safety is at immediate risk, a report may be made to law enforcement
pursuant to section (21) of this rule.
(17) Employees who are subject to the Oregon
Rules of Professional Conduct must comply with those rules regarding mandatory
reporting of child abuse.
(18) If
an employee discloses or uses the contents of any child support records, files,
papers, or communications in violation of this rule, the employee is subject to
progressive discipline, up to and including dismissal from
employment.
(19) To ensure
knowledge of the requirements of this rule, employees with access to computer
records, or records of any other nature available to them as employees, are
required annually to:
(a) Review this rule and
the program's automated tutorial on confidentiality;
(b) Complete with 100 percent success the
program's automated examination on confidentiality; and
(c) Complete the certificate acknowledging
confidentiality requirements. The certificate of completion must be in the form
prescribed by the program.
(20)
(a)
For Department employees, each certificate of completion must be forwarded to,
or be accessible electronically by, the Department's Human Resources office,
with a copy kept in the employee's local office drop file or saved in an
electronic format;
(b) For District
Attorney employees, each certificate of completion must be kept in accordance
with county personnel practices.
(21) Notwithstanding any other provision of
this rule, an employee may provide child support confidential information to a
local law enforcement agency when the employee reasonably believes or a local
law enforcement agency asserts that it is necessary to prevent death or
physical harm to any person.
Statutory/Other Authority: ORS
25.260 & 180.345
Statutes/Other Implemented: ORS
25.260,
127.005 &
411.320
