Or. Admin. Code § 137-055-1140 - Confidentiality of Records in the Oregon Child Support Program
(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 the party's attorney or licensed paralegal, as
provided in ORS 25.010(2).
(2) For purposes of this rule, "case record"
means information contained in 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 billings, payments, distribution, and disbursement of
payments;
(h) The narrative
record;
(i) The contents of any
paper file relating to a child support case; and
(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"
include 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 law;
(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 DOJ
subrecipients. Therefore, Oregon Child Support Program Director's Office and
Constituent Services 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 their
participation 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 development board established for
the service delivery area pursuant to the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity
Act (29 USC 3111 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; however, disclosure of personal
information about another party outside of a legal proceeding is still subject
to the redaction requirements in section (6) of this rule.
(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 Director of the Oregon Child Support
Program 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 federal 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 law, the following personal information about the parties and
child unrelated to a purpose under section (4) of this rule should be redacted
from documents before release. Information about a party does not need to be
redacted when releasing information to that party.
(a) Residence or mailing address;
(b) Social Security number;
(c) Phone number;
(d) Employer's name, address, or phone
number;
(e) Financial institution
account information;
(f) Driver
license number;
(g) Date of
birth;
(h) Child care provider's
name or 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) A party
may obtain case status and payment history through their Oregon Child Support
Program online account.
(9) Where
there is a finding of risk and order for nondisclosure of information pursuant
to OAR 137-055-1160, all non-disclosable information must be redacted before
documents are released.
(10)
Requestors may be required to pay for the actual costs of employee 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 their 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 it is submitted by either the party or the
designated 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, they 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 anyone who is not a party to the case 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 program 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 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 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 DOJ employees, each certificate of completion must be maintained in a
manner accessible by DOJ Human Resources and the employee's
supervisor;
(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.
Notes
Statutory/Other Authority: ORS 25.260 & 180.345
Statutes/Other Implemented: ORS 25.260, 127.005 & 411.320
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