Child Support Guideline Study

Description

The Center for Families, Children & the Courts (CFCC), a unit of the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), is seeking the services of a consultant with expertise in evaluation of child support guidelines to assist in a review of its uniform child support guideline as required by federal law (42 U.S.C. section 667(a)) and state law (Family Code section 4054(a)). This review is due to the California Legislature on or before December 31, 2005.

The consultant will be required to update the results of current research on the economic cost of raising children. The consultant will also be required to conduct an analysis of case file data, sampled and collected by Judicial Council and court staff, on the actual application of the guideline. The following special topics should be included in the analysis:

• The number and percent of cases with a low income adjustment, including how many obligors are qualified for the low income adjustment; and
• The number and percent of cases with child care orders and whether the child care orders are allocated equally between the parents or if the amount of the child care orders made is proportionate to the parents’ respective incomes.

The consultant will be required to compare results of the current guideline review to results from previous California guideline studies and from studies conducted in other states. The consultant will be required to provide results and conclusions useful for development of policy recommendations.

The consultant will be required to conduct two focused discussions involving child support commissioners on the interpretation of the case file review findings.

This Request for Proposals (RFP) is the means for prospective consultants to submit their qualifications, and a research design and work plan to complete the study as required.

The AOC intends to award a one-year contract, commencing January 1, 2005.

Consultants are asked to submit proposals by 1 p.m. on December 30, 2004.

For further information regarding this RFP, please contact Marsha Devine, Project Manager, Administrative Office of the Courts, Center for Families, Children & the Courts, 455 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102. Telephone: 415-263-1472, E-mail: Marsha.Devine@jud.ca.gov.

• Entire RFP in Adobe Acrobat PDF format, (303 KB)
• Questions and Answers in Adobe Acrobat PDF Format, (14 KB)