Central Sierra Child Support Agency

What Central Sierra Child Support Agency does

Central Sierra Child Support Agency (CSCSA) is a regional government child support enforcement agency formed as a Joint Powers Authority between Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, and Tuolumne counties in California. The agency operates under the oversight of the California Department of Child Support Services and serves the families of those four counties through four physical office locations (Jackson, Sonora, San Andreas, and Markleeville) plus online, phone, and mail enrollment channels. CSCSA delivers a full suite of child support services — establishing legal orders, determining parentage, locating absent parents, enforcing payment orders (including license suspension and credit reporting), processing payments through the State Disbursement Unit, modifying orders, and resolving complaints — free of charge to eligible families.

The agency's technology stack is built on standard state and federal case management and enforcement systems rather than proprietary platforms. CSCSA integrates with the California Guideline Child Support Calculator for order-setting, the State Disbursement Unit for payment processing, and the California/Federal Parent Locator Service (CPLS/FPLS) for parent location, supplemented by records access from EDD, IRS/FTB, DMV, and credit reporting agencies.Approximately 65% of all child support payments are made via wage withholding,indicatingincome-withholdingordersaretheprimaryenforcementlever.EmployersintheregionaresecondarycounterpartieswhoreceiveIWOsandcomplianceinformationthroughtheEmployerServicesportal.

CSCSA is governed by a seven-member Board of Directors drawn from the Boards of Supervisors of its four member counties and is led by Executive Director Kim Britt. The agency is funded through California's Department of Child Support Services, employs 34 civil-service staff, and provides CalPERS-tiered benefits. Services are provided free of charge to families, with no pricing structure or revenue generation in the commercial sense.

Name

Central Sierra Child Support Agency

Legal name

Central Sierra Child Support Agency

Website

https://cscsa.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Central Sierra Child Support Agency is a Joint Powers Authority government agency providing free child support establishment, enforcement, locate, and modification services to families across Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, and Tuolumne counties in California, funded by the California Department of Child Support Services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Child Support Services

NAICS

Child and Youth Services (62411), Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support (921)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Family & Child Benefits Administration (Child Allowance, Parental Leave) (BPAIAKAD)

Keywords

• Child support services
• Parentage establishment
• Order enforcement
• Family support
• Payment processing

Headquarters

HQ city

Jackson, California

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Government-funded services: Central Sierra Child Support Agency is a government agency funded through California's Department of Child Support Services. Services are provided at no cost to families. The agency operates under a Joint Powers Authority agreement with four member counties.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Central Sierra Child Support Agency is a government Joint Powers Authority that provides child support establishment, enforcement, parentage, locate, payment processing, and order modification services for families residing in Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, and Tuolumne counties in California. The agency establishes legal child support orders, locates absent parents, enforces payment obligations through wage withholding, license suspensions, and other remedies, and processes payments via the State Disbursement Unit.

Product overview

Central Sierra Child Support Agency operates as a regional child support agency providing governmental services under a Joint Powers Authority for Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, and Tuolumne counties in California. The agency offers a unified portfolio of child support services including: establishing legal orders (Legal Orders Services), determining parentage (Parentage and Paternity Services), locating parents (Parent Locate Services), handling out-of-state cases (Out-of-State Child Support Services), enforcing payment orders (Child Support Enforcement Services), managing license suspensions (License Suspension Services), processing payments via SDU (Payment Processing Services), modifying existing orders (Child Support Order Modification Services), enrolling new cases online (Online Case Enrollment), resolving complaints (Complaint Resolution Services), supporting employers with wage withholding (Employer Services Portal), and providing community resource referrals (Community Programs Directory). The services are delivered through four county office locations and integrate with California State Department of Child Support Services systems.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Legal Orders Services Establishes child support orders based on each parent's income, visitation, and other legal factors, including Income Withholding Order (IWO) setup for paycheck withholding. Available to parents and legal guardians in the four-county service area.
• Parentage and Paternity Services Determines a child's legal parent(s) through court order or the Parentage Opportunity Program (POP), ensuring children born to unmarried parents have the same legal rights as those born to married parents.
• Parent Locate Services Uses federal, state, county, and private resources to identify information about case participants, including accessing databases such as EDD, IRS, DMV, and the California/Federal Parent Locator Service.
• Out-of-State Child Support Services Establishes parentage and collects support when a parent lives outside California, working with other states, territories, and countries through their respective court systems.
• Child Support Enforcement Services Automated and legal enforcement actions for delinquent payments including intercepts, liens, license suspension, credit reporting, financial levies, Seek-Work Orders, and civil contempt actions.
• License Suspension Services Administrative process for suspending driver's licenses and professional licenses (teacher, contractor, medical, lawyer, etc.) for parents delinquent in child support payments.
• Payment Processing Services Processes child support payments through the State Disbursement Unit (SDU), offering direct deposit and Way2Go electronic payment card options. Payments are forwarded to families within two business days.
• Child Support Order Modification Services Reviews and modifies child support orders every three years or upon substantial change in circumstance, using the California Guideline Child Support Calculator.
• Online Case Enrollment Simplified online enrollment form available in English and Spanish for parents and legal guardians to apply for child support services. Also offers in-person, phone, and mail enrollment options.
• Complaint Resolution Services Formal complaint resolution process for actions or inactions regarding child support cases, with a 90-day filing window and 30-day resolution timeline. Includes State Hearing process for dissatisfied complainants.
• Employer Services Portal Resources for employers including new hire reporting, Income Withholding Order processing, National Medical Support Notices, and compliance information for wage withholding.
• Community Programs Directory Comprehensive directory of local community resources including child care, children services, counseling, court/legal services, education, emergency/crisis assistance, employment, family services, financial assistance, food pantries, medical/health, housing/shelters, and special needs/disability services.

Quantifiable outcome

• 65% of all child support payments are made by wage withholding

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and moderate.

• Alpine CountycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMember county of the Joint Powers Authority. Provides one board representative to the CSCSA Board of Directors.
• Amador CountycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMember county of the Joint Powers Authority. Provides multiple board representatives to the CSCSA Board of Directors. Hosts the main business office.
• Calaveras CountycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMember county of the Joint Powers Authority. Provides multiple board representatives to the CSCSA Board of Directors.
• Tuolumne CountycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMember county of the Joint Powers Authority. Provides multiple board representatives to the CSCSA Board of Directors.
• California Department of Human Resources (CalHR)majorTechnology or IntegrationAdministers the recruitment process for CSCSA employees. CSCSA partners with CalHR for all hiring and recruitment activities.
• Employment Development Department (EDD)majorTechnology or IntegrationFederal, state, county, and private resources used to locate parents and obtain employment information for child support cases.
• Internal Revenue Service (IRS) / Franchise Tax Board (FTB)majorTechnology or IntegrationTax authority resources used to locate parents and verify financial information for child support cases.
• Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)majorTechnology or IntegrationState DMV records used to locate parents and verify identity and address information.
• California/Federal Parent Locator Service (CPLS/FPLS)majorTechnology or IntegrationFederal and state parent locator services used to find absent parents for child support cases.
• Credit Reporting AgenciesmoderateTechnology or IntegrationUsed to locate parents and obtain financial information for child support enforcement.
• State Disbursement Unit (SDU)majorTechnology or IntegrationProcesses child support payments and distributes funds to families within two business days.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• California Department of Child Support Services: State-level umbrella agency that oversees all California local child support agencies, including CSCSA. Operates the centralized SDU payment system, statewide enforcement infrastructure, and policy framework that CSCSA executes against; the closest broad incumbent comparable because it sets the rules and provides shared systems.
• U.S. Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE): Federal agency within HHS that funds and oversees state child support programs, including California's. Broad incumbent comparable because OCSE sets federal policy, administers FPLS, and distributes incentive payments that flow through to agencies like CSCSA.
• Texas Office of the Attorney General - Child Support Division: State-level child support program in Texas that performs establishment, enforcement, and payment processing at scale. Broad incumbent comparable because it executes the same federally-mandated child support mission CSCSA does, but as a centralized state-run program rather than a multi-county JPA.

Direct peers

• El Dorado County Department of Child Support Services: Adjacent rural California county child support agency bordering CSCSA's four-county service area. Comparable because it operates the same California DCSS service portfolio at a similar small-county scale and shares the same locate, enforcement, and payment processing infrastructure.
• San Diego County Child Support Services: California county child support agency delivering the full lifecycle of child support services to families in San Diego County. Comparable to CSCSA because it runs an identical service portfolio under California DCSS oversight and shares the same state-integrated technology stack.
• Yolo County Department of Child Support Services: Smaller California county child support agency adjacent to CSCSA's catchment. The most comparable peer by scale because Yolo County has a similarly modest population base and rural-urban mix, and it delivers the same California DCSS-defined service suite.
• Riverside County Department of Child Support Services: California county child support agency providing establishment, enforcement, parentage, and payment services. Direct peer to CSCSA because it executes the same statutory child support mandate under California DCSS authority with comparable service lines.
• Los Angeles County Child Support Services: County-level California child support agency performing the same statutory functions — establishment, enforcement, locate, parentage, payment processing — as CSCSA, but at urban scale. Most relevant direct peer because it executes the same California DCSS service model CSCSA delivers, just under a single-county (non-JPA) governance structure.
• Sacramento County Department of Child Support Services: California county child support agency providing the same menu of establishment, enforcement, locate, and payment services as CSCSA. A strong direct peer because Sacramento County borders the JPA region and uses the same California DCSS systems and service standards that CSCSA operates under.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks1 record

Key highlights1 record

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/central-sierra-child-support-agency

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Central Sierra Child Support Agency