SYN. NO. AGN. NO.
MOTION BY SUPERVISOR MICHAEL D. ANTONOVICH January 12, 1999

The District Attorneys' Bureau of Family Support has several competing objectives and directives which must be streamlined for the County to embark upon an effective, comprehensive plan of action. We, as a Board, must work towards long-term solutions on a very complex, complicated problem that will drown our County or bring it together.

We need teamwork and collaborative problem solving. We need a unified vision to empower constituents to use the court system, not be used by it. We need effective management to see that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely, not wasted. We need to support the District Attorney's plan and complement that plan with our ideas and innovation to maximize our greatest asset --our -- people.

It is time we, as Supervisors, rolled up our sleeves and do the very tough, unglamourous work of immersing ourselves in the minutiae that has brought this system to a grinding halt so we can paint the vision for the future that will create the foundation for our children and families to live in a better Los Angeles County.

- MORE -

I therefore move that the Board of Supervisors:
1. Approve the District Attorney's proposed plan and streamline the other related motions and initiatives to compliment his plan;

2. Direct the Chief Administrative Officer to show how these initiatives and motions can be encompassed under one plan, with one continuous time frame, so the Board can measure and evaluate the success of each motion and initiative;

3. Direct County Counsel and the Chief Administrative Officer to examine the constitutional requirements for adequate service of process, and report back to the Board within thirty (30) days to ensure that the County has a compliance program to meet those requirements;
4. Request the Judicial Procedures Commission to consult with members of the Family Support Advisory Board

within the next thirty (30) days to recommend the most effective method to enforce cut-off dates for continuances to prevent "gamesmanship" with child support and custody matters;

5. Request the Family Law Facilitator and head of the Court's Conciliation and Mediation Services to report to the Board within the next sixty (60) days on how the Board can continue to reform the family court system to encourage collaboration and alternative dispute resolution;

- MORE -

6. Direct the Auditor-Controller to reconcile the accounts referred by DPSS to the District Attorney to ensure that those cases are opened within twenty (20) days of the referral;
7. Direct the Auditor-Controller to verify the DPSS classification system used by the District Attorney to pay child support to former cash-aid recipients;
8. Direct the Chief Administrative Officer to work with the District Attorney to determine how cases put on-line in the ARS system could have met the federal case closing guidelines, when the guidelines had a three year case-closing requirement and there is doubt that the cases closed met those requirements;
9. Create a Family Support Advocacy Committee to participate in the selection of candidates for Chief Operating Officer of the Bureau of Family Support; and,

10. Request the District Attorney to present a revised plan and status report prior to the commencement of the budget hearings to show the status of each recommended action.
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