OAR 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 bankruptcy trustee for the administration of a debtor's bankruptcy case. (h) 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. (i) 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. (j) The disclosure of payment and other accounting information to a former child attending school to whom arrears are owed, if relevant to the child. (k) The disclosure of information to law enforcement regarding a case in which alleged criminal activity involving the program is being investigated or prosecuted. (l) 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 Enforcement 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, only records related to the program's administration of a case will be released, and 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 or individual tax identification 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), (e), or (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.