Updated Nevada child support system leaves some parents waiting for payments

RENO, Nev. (KOLO) - A single mother of three in Washoe County is working hard each day to support her children. But she also depends on child support payments to make it happen. When she didn’t receive any state garnished checks in August, she started to panic.

The mother asked to remain anonymous for this story.

“I ended up burning through all of my savings and you know just really at that poin,t it was to the point of pinching pennies,” she said.

After a few weeks, she reached out to her case worker and learned a new child support system was in place. The state had not entered her ex-husband’s new employer into the system.

But when she asked about a timeline for entering the information, she was met with more questions than answers.

“There was no ETA, there was no timeline, there was no sort of information as to where they were at or when they thought it might be resolved,” she explained.

The Division of Welfare and Supportive Services implemented this new system, called NVKids, in Washoe County back in April.

“We had been using some antiquated technology,” said Julie Knight, Public Information Officer for the DWSS.

The old system, NOMADS, was created in the 1980′s and Knight says it was due for an upgrade. She also said with big changes like this, it’s possible some cases are missed. The state hopes this system will be fully implemented by October.

“We are really trying to keep this minimal impact to folks but there’s never a guarantee we won’t find a few that do fall through the cracks and we want to hear from them,” Knight said.

So for weeks, this mom of three waited. She continued to contact her case worker, hoping the money would come in.

“Totaling up the paychecks I think he’s had at this point, I think we’re somewhere in the 3,500 dollar range,” she said.

KOLO 8 News Now reached out to DWSS and soon after, the mother received a call saying the problem was resolved.

“I still haven’t received a totally updated timeline but hopefully progress has been made and things will work out from there,” she said.

She says getting that call was a moment of relief.

“[We] have holidays and all of that so it’s going to be a big stress relief knowing those things are taken care of.”

If you are not receiving payments, the first step is to reach out to your case worker. You can also send a detailed message about your issue to cse@dwss.nv.gov.

Copyright 2022 KOLO. All rights reserved.