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Opening a Case

Frequently Asked Questions

You have several options for opening a child support case. You may submit your request to open a case online. This process is easy, secure, and of no cost to you. You may also request a hardcopy enrollment package by telephone by contacting our Customer Service Center at (866) 901-3212 or by visiting our office. Our office is located at 3701 Power Inn Road, Sacramento, CA 95826.

You can return the completed forms in person or mail them to our office. Our hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.. Our mailing address is Sacramento County DCSS, P.O. Box 269112, Sacramento, CA 95826.

Please note: Once your enrollment forms are submitted and received by the child support office, they may provide additional forms and information that are needed to move forward in processing your request for child support services.​

If you are receiving CalWORKS benefits, a case will be opened by referral from the Department of Human Assistance and this packet will automatically be mailed to you at that time.

​You have several options for opening a child support case. You may submit your request to open a case online. This process is easy, secure, and of no cost to you. You may also request a hardcopy enrollment package by telephone by contacting our Customer Service Center at (866) 901-3212 or by visiting our office. Our office is located at 3701 Power Inn Road, Sacramento, CA 95826.

You can return the completed forms in person or mail them to our office. Our hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.. Our mailing address is Sacramento County DCSS, P.O. Box 269112, Sacramento, CA 95826. 

Our services are free.

The most important piece of information is the non-custodial parent's Social Security number; it is key to accessing locate sources. 

Also important is information regarding the non-custodial parent's employment, home and work addresses, date of birth, any prior court order information and, if you're not receiving CalWORKs, a copy of your pay stub. The more information you supply in your application, the quicker we will be able to help.

Within twenty days of receipt of a completed application or welfare referral we will open a case, we will start verifying information received, such as addresses and employment information, and mail a case opening letter to the custodial and non-custodial parent.

If you are receiving CalWORKs benefits, State and Federal law require recipients to participate in the child support program. The Department of Human Assistance must send the Department of Child Support Services a referral to open a case to establish paternity and child support for the child (ren) receiving the benefits. 

When you are approved for these benefits, your rights to child support are assigned to the county for the time period you are on aid. The Department of Child Support Services is required to establish paternity, child support, and medical insurance court orders and obtain payments for these orders. 

Child support collected for the periods you are receiving aid will be forwarded to the Department of Human Assistance.

This office must legally establish paternity and a court order for child support in a court order for children receiving CalWORKS​ or MediCal benefits. 

An agreement, even a notarized agreement, is not an enforceable court order, which is what we are required to obtain.

We will continue to collect child support on your behalf unless you request in writing that we close the non-welfare portion of your case. 

Even if we do close your non-welfare portion of the case, we will continue to pursue for the child support owed for the time period you were receiving CalWORKs benefits.

It varies from case to case depending on the information provided and the cooperation from the non-custodial parent.

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