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804 Chapter 4:Working with families • Section 6: Child support programs (07/2026) participant as well as any other crisis intervention or domestic violence counseling services that may be locally available. Good cause for failure to cooperate with child support exists when any of the following are true: • Cooperation is reasonably anticipated to result in emotional or physical harm to child or to the caretaker relative. • One of the following circumstances exists and ODHS believes continuing efforts to obtain support would be detrimental to the child(ren):
The child was conceived due to incest or rape.
Legal proceedings for adoption are under way before a court. If good cause is found, OCSP will take no action to establish paternity or establish a child support order or to enforce child support on a new or ongoing child support case. When OCSP determines a participant is not cooperating and there is an open TANF case, OCSP informs ODHS via OCSP’ Origin system and ODHS’ ONE system interface. Before imposing a penalty for noncooperation, ODHS contacts the participant to explore what is getting in the way of cooperation, determine if ODHS can assist in whatever OCSP is asking the participant to do and determine if the participant had good cause. If good cause is found on an open TANF case (or determined after TANF case closure with current medical eligibility), ODHS will update the good cause field in the ONE system. The request for good cause is reviewed at application and renewal for TANF. When a TANF or Medicaid participant tells OCSP that pursuing paternity or support may cause a safety concern for the participant or the child(ren) , OCSP will inform ODHS of the claim for good cause via the ONE/Origin interface. • ODHS will reach out to the TANF participant to determine whether there is good cause for noncooperation with support, or whether claim of risk may be an option to safely pursue paternity and support. • If ODHS determines the case should have good cause for noncooperation with support, the worker will take appropriate case action. • If ODHS determines the case does not have good cause, the worker will take appropriate case action. • ODHS will add a case note in ONE regarding the good cause determination or the reason there is not good cause. When TANF is closed and there is no existing medical eligibility the former TANF participant must notify OCSP that they would like to request good cause and OCSP determines whether good cause exists. ODHS cannot remove good cause coding on a closed TANF case. When TANF is closed and a parent or caretaker no longer wants good cause, the parent or caretaker must notify OCSP and OCSP removes the good cause coding. Good cause; ODHS responsibilities ODHS informs applicants and participants of their right to claim good cause and asks if they have good cause, both when the participant applies for assistance and at each renewal of eligibility. If the applicant or participant claims good cause due to a domestic violence situation, TA-DVS should be discussed as well as any other crisis intervention or domestic violence counseling services that may be locally available.