Page 805

805 Chapter 4:Working with families • Section 6: Child support programs (07/2026) When a person applies for TANF and one or both parents of any child in the benefit group are absent from the benefit group, ODHS will do the following: • Explain to the applicant that, unless they have good cause for not cooperating or are eligible for TANF as a two-parent family, agreeing to cooperate with OCSP in efforts to obtain child support payments is a condition of eligibility for TANF, and • Explain to the applicant the purpose of the referral to OCSP and encourage the participant to cooperate with OCSP for the benefit of the children. ODHS verbally reviews with the applicant: • The requirement, at intake, to agree to cooperate unless there is good cause. • The requirement, while receiving benefits, to cooperate with OCSP unless there is good cause. • Good cause for noncooperation. (The DHS 8660 may be used when reviewing good cause. This form includes information about both good cause and claim of risk.) Note: Enter a case note to indicate the cooperation requirements and good cause for noncooperation were verbally reviewed with the applicant. Confidentiality of participant’s address: Under state law, certain information that is confidential under ODHS rules could be released during legal proceedings. For example, the participant’s home address could be revealed to the absent parent if the address appears in the absent parent’s copy of a child support order. Contact address: If the participant does not want their address revealed to the absent parent and does not want to claim good cause, the participant may ask OCSP to use a contact address. The participant can provide or update their OCSP contact address through their online OCSP account, verbally or in writing at any time their child support case is open. The contact address must be in Oregon and will be used for child support purposes only. Note: The contact address will only be used once OCSP adds the address to their computer system. A contact address should be provided to OCSP as soon as possible to minimize any chance of the other address being shared with the court or other parties. If ODHS knows the participant would like to use a contact address, ask the participant to update their address through the OCSP online account or contact their OCSP worker. Caution: • If a contact address has been in place for six months, OCSP will attempt to contact the participant to ask if the contact address is still valid prior to initiating a new legal action. The contact address will stay in effect until the participant retracts it or mail is returned from this address. If the provided contact address is no longer valid, and a new address isn’t provided, OCSP will use the participant’s home address or other contact address on record, if any. • Participants must pick up mail at their contact address. If participants do not pick up their child support- related mail, they may lose an opportunity to request parentage testing or to help determine a proper monthly support order. • Even if the participant claims good cause, they may want to designate a contact address (for mailing child support information only). This is because law requires OCSP to provide services (including establishment