Carson City child support office slow in getting cases opened

Tuesday, April 11, 2000 | 9:20 a.m.

Jennifer Duve filed for help in getting child support from her ex-husband Oct. 29, 1999. She had all the necessary paperwork, including the divorce decree, but nothing happened.

"We just hit the five-month mark and I still don't have a case or a case number," she said.

District Attorney Noel Waters first said he hopes Duve's story is an isolated case. But Vicki Chittenden, who runs the Family Support unit in Waters' office, says a delay of at least several months is normal and that Duve may not be alone in her five-month wait.

Chittenden said the primary problem is that all her staff's efforts now are focused on getting their 1,720 cases entered and converted into the state's controversial and complicated NOMADS computer system.

If Carson and all other Nevada counties don't make it by Oct. 1, Nevada faces millions of dollars in penalties that could hurt child support, welfare and other social service programs.

With just four caseworkers and three temporary workers for NOMADS, Chittenden said her staffers are busy keeping up with NOMADS and the task of managing the existing cases in the county.

"There isn't a single person out there who doesn't fret over what isn't being done," said Chittenden of her staff. "But we can't keep up with the input."

But she believes the staff will be able to catch up once the NOMADS conversion is out of the way.