N.J. Admin. Code § 10:110-1.7

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 21, November 4, 2024

Section 10:110-1.7 - Confidentiality and privacy

(a) Unless further restricted by Federal or State law, the use or disclosure of information concerning applicants or recipients of child support services, including the child(ren); legal guardians; putative fathers; and non-custodial parents; and other individuals for whom information may be in the record (such as, but not limited to grandparents, other siblings or dependents in the home or outside the home), shall be limited, based on the right and need to know the information, to purposes directly connected with:

1. The administration of the State plan or Program approved under parts A, B, D, or E of Title IV or under Titles I, II, III, X, XIV, XVI, XIX, XX, or XXI of the Federal Social Security Act or the Supplemental Security Income Program established under Title XVI of the Federal Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. §§ 301 et seq.);

2. Any investigations, prosecution or criminal or civil proceeding conducted in connection with the administration of any such Plan or Program;

3. The administration of any other Federal or Federally assisted program which provides assistance, in cash or in kind, or services, directly to individuals on the basis of needs; and

4. Reporting to an appropriate agency or official, information on known or suspected instances of physical or mental injury, sexual abuse or exploitation, or negligent treatment or maltreatment of a child who is the subject of a child support enforcement activity under circumstances which indicate that the child's health or welfare is threatened.

(b) The Department, and any of its contractual agents (as defined herein) providing child support services, is prohibited from disclosing to any committee or Federal, State or local legislative body any identifiable information about any such applicant or recipient.

(c) A custodial or non-custodial parent requesting the assistance of a third party as his or her authorized agent in obtaining information on the status of the case, including but not limited to an attorney, a Federal or State official, or other authorized agent consistent with Federal law, shall give the IV-D Agency the authority to release the information to the authorized individual by signing a release of information statement giving the reason why the information is being requested and for what purpose, and any information necessary for the IV-D Agency to determine the case under question. The release instrument grants permission to the IV-D Agency to disclose to that authorized representative the information requested, if determined appropriate for release to the requesting party by the IV-D Agency, in accordance with Federal and State laws.

(d) The confidentiality and privacy safeguards of the Child Support Program shall be in compliance with all applicable Federal and State laws, regulations, Court rules and as described in this chapter. If court rules or regulations of a program other than the IV-D Program conflict with these safeguards, the confidentiality and privacy safeguards required by Title IV-D shall control. These confidentiality and privacy safeguards shall be binding on DHS, its subordinate agencies, and on all persons, agencies and organizations that contract with the DHS to provide IV-D services, directly or indirectly; or under any agreements or other instruments used for such purposes by the Department or its designees in implementing Title IV-D requirements.

1. The Department shall ensure that written notice of the Department's policy on the use, confidentiality, privacy safeguards, and disclosure of Program information is provided to all agencies, organizations, persons and affiliated entities, including those entities procured under contract, sub-contract or through affiliation agreements.

2. Personal information collected and retained by the Child Support Program is not a public record for purposes of the New Jersey Open Public Records Act, P.L. 2001, c. 404.

3. Every individual working in the IV-D Program, including any persons employed by and working on a Program function or service as contractual agents of the IV-D Agency, and staff of contractual agents of the Program, shall annually sign the standardized confidentiality/disclosure agreements of the Program in keeping with Federal requirements concerning confidentiality, staff responsibility and obligation over that confidentiality, access to, and release of Program information.

4. In accordance with 42 U.S.C. § 653(b)(2) and § 654(26), no information shall be disclosed to any person when the IV-D Agency has reasonable evidence of domestic violence or child abuse in accordance with 42 U.S.C. § 653(b)(2) and N.J.A.C. 10:110-9 and 10:90-20, and the disclosure of such information could be harmful to the parent or the child(ren) of such parent.

i. The "family violence indicator," in accordance with 45 C.F.R. 307.11, shall be coded in such instances on the automated child support system to reflect the case situation with regard to risk of harm to the individual and his or her child(ren), and shall be reported to the Federal Case Registry.

ii. Exceptions to such disclosure are decided by the court in accordance with 42 U.S.C. §§ 653(b)(2)(B) or (c)(2) or 663(d)(2)(B).

5. Persons receiving FPLS information for child support purposes must protect the privacy rights of individuals in accordance with 42 U.S.C. § 653 and this subsection. Therefore, any individual meeting the criteria of an authorized person in non-IV-D locate-only cases referenced at 10:110-3.2(f)2 and (g)1 must be informed, in writing, by the IV-D agency or its designee(s), that the FPLS information provided in accordance with 10:110-11.2(k)2 shall be safeguarded by the authorized person and is disclosed and shall be used by that authorized person for child support purposes only.

(e) The Department and any of its contractual agents, as defined herein, providing child support services and having access to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) return information in accordance with the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) section 6103, shall keep that IRS return information confidential, and shall not disclose that information obtained in connection with their service in the performance of child support functions. "Return information" as used herein, means the definition for that term found at IRC section 6103.

N.J. Admin. Code § 10:110-1.7