Mission, Vision, Values … Where?
"The Family Services Division's mission is to support the goals of the Second Judicial District Court's Family Division and to provide effective programs and services for court-involved children and families that respects the individuality and diversity of families."
As Picon pursues our goal of providing investigative journalism to the community, we realized that follow up is key. As we all know, child support cases do not have to start in the halls of the Family Division of Second Judicial District Court, but sadly, with a separate Court Master, a rotating cast of District Attorneys and even the Nevada Attorneys General’s Office, data is not on their side.
When looking to compare the 2022 child support cases held by Court Master Gregory Shannon to 2023, our public records indicated that a total of 435 child support cases under Title IV-D were initiated in 2022. Sadly, by September 5, 2023, that number decreased to 341 child support cases under Title IV-D, initiated in 2023. What is more concerning is Second Judicial District Court does not track how cases were filed by the State of Nevada Attorney General's Office.
When asked how many hearings were held in 2022 versus 2023, we only received data from February through December 2022 and January through July 2023. Sadly, that data does not lie, even when we only compare February through July data. From February through July 2022, 812 hearings were held, while that same span of time in 2023 only held 540 hearings. These numbers were delivered with the precursor that “No report is available detailing the number of individual child support cases that had hearings.”
In true “bad data” fashion, Second Judicial District Court also admitted that they do not have information available on how many continuances have been granted for either obligor or obligee failing to file.
Their financial statement or corresponding financial document, how many verifications of employment and income were sent out to the parties from the District Attorney's Office, how many motions were negotiated prior to going to hearing, how many objections have been heard or presented in child support cases, or even how many objections have been re-calculated? What we do know is only 10 Motions for Order to Show Cause have been issued in 2022 and 11 in 2023 until September 2023. In 2022, 71 of the 75 Objections in the Child Support Hearings were to the Court Master’s Recommendations, with 34 of 39 objections (January through September 2023) being the same reason in 2023.
Now, you may be asking why Picon cares. Heck, we ask that ourselves. The Child Support Court in Washoe County is unlike the day-to-day of the Family Division. Instead of having a self-help desk to help guide people representing themselves, all the child support division truly offers is the District Attorneys, their case workers, and Zoom hearings if you are lucky enough to set one. Instead, all that the Washoe Court’s self-help desk online provides is a guide on how to Objection to Master’s Recommendations, without any real guidance of what going to child support entails.
So Picon must ask, what are taxpayers paying for with data like this?
Where is ANY transparency from the court?
Court Master Gregory Shannon ran for Second Judicial District Court Judge, Department 11 in 2020. It was an open position, previously held by Reno Judge Chuck Weller who had decided not to seek reelection. Shannon’s opponent was fellow Court Master Paige Dollinger, who won the vacant seat. You might remember an earlier post from Picon about Judge Dollinger whose court hearings are primarily via Zoom, some have said Dollinger has only been in the courthouse a handfull of times since COVID. Judge Dollinger at a particular hearing via Zoom, while removing parental rights, felt it was appropriate to have her pet bird on her shoulder at her home.
Picon says, “Polly wants a better Washoe County Family Court.”
