A former prosecutor of child abuse, San Clemente Republican Jan C. Sturla was director of the Department of Child Support Services from 2008-2011.
Sturla received a bachelor of arts degree in economics from California State University, Fullerton and a Juris Doctorate from Pepperdine University School of Law. He was admitted to the state bar in 1976. Sturla spent two decades with the Orange County District Attorney’s office where he was a trial attorney for a number of divisions, including felony trials, sexual assaults and child abuse, and homicide. In 1992 he took over as supervising deputy district attorney of the Orange County family support division.
In 1996, Orange County ranked 47th among the state’s 58 counties in terms of recouping money for children from their absent parents. The next year it moved up two notches to 45th. The Association for Children for Enforcement of Support said the county had made substantial improvements to its child-support collection system during the year, adding some 90 new workers. Child support collections continued to rise during his tenure and more than doubled in the five-year period ending in 2001.
Sturla became director of the Orange County Department of Child Support Services in 2002 when the state reorganized its child support system and the family support division of the district attorney’s office became a separate department. He was responsible for the executive management of approximately 100,000 child support cases, 630 employees and an annual budget of $55 million. He held that position until being tapped by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to head the DCSS in 2008.
Directors Emeriti (DCSS website)
Governor Appoints Two Former Prosecutors to Head DCSS (Metropolitan News-Enterprise)
Unpaid Child Support Cases on Rise in O.C. Families (by Lisa Richardson, Los Angeles Times)
O.C. Ranks Low in Enforcing Child Support (by Josh Meyer and Lisa Richardson, Los Angeles Times)
O.C. 45th Among 58 Counties in Collecting Child Support (by Michael G. Wagner, Los Angeles Times
Collections for Child Support Increase Again (Los Angeles Times)
