What probably happened was that your friend's child turned 3, so they lost the diaper money for that child. My sister just went through this - she has 3 kids and when her middle one turned 3 in April, the benefit dropped by $115 starting in May. But she still gets it for her youngest who's 1. Sometimes the notices about these changes are really confusing too - they just say something like "your cash aid amount has changed" without clearly explaining it's because of the diaper benefit age limit.

my cousin whos a eligibility worker says theres BIG changes coming to calworks but not till next year. something about making the welfare to work hours different and maybe changing the 48 month time limit. but nothing about ending the extra benefits right now

Just to clarify something important that people often misunderstand: The guideline calculator DOES consider the father's obligation to support children from other relationships, including both biological and adopted children. However, it does NOT consider his voluntary support of stepchildren. So in your case, only his one other biological child will be factored in as a hardship deduction, not the 5 stepchildren. This is clearly stated in California Family Code Section 4071. If you go to DCSS, they will handle all aspects of your case including income verification, establishing the appropriate support amount, enforcing payment, and collecting arrears. The timeline varies but typically takes 60-90 days to get established with the first payments.

I want to thank everyone for the advice. I'm going to contact DCSS tomorrow morning and get this process started. I feel much better knowing the stepchildren won't factor into the calculation like he's been claiming all these years. I also appreciate knowing that going directly to DCSS rather than CalWORKs means I'll get the full amount of child support. I'll update once I get things moving with DCSS!

my worker told me one time theres a special code they put in the system for ppl who get theres late all the time. its like a priority code or something? my friend has it and she always gets hers on time now. maybe u should ask for that?

Update: Just checked my account and the money IS there! I guess they did deposit it early because of the holiday. Thanks everyone for the advice. I'm still going to ask about that issuance code thing next time I go in to make sure I don't have to keep dealing with this every month.

SSI is such a pain with reviews!!! my brother has been on SSI for 10 years and sometimes they do short forms by mail and sometimes they make him go in person. last time they made him see their doctor too even tho nothing changed with his condition. total waste of time!!! and then i got so confused cuz i thought his CalWORKs would be affected too but thats county and SSI is federal so theyre different systems. the whole thing is way too complicated!!!!

Just to clarify something important about CalWORKs and SSI that might help others reading this thread: If you receive SSI, you're excluded from the CalWORKs assistance unit, but your children can still receive CalWORKs benefits if they qualify. This is what's happening in the original poster's situation. The confusing part is that while you report your SSI income to CalWORKs, it's not counted against your children's eligibility the same way earned income would be. It's subjected to different income calculation rules. Also, legitimate SSI reviews follow a predictable pattern. Medical CDRs can be scheduled anywhere from every 18 months to every 7 years depending on your condition, while SSI redeterminations (financial reviews) typically happen every 1-3 years. But they ALWAYS send written notification first.

also change ur pin number as soon as u get ur new card!!! and NEVER use the same pin for anything else. my worker told me lots of ppl use the same pin for everything and thats how they get hacked sometimes

Just wanted to update everyone - I went through something similar last month and finally got my money back yesterday. Here's what worked: 1) Filed police report right away 2) Submitted the EBT 2259 form to my CalWORKs office 3) Called EVERY SINGLE DAY to check status 4) Asked to speak to a supervisor when they kept giving me the runaround 5) Contacted my county supervisor's office (found contact info on county website) who helped expedite things. Total time: 16 days from theft to replacement. Not great but better than some horror stories I've heard. Stay persistent!