Today we’d like to introduce you to Keion Bryant.
Hi Keion, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Wow what an amazing first question. Here is a brief synopsis of my story.
I was born in Berkeley California, I moved to Sacramento around the age of 4 years old. My mother was single, and I only have a few memories of my father growing up.
I attended various schools in Sacramento including: Alice Burney Elementary, John D. Sloat Elementary, Foothill Jr. High School, Foothill High School and I finally graduated from Grant Joint Union High School in Del Paso Heights.
I attended both private and public junior colleges after high school. I took general education classes at American River College, and I obtained an associate degree in Information Technology from Heald Business College.
After my academic hiatus for a few years, I decided to pursue my passion in music production and audio engineering. I applied numerous times, and I eventually was accepted into California State University Dominguez Hills located in Carson, CA. After 2 1/2 years I received my Bachelor of Arts degree in Digital Media and Minor in Communications. I moved from Sacramento to Los Angeles County where I would remain for approximately 6 years.
During and after the completion of my bachelor’s degree, I worked for various employers including The City of Long Beach, Los Angeles Unified School District, HBO Boxing, California State University Dominguez Hills, and Sunnyside Baptist Church. 4 of the 5 employers being held simultaneously. My position titles from the mentioned employers include: Administrative Analyst, Program Mentor, Audio Engineer, Residential Housing Assistant, and Production Supervisor respectively.
I gained tons of personal, academic, and professional experience while in southern California, however my girlfriend at the time whom is now my wife, Angela Bryant, had a different vision for the two of us. Her vision was for us to move back to our hometown area of Sacramento California to be closer to our families. I wrestled with the idea of leaving my dreams of living 20 minutes from the beach in Southern California. Eventually, I was convinced and agreed that we should move back closer to our families located in Northern California.
I resigned from every endeavor I was pursuing as well as the various employers I was associated with. I took the leap of faith and applied for a position with Sacramento County titled Child Support Officer I/II while we were still living in LA. I did this prior to our arrival in Sacramento to show that I was committed to our move.
We packed up everything we owned, found storage units in Sacramento, secured a hotel to stay in, and began our journey back home. We lived in hotels for a number of months until we finally secured housing.
After arriving back to our hometown, I was contacted about my job application for Child Support Officer which was accepted by Sacramento County. I went through the interview process; I completed my background screening and was hired on as a full-time permanent employee. Since December 2019 I have been employed full-time with Sacramento County Department of Child Support Services working currently in the class title of Child Support Officer II.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
The road that I have traveled has been rugged to say the least. I will mentioned 1 of the most devastating obstacles that I have faced along my journey.
Unfortunately, I was not privileged to have a father in the home to help raise me, thus being born into the statistic of an out-of-wedlock birth (Jesse Washington).
As an early teenager, it was disclosed to me that my mother was very sick after she had been rushed to the hospital. I was not able to comprehend at the time that sick was relative to terminally ill. My mother Stephanie Graham passed away a month after my 22nd birthday.
I remember the days prior to her passing vividly. One afternoon she asked me to help prepare her breathing treatment machine because she was unable to catch her breath. Prepping the machine was a normal occurrence, but this time the treatment attempt was unsuccessful, so she urged me to call 911. Emergency services arrived shortly after my call, and I watched as the ambulance rushed her to Kaiser Permanente Medical Center. Unfortunately, this would be the last memory I had of my mother being alive.
While in the intensive care unit, my mother was placed on a ventilator breathing machine to aid her breathing and she entered into a coma for approximately 1 month. She remained in a coma, and I was forbidden to see her until the day the decision was made, through power of attorney to remove her from ventilator support. This was a shocking loss for our family. My mother was always high-spirited and humorous which is definitely is a huge part of my personality.
Almost 2 decades later, immediately after moving back to Sacramento, I experienced 3 of my remaining grandparents passing away. Honestly, some of the hardest obstacles during my journey has been losing close friends and family members unexpectedly at a moment’s notice to their passing.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Prior to my current employer, I worked in the television broadcast and video production industry for a handful of years while living in Southern California. Before moving back home, I discovered that the market for this broadcast television employment was limited in Sacramento.
Currently, I am employed with Sacramento County Department of Child Support Services. I have worked in my current profession as a Child Support Officer for 3 years. I help people daily by providing education about our programs processes and I supply resources to all parties involved in our child support program.
While in the child support enforcement division, my duties included reviewing complex financial transactions, negotiating debts, verifying public assistance history, and verifying granted funds from the Department of Human Assistance. My other duties included serving income withholding orders to employers as well as releasing suspended drivers and occupational licenses. I was previously in charge of an extensive caseload ranging from 400 to 1,000 cases. I have had the responsibility for collecting and distributing approximately 1.2 million dollars to persons receiving funds through our child support program.
In November of 2022, I was recruited to the establishment division of child support, landing on the early intervention and litigated cases team. Here I am responsible for cases with a first-time monetary child support order. We hold cases for 90 days to ensure their success in the program prior to reassigning the case to the enforcement division. I am responsible for collecting payments to shorten the amount of time from case opening to first payment. We provide genetic testing services through our office as well. I am also responsible for confirming employment, verifying wages, and medical insurance. Lastly, I offer stipulation agreements to parties to eliminate unnecessary court calendar dates.
I am known for my upbeat since of humor and positive attitude throughout my approach when explaining such a complex program to all of our participants. I am also known for my technical abilities that allow me to navigate multiple computer software applications proficiently. I believe what sets me apart from other people is my ability to communicate effectively and utilize my immediate resources to solve problems quickly. I have been thanked countless times by management, participants, and coworkers for my professionalism, technical expertise as well as being reliable.
I am most proud of my understanding of the child support program I am enforcing and my ability to be a viable resource to others. Above all else, I am proud to be a servant to GOD’s Will.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
In the next 5 -10 years I believe the child support industry will achieve significant growth due to some of the major changes in the way that child support services are being delivered. I believe our program is headed towards more innovation, customer education, and efficiency.
We are utilizing various tools to interact with are customers such as text messaging and video conferencing. Court hearings are being held remotely and in person to serve the vast number of cases that need orders for monetary support. We are promoting legal documents to be signed electronically via DocuSign. This process will increase the speed in which an order can be obtained. Lastly, I have few ideas that I am working with leadership on implementing. These ideas include text-to-speech activity logs and automated verification to name a few.
The child support program is also utilizing marketing advertisements through social media and other platforms to help educate families about our services.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://childsupport.ca.gov
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scdcss/
Image Credits
Keion L. Bryant Sr.
