Clermont County Observes Child Support Enforcement Month in August
Immediate Release
July 26, 2004
Clermont County Observes Child Support Enforcement Month in August
Batavia, Ohio. On July 20, 2004, the Board of Clermont County Commissioners proclaimed August, 2004, as "Child Support Enforcement Month." In addition, the federal Office of Child Support has designated August as National Child Support Awareness Month.
Throughout the month, the Clermont County Department of Job & Family Services, Child Support Division, has activities planned to help bring attention to the importance of child support to families in our community, and to actively seek information on those individuals who are avoiding payment of child support.
Among events planned to highlight the month:
- The Clermont County child support "Most Wanted" poster will be distributed throughout the county in early August. The poster will feature at least nine non-custodial parents. Last year's poster featured nine offenders, and six were apprehended.
- Clermont County is focusing efforts on a new pilot program called Ohio e-QuickPay Debit MasterCard, which is a new method to receive child support. Our office is targeting in excess of 6,000 payees who currently receive paper checks. The debit card can be used wherever MasterCard is accepted to access child support monies. Custodial parents who have a child support case in Clermont County can visit www.clermontsupportskids.org or call (513) 732-7248 to receive additional information or to obtain an enrollment form.
- Again this year, we are doing a round up of the most wanted child support offenders. The child support round up is a joint collaboration between Child Support Enforcement, the Sheriff's Office, and Juvenile and Domestic Relations Courts. Throughout August, the Sheriff's Office will be providing expanded services in order to apprehend those individuals with outstanding bench warrants for failure to pay child support, and for failure to appear for required hearings.
- We are highlighting services provided by the Business and Workforce Resource Center (BWRC) of Clermont County. The BWRC, through a cooperative agreement with Child Support Enforcement, administers the Clermont Supports Kids Career Opportunities Program, a nationally recognized program which provides services to child support payors who are unemployed or underemployed. Since the program was implemented in August of 2002, 539 individuals have been referred to the program and $1,004,310 has been paid on cases which were considered Anon paying@ prior to the referral. The BWRC is located at 756 Old State Route 74, in the Eastgate area.
Please join us in bringing special attention to this important area of public service which greatly affects the children of our community. The Child Support Program is the second largest public program supporting children in Ohio; only public education serves more children.
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For additional information, contact Theresa Ellison, legal counsel, Clermont County Child Support Enforcement Division at (513) 732-7249.