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It appears that one child support enforcement agency in a neighboring state is taking a softer, kinder view toward the child support system and how to get parents to pay their obligations. It’s called a Child Support Solutions event and it takes place for two days later in August. The purpose is to help those struggling to make child support payments, and the idea seems interesting enough that it may pique the interest of child support personnel in other states, including Michigan.
The event will have case managers present to discuss payment arrangements and support modifications. The event provides a genetic paternity test for the purpose of establishing paternity. Parents who’ve lost their driver’s license due to failure to pay child support can get their license reinstated.
The event, held by the Summit County, Ohio Child Support Enforcement Agency, also provides a procedure for those with child support arrest warrants to get them resolved without going to jail. Parents can meet personally with a case manager to discuss their case and what problems they may be having. They’ll be given access to programs to help them overcome common obstacles to payment, such as unemployment, criminal records and lack of formal education and training.
Additionally, representatives from federal, state and local agencies will be available to discuss with parents how they may take advantage of particular resources to help them finish school, get a different job and improve their parenting skills and attitudes. The prosecutor encouraged every parent to attend, and suggested that even a partial payment would be better than nothing. She offered the child support office’s resources to arrange a child support agreement that works.
In Michigan and other states, this could be an imaginative change in perspective for the better. It may tend to create positive change in both attitudes and child support payments, if given sufficient time and the patience to get people squarely and sincerely onboard. No matter how brilliant and dynamic a program like this can be, however, there will always be a percentage of those negative naysayers who have no desire or willpower to invest in a new set of values and life practices that are family-supportive.
Source: Twinsburg Patch, “County Event Helps Those Struggling to Pay Child Support,” Amanda Harnocz, Aug. 5, 2013