Director's Letter: Child Support Encourages Engagement
Research shows that children do best when both of their parents are actively involved.
Children thrive in an environment where both parents care about their needs and are working to support them.
This August, we ask you to help us raise awareness about the importance of child support by wearing green August 7.
It is a small task, but an important message: child support helps families.
Undeniably, a large part of the Child Support unit’s job is financial. Child Support ensures children’s basic needs are met: from food, shelter and clothes to education, transportation and medical expenses.
And that is a role at which the Hamilton County Child Support agency excels. Last year the unit collected nearly $130 million for custodial parents – a record for the highest number of collections per full-time employee.
The unit also works to ensure parents have the opportunity to support their children. Last year, the child support unit established paternity for nearly 50,000 kids.
But recently, the unit has also been working to form partnerships that increase engagement of the non-custodial parent with their children.
- An Access Visitation Grant now allows Child Support to offer non-custodial parents supervised visits with their kids in a safe environment. Fathers who may not have been able to spend time with their kids, are now able to spend time playing with them and learning about their children. A monitored exchange also allows a safe environment for kids to be dropped off and picked up for unsupervised visits.
- Some fathers can also access classes through a partnership with the Ridge Project to help them overcome obstacles. The “Tyro Dads” program is a ten-week course designed to teach personal responsibility and fatherhood principles.
- An ongoing relationship with Smart Money also offers fathers classes designed to help them reach financial stability.
During Child Support awareness month we will increase efforts to engage parents – registering parents for the child support portal online, conducting live web chats, and offering access to SuperJobs employees to help provide non-custodial parents with employment information.
The motive for all of these programs is two-fold: classes help non-custodial parents learn the skills needed to make regularly child support payments, but they also benefit kids who gain from seeing a more responsible or financially stable parent.
Because ultimately, the support parents provide contributes to the well-being of their children.
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