Published August 19, 2008 07:42 pm - Ashtabula County commissioners passed on a proclamation Tuesday designating August as Child Support Awareness Month.
Commissioners recognize child support agency efforts
By DORIS COOK - Staff Writer Star Beacon
JEFFERSON — Ashtabula County commissioners passed on a proclamation Tuesday designating August as Child Support Awareness Month.
They presented a special certificate to Maxine Bush, local program administrator for the county’s Child Support Enforcement Agency, and Patrick Arcaro, director of Ashtabula County Job and Family Services. The child-support agency is a division of ACJFS.
According to figures released by Bush, the enforcement agency currently has 9,588 open support cases. In 2007, there were 9,657 cases involving over 12,600 children.
Last year, total collections for child support in the county were $16.56 million.
Both the state and the local child-support agencies are promoting awareness and education programs this month. Theme of the month-long programs is “Parenting and child support go hand in hand.”
Working partnerships among county, state and federal agencies, parents, legislators, judges, health care professionals, advocacy group and employers ensure that children receive financial support, ACJFS officials said.
At the county’s Child Support Enforcement Agency, the staff is involved with locating noncustodial parents, establishing paternity, enforcing child support and medical support orders, reviewing or modifying support orders, monitoring the collection of support payments and providing educational outreach.
In this county for the month of June, the agency reported that child-support collections totaled $1.4 million, bringing the year-to-date collections to $8.66 million, an increase of $401,901 over the same period last year.
For information and help on services available to families, call the county’s Child Support Enforcement Agency (1-800-935-0242 or 994-1210).
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