The Washington County Department of Social Services collected and disbursed more than $15.1 million in child support payments to county families in the federal fiscal year ending Sept. 30th.
Payments collected by the department from non-custodial parents totaling $15,104,657 were distributed to 6,088 Washington County families. The amount collected is a 2.6 percent increase over the previous report period.
“Children have the right to benefit from the incomes of both parents,” Maryland Department of Human Resources Secretary Ted Dallas said. “We will continue to aggressively use the tools at our disposal to achieve Governor O’Malley’s goal of making Maryland a top 10 state for child support collection.”
During a recent Child Support Awareness campaign, the Washington County DSS Office of Child Support Enforcement developed a creative strategy to boost the collection of past-due support from delinquent non-custodial parents.
The “On the Road Again” initiative helped parents whose driver’s licenses had been suspended during the enforcement process regain their driving privilege in exchange for setting up regular arrears payments or making a minimum payment of $50.
“On the Road Again demonstrates the department’s willingness to help delinquent parents regain their driving privilege. At the same time, we collected more than $30,400 of past-due support to benefit local families, making it a truly successful initiative,” Washington County DSS Director David Engle said.
More child support payments were collected and disbursed to Maryland families in the federal fiscal year ending Sept. 30th than at any time in state history. DHR’s Child Support Enforcement Administration collected over $544.4 million in child support, a $25.1 million increase compared to the previous federal fiscal year. For more information on child support collection, call 240-420-2100, or visit http://dhr.maryland.gov.
Great job but you can’t do much to support a kid with $ 50. these days.