In six months, the Department of Human Resources exceeded the previous year’s gains by $4.2 million
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND (April 23, 2012) – The Maryland Department of Human Resources announced today that it has collected $11.8 million more in child support during the first six months of federal fiscal year 2012 than it did during the same period last year. The Department is on track to have a record year and it has already surpassed in six months the $8 million increase for all of federal fiscal year 2011 by $4.2 million – an increase of over 50 percent. These gains come as the Department undertakes a comprehensive effort to make
Maryland a national leader in child support collection.
“Maryland children deserve the support that they’re due and not a penny less. The increase in collections proves that there is no reason that Maryland cannot do better and continue to do better,” said Ted Dallas, secretary of the Department of Human Resources. “There’s still a lot of work to be done, but I’m confident that Maryland will rank among the top ten states in terms of child support collections within the next 18 months.”
Last December, the department announced that it would begin to undertake sweeping changes to become a national leader in child support collections. As part of this effort, the Department’s Child Support Enforcement
Administration announced plans to better leverage existing enforcement tools, streamline operations, improve accountability. This new “tough but fair” approach has not only helped increase collections but also increase the
number of families receiving child support payments by 1,876.
Increases in child support occurred in virtually every corner of the state. Collections in the city of Baltimore led all jurisdictions in terms of real dollar increases with a six month increase of $2.25 million or 5.7%. Anne
Arundel, Baltimore, Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties all increased collections by over $1 million in the last six months. Smaller counties across the state including Garrett, St. Mary’s, Harford, Charles and
Calvert also posted significant gains of over seven percent and significantly outpaced the statewide average of 4.7%.
“Every additional dollar we are able to collect goes towards helping support Maryland’s children,” said Joseph DiPrimio, executive director of the department’s Child Support Enforcement Administration. “With the highest
per capita income of any state, there is no reason we cannot lead the nation in collection of child support.”
The Child Support Enforcement Administration (CSEA) is responsible for operating a statewide child support program and provides services to both noncustodial and custodial parents, which include the establishment of paternity and child support orders, the collection of support payments, and the distribution of such funds. CSEA distributes funds to custodial parents and helps custodial parents enforce the legal child support obligations of
noncustodial parents.
For more information, visit the Maryland Department of Human Resources, http://www.dhr.state.md.us.
