The Family Support Division is responsible for establishing
and enforcing child support obligations within the county. In cooperation with
the state Division of Child Support (DCS), we accept referrals for the
establishment of paternity and we review and modify support orders meeting
state criteria. The division also enforces support obligations through civil
contempt proceedings and appears in privately filed domestic relations cases to
address the state’s financial interest when public assistance has been paid on
behalf of a child. Four attorneys and nine staff members make up the Family
Support Division.
The Family Support Division uses a streamlined caseload
referral procedure for its support modification cases to eliminate preliminary
review at the agency level and to speed up the process of obtaining new orders
for those requesting state services in modifying their child support
obligation. We also collaborate with DCS to emphasize and attain “right-sized
orders” that fit a parent’s true financial circumstances.
Because of the broad and over-lapping range of issues that
can arise in the context of family support proceedings, members of the Family
Support Division frequently participate in a variety of social and educational
endeavors affecting families in the community. The division interacts with a
cross section of the community in areas such as domestic violence, child abuse
and neglect, employment, health and poverty reduction. We believe these factors
have a correlation with family stability, crime prevention, and overall
community health.
The
regular and reliable receipt of child support is an important component in the
effort to reduce poverty, move families toward self-sufficiency, and alleviate
the taxpayer burden. We continue to work with DCS to discover ways to improve
child support participation rates and explore strategies that emphasize the
regularity of child support payments while recognizing that parents have other
legal obligations. Because court time and resources are limited, our goal is to
achieve results that are worthy of the resources expended.
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