Officials mark child support month by honoring those who pay

LISBON - Columbiana County officials said they're celebrating Child Support Awareness Month in August by focusing on parents who actually pay their obligation rather than deadbeats who don't.

CSEA Administrator Debbie Kempers explained they decided to try something new this year after staff members suggested recognizing the 3,400 non-custodial parents who pay their child support on a regular basis.

Using mostly donated funds and no operational funds or tax dollars, they're planting 34 plants in four planters on the square in downtown Lisbon, with each plant representing 100 non-custodial parents. The 3,400 parents only represent about 30 percent of all child support orders in the county, indicating the rest pay inconsistently or not at all.

Kempers and county Department of Job and Family Services Director Eileen Dray-Bardon spoke to county commissioners Wednesday about child support enforcement. CSEA falls under the umbrella of DJFS.

The agency has 11,248 open child support cases managed by 37 employees, with 75 new orders established from January through April, paternity established for 29 children and $9,872,490 in child support collected through this year through June. In 2009, paternity was established for 136 children and 518 new child support orders were issued, with $19,219,768 in child support collected.

"Of all the work we do at the agency, we touch more people through the child support enforcement agency," Dray-Bardon said. "We think its important to make it a public statement that support is important to every child's life, both financial and emotional support."

According to the resolution passed by commissioners to declare August as Child Support Awareness Month, Ohio ranked third in the nation last year for current child support distributed.

Kempers said one of their concerns for the future is what will happen when unemployment payments run out for parents who don't have custody of their children and have been keeping up with their child support. They noticed a large influx of child support payments coming from unemployment compensation the last two years.

In January 2008, the total amount of support collected from unemployment compensation was $38,000. The number rose to $58,000 in January 2009, then jumped to $138,619 in January this year. Since January, the numbers have varied, but appear to be dropping back down, with $107,302 collected in June.

Dray-Bardon said they'll be sending letters out to non-custodial parents with unemployment benefits asking them to let the agency know if their unemployment runs out because their obligation may be able to be modified if there's a significant decrease in income.

Besides the planting, the agency has several other activities planned for the month which has a theme of "Throughout life...support matters."

Book bags and school supplies will be gathered through donations to give away to children, they'll have a window display, employees will have the chance to buy T-shirts sporting the theme, pamphlets will be available and several outreach presentations about CSEA will take place in the community, including at the federal prison in Elkton and at the Christina House domestic violence shelter.

They're also sending letters to 427 non-custodial parents to let them know about the third annual Explore the Outdoors with Your Family event at Beaver Creek State Park from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 14.

Mary Ann Greier can be reached at mgreier@salemnews.net