News release
OKLAHOMA CITY – This week, and every week, one state program looks toward a different kind of Independence Day: the day a family becomes independent of state assistance because the children receive the support they need from both parents. This week, Oklahoma’s child support program turns 40.
On July 1, 1975, Oklahoma’s child support program opened its doors just eight days after Oklahoma governor David Boren signed it into law. That first year of operation ended with 1,442 child support cases and total collections of $211,300. Today, forty years later, Child Support Services (CSS), a division of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (DHS), helps promote independence for more than 206,000 families, collecting over a million dollars a day on behalf of children.
With such a huge impact for families, it is important to understand what child support is.
Child support is paid by parents for the care and support of children of a relationship that has ended. Noncustodial parents are legally obligated to provide child support through court orders. Custodial persons receive child support. As you may suspect, these terms have to do with the custody of a child. A custodial person is the person the child lives with for a majority of the time. When a child lives with a custodial person other than one of the parents, both parents are noncustodial parents with court-ordered child support obligations.
Child support programs began primarily as a means to recover from noncustodial parents the cost of public assistance paid to their dependent families. In the last forty years, child support programs have grown to function as a global intergovernmental network of agencies working together to meet the needs of children worldwide.
“Children who have two parents providing for their financial support are far less likely to need help from taxpayer-funded programs like SoonerCare and TANF,” said CSS director Gary W. Dart. “The child support program helps families become stronger and more self-sufficient while decreasing reliance on public assistance.”
What happens when both parents earn less than their children need to thrive? Child Support Services is uniquely positioned to help low income noncustodial parents overcome barriers to providing regular, dependable support. Working with other programs within DHS and dozens of partner organizations, CSS is constantly improving its network of direct services and referrals that can help parents overcome obstacles to supporting their children. From its cost recovery and law enforcement roots, child support has emerged as a family support program providing significant, reliable income for vulnerable families.
“For children in single-parent homes, financial support from the noncustodial parent can be a vital resource,” said Jeff Wagner, CSS administrator for Communications & Community Relations. “A parent who fails to pay child support is not always doing so willfully. Recognizing this, we target available enforcement tools based on what will work best for families over the life of their cases with us, which is often ten, fifteen, or more years. We also partner with others anywhere we can to help parents succeed as parents.”
“As such, CSS is an essential part of the solution for Oklahoma’s children who need and deserve parental support,” Dart added.
For more information about Child Support Services, call 1-800-522-2922, Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. or visit www.okdhs.org and select “Child Support.”
Child Support Services is a division of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. To promote healthy families, CSS establishes, monitors and enforces reliable support while encouraging self-sufficiency and strengthening relationships. The division is responsible for more than 206,000 active child support cases, collecting more than $369 million in the last year on behalf of children and families.
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