OAG Observes Child Support Awareness Month 2015

Events Designed to Educate and Assist Parents to Ensure that Children Receive Support

Washington, DC – August is Child Support Awareness Month nationwide, and the Office of the Attorney General (OAG)’s Child Support Services Division (CSSD) is marking the month with several outreach efforts designed to ensure that parents who owe or are entitled to receive child support are informed about the services OAG offers to help them.

“Every child deserves the kind of resources they need to succeed, and we want to make sure not only that parents who are owed child support receive payments, but also that parents who have child-support obligations are able to pay them,” Attorney General Karl A. Racine said. “Our staff is marking this month with education and outreach for parents, children and the public.”

What Is OAG Doing for Child Support Awareness Month This Year?
During the month of August, OAG staffers are donating school supplies for kids and ties and scarves for parents who receive and pay child support. The OAG Child Support Outreach Team will also educate parents and the public on the importance of child support. OAG events planned for Child Support Awareness Month 2015 include:

Weeks 1 and 2 (Aug. 3-14): Child-Support Orientations – The OAG Child Support Outreach Team will host orientation sessions on our child support program during August. The sessions will take place in the Child Support Office Waiting Room at 441 4th Street NW, Suite 550 North, and presenters will focus on the services and programs OAG offers to parents and children as well as the rights and responsibilities of child-support customers. Times of the daily, Monday-through-Friday orientations are as follows:

  •  9:00 a.m.
  •  11:00 a.m.
  •  1:00 p.m.
  •  3:00 p.m.

Week 3 (Aug. 17-21): Parents’ Week – CSSD staff will offer several services to parents who collect child support as well as those who owe child support:

  • Outreach to Fathers at Blair House: The CSSD Outreach Team and Mobile Unit will host an event at Blair House, a transitional housing facility that helps enable men return to independent living and gain employment. The OAG Child Support Outreach Team will provide residents with an orientation on the child-support system and services, review individuals’ cases, and enroll individuals in OAG’s Alternative Solutions Center to help connect them with support as they return to employment and full payment of their child-support obligations. Residents who come to the CSSD Mobile Unit for services will receive a free necktie to assist them with proper dress attire while they seek jobs.
  • Outreach to Mothers at House of Ruth: The CSSD Outreach Team and Mobile Unit will host a child support orientation session at the House of Ruth, which helps women, children and families in greatest need and with very limited resources build safe, stable lives and achieve their highest potential. Staff will also assist residents in reviewing their cases and enrolling them in CSSD’s online case-lookup system and Visa card program. CSSD will provide a bag of school supplies to each child who visits CSSD’s mobile unit, and mothers will receive a scarf.
  • Ties and Scarves for Parents at the OAG Child Support Office Waiting Room: Parents who visit the OAG Child Support Office at 441 4th Street NW, Suite 550 North during Parents’ Week will receive their choice of a free donated necktie or scarf to assist them in dressing professionally.

Week Four (Aug. 24-28): Children’s Week – During the last full week of August, CSSD will provide a bag of school supplies to each child who visits the OAG Child Support Office Waiting Room at 441 4th Street NW, Suite 550 North, with a parent.

OAG Child Support Services

In the District of Columbia, we are working hard to make our child support services more efficient and easier to access:

  • Child Support Payments Online allows payments for child-support obligations to be made directly from your bank account.
  • Online Case Look Up is our 24/7 Web network where parents can check the balances they owe, update their employer information, or update their personal contact information.
  • Our Customer Care Center is available Monday through Friday from 8:15 a.m. – until 4:45 p.m. Care Center staff can speak with parents about their case. The phone number is 202-442-9900.

Why Child Support Matters
Regularly paid child support strengthens the bond between parent and child – a bond that will last a lifetime – and provides children with essentials that will help them succeed. By helping underwrite school clothes and shoes, good lunches, books and a few extras, child support can make a real difference.

Contact Us
Please contact OAG’s Child Support Customer Care center at 202-442-9900 if:

  • You need assistance to ensure that your back payments don’t build up;
  • You change employers;
  • You relocate;
  • You can provide us with a cell phone number or e-mail address at which to reach you.

 
For more information, visit our website at http://cssd.dc.gov/ or call 202-442-9900.