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Single Parenthood

SUPPORT SYSTEM There really is such thing as a free lunch By Lynn Armitage Published: September, 2005

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I’m a sucker for a good sob story. In the parking lot at Wal Mart, I was approached by a young, single mother looking for a handout. Brenda gave me her song and dance about how the ex didn’t want to be married anymore, and left her with two small children and no way to feed them. She seemed desperate, so I gave her $20 . . . hook, line and sinker. It’s certainly possible that I was hustled. But I saw pictures of Brenda’s two adorable kids and didn’t want to take that chance. Anyway, it got me thinking: How many other Brendas are out there? Single moms ­ and dads ­ struggling every day (some even panhandling) to provide for their children, with no financial support, whatsoever, from the other parent? It’s tragic, really, because this doesn’t have to be the case at all, EVER, thanks to the Orange County Department of Child Support Services (OCDCSS), 700 of the best friends a single parent could ever have. Don’t have an order yet for child or medical support, and can’t afford a lawyer to obtain one? OCDCSS has a staff of 19 top-notch attorneys who will do your bidding for FREE. Is the ex changing jobs so often that court orders can’t catch up to him? OCDCSS is locked into the National Directory of New Hires database that can find your evasive ex and his new employer in 48 hours. That’s FREE, too. Need to prove that he’s the father . . . or not? OCDCSS performs genetic testing with an accuracy index as high as 30 billion to one. Again, free. Last year, OCDCSS collected $174 million in child support for 117,672 county children. (Did I mention their services don’t cost a thing?) They’re making admirable progress, but as Steven Eldred, the agency’s chief deputy director, explains, there’s still millions more out there in uncollected support that they’re working hard to retrieve via a new philosophy: “Partnering with parents to achieve family self-sufficiency.” That’s important, says Eldred. “We never partnered with the other parent before. We chased the other parent.” To open a case with Child Support Services, call 714.541.7600 or download an application from their website: www.css.ocgov.com. Q: Your agency serves only one in every 17 households in Orange County. Why don’t more parents tap into you? Steven Eldred: Some people have the misperception that we only help people on welfare. But 85% of our clients are NOT on public assistance. We’re here for EVERYBODY. Some think it’s expensive. But no, it’s FREE! Q: If they’re not coming to you, how do the majority of parents obtain child support? A: They’re either buying a do-it-yourself book. Or working it out with their ex amiably. Or paying $300/hour to an attorney who bills for every phone call, every letter. So all the support money they get goes to their attorney. But what really scares me is that these options aren’t possible for a number of people, so they go without any support at all. Q: Why don’t some parents pursue their exes for child support? A: Mainly, the hassle. The process is so painful, it causes arguments, requires taking days off of work to go to court and costs a lot of money up front to hire an attorney. Q: How has your agency made it easier? A: Within the next few months, there will be an online form you can fill out on the computer, hit submit, and you never have to leave home or mail anything. Soon, we’ll have digital images of all our case files. So instead of case workers leafing through paper stacks to find a file, they can pull it up on the computer easily. And, we offer direct deposit, so clients get their money faster. Q: How long does it take to get a check? A: The biggest determinant is how much information the applicant provides. If someone says, ‘I know where the other parent lives and works, and here’s the court order,’ we’ve turned checks around in two weeks. Q: What if parents don’t have orders yet? A: You can walk in with a baby on your hip and say, ‘I need to establish parentage for my child and get a court order.’ We can take care of it for free. We have 700 employees, including 19 lawyers in our legal department. Q: How do you enforce payment? A: First off, 80% of the people, nationwide, who are supposed to pay child support, do. For those who don’t, probably the best tool we’ve used in the last 10 years is suspending driver’s licenses. You can take a lot of things from a Californian, but don’t mess with his car. We can also suspend passports and professional licenses, attach property liens, and intercept tax refunds and lottery winnings. Q: Can parents be jailed for not paying? A: Yes, but it’s the last resort. We have 98,000 cases. We file perhaps 25 contempts a month. You can get five days of jail for every month you’re not making a payment. Lynn Armitage dismissed her expensive lawyer and transferred her case to OCDCSS.

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