If you’ve been involved in a child support case, then you want to make sure that it’s fair and you get what you deserve from your ex. In Maryland, a new review has found that the state’s child support collection efforts have improved, which is good news for anyone relying on the money to help support his or her children.
According to the April 8 news release, the state is planning to release an additional $100,000 in funding to the Department of Human Resources. This money is being released because of findings that the agency had sufficiently improved its efforts in collecting child support payments on behalf of children in Maryland. The improved tactics have allegedly helped the agency collect a record amount of child support payments, which was reported as being $549 million.
The agency has been working to improve child support payment collections since a September 2011 review by the Department of Legislative Audits stated that the agency wasn’t being aggressive enough when it came to collections. Since then, the agency has been working to improve collection rates.
The good news is that the collections have been increased by 16 percent per case, which means $353 more for each family. Because of the changes, Maryland is now in the top 10 states for the percentage of past due child support payments collected. It used to be 26th in the nation.
Because Maryland is taking the effort to increase collections, that’s good news for parents waiting for child support. More support is expected to be collected, and that means a better quality of life for children who rely on that money. The child support does ensure the stability of many single-parent households, according to the Governor Martin O’Malley, and he claims that the state will do whatever it can to protect its children.
Source: The Baltimore Sun, “Review finds state’s child support collection efforts improved” Yvonne Wenger, Apr. 08, 2014