Child support awareness month is August

August is Child Support Awareness Month. At this time, the Harrison County Child Support Enforcement Agency tries to bring awareness to the children that depend on the support payments made by their nonresidential parent. One in four children are involved in Ohio’s Child Support Program. Four out of ten children are born to unmarried parents. Support is key in caring for Ohio's children. 1.58 billion Dollars is collected annually by Ohio Child Support. Ohio Child Support Programs served 594,072 children in 2024.

Harrison County Child Support works closely with employers, unemployment, as well as non-custodial parents to collect support for the children that depend on it. This year the Harrison County Child Support Agency was recognized at the state level for the best collection on arrearages, on child support, and enforcement of support, since prior to their records dating to 2013. Your Harrison County Agency is working diligently for the children in this county.

For the sake of the child, parents should remember that child support is there to support the child. It can be used for food, clothing, school supplies, housing, electric, water, and many other bills that help to provide necessities to the child. Child support payments should NOT be used to prevent visitation with a parent or as a leverage to get visitation. Visitation is a completely different court matter. Every child should have the ability to visit and be close to each parent if possible. The more people a child can rely on for love and comfort, the better off the child will be. Parents should avoid talking about child support and adult matters in front of their children.

Your Harrison County Child Support Agency completes paternity establishment through DNA/genetic testing free of charge. 52,276 paternities were established in Ohio in 2024 through the child support program. The agency establishes child support orders and uses income withholding from employers with 75% of all child support payments coming from employers, and $13 million collected from unemployment, $5.5 million from lottery, casino, and racino intercepts. The Harrison County Child Support Agency collect over $31,000.00 from property and mineral liens this year and $88 Million was collected through state and federal tax offsets in 2024 as well.

Ohio serves 44,080 custodial parent fathers, 59,370 caretaker third-party custodians, and 458,666 custodial parent mothers. The Ohio Child Support Program works with other states and countries to establish and enforce child support orders. Ohio's Child Support Program has 44,472 intergovernmental cases, with 24,363 initiated by Ohio and 20,109 are sent by other states to Ohio. The Harrison County Agency has all the current cases scanned into a state system to allow easy transfer of information when working with an interstate agency or another county. Child Support guarantees that BOTH parents support their children, no matter what their own relationship may be. YOUR child is worth your support.