Southern California Family Law Attorney Blog

When we hear stories related to child support, they are rarely uplifting. Often we hear of parents who owe thousands to their children or how far behind a state is in collecting unpaid child support. Even when hear of noncustodial parents being caught or imprisoned for not paying, that doesn’t always result in payment. Today, however, we have some good news.

Last month, the San Bernardino County Department of Child Support Services was recognized for excellence in child support collection. The department received two awards: the Director’s Excellence Award and the Increased Distributed Collections Award. Both show how well our county does in collecting child support and managing cases.

The awards are a nod to a substantial increase in collections from 2011 to 2012. San Bernardino County experienced one of the largest jumps in child support collections in the state: 4.3 percent. The county’s DCSS also exceeded all 2012 goals that were related to child support collection and performance improvement. The department was able to give custodial parents in the county more than $169 million in the last fiscal year alone.

The fact that our county is working so diligently to collect unpaid child support is something we should be proud of, especially because more than 130,000 children who are owed child support live in San Bernardino County.

For people who live in San Bernardino County, it may be reassuring to know that the government is working diligently to collect unpaid child support. However, we all know that many families continue to go without the child support payments they are due. For them, getting in touch with DCSS or speaking with an experienced attorney may be a good option.

Source: Desert Dispatch, "County Child Support Services recognized as top in state," Brooke Self, Feb. 13, 2013