2008 Woodie Awards
County to continue parent roundup
Erin Bowen
Issue date: 1/15/08 Section: Community
Butler County is determined to crack down when it comes to deadbeat parents falling behind in child support payments.
Despite the announcement in late December by the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services (ODJFS) that the state will terminate a yearly roundup program and arrest of parents who have failed to pay child support, Cynthia Brown, the executive director for the Butler County Child Support Enforcement Agency (CSEA) announced Butler County would continue the program.
Neighboring Warren County will also continue to pursue and arrest parents.
The statewide program, created in 1997, managed to round up hundreds of parents each year from dozens of counties across the state of Ohio.
According to Dennis Evans, spokesman for the ODJFS, the state is no longer doing a one-day coordinated targeting of deadbeat parents in which all Ohio counties work together to round up individuals with outstanding warrants for unpaid child support.
"Over the years there have been various levels of participation," Evans said.
Evans said the purpose at the beginning of this program, 10 years ago, was to encourage counties to foster relationships between child support agencies, child support programs and law enforcement. While he said the program was successful in doing this, he also said the one-day a year roundup was only
one tool that counties could use to round up parents.
"What we have stopped is the focus on one-day because there are far more efforts on a daily basis," Evans said.
In addition to the one-day roundup, Evans said other tools to help catch parents include driver's license suspension, holding of federal income tax refunds and other financial and enforcement tools.
According to Brown, 37 parents from Butler County were arrested in 2006 during a week-long roundup. Brown said Butler County ranked fourth out of the 88 participating counties. For the complete year of 2006, 83 parents were arrested, Brown said.
Despite the announcement in late December by the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services (ODJFS) that the state will terminate a yearly roundup program and arrest of parents who have failed to pay child support, Cynthia Brown, the executive director for the Butler County Child Support Enforcement Agency (CSEA) announced Butler County would continue the program.
Neighboring Warren County will also continue to pursue and arrest parents.
The statewide program, created in 1997, managed to round up hundreds of parents each year from dozens of counties across the state of Ohio.
According to Dennis Evans, spokesman for the ODJFS, the state is no longer doing a one-day coordinated targeting of deadbeat parents in which all Ohio counties work together to round up individuals with outstanding warrants for unpaid child support.
"Over the years there have been various levels of participation," Evans said.
Evans said the purpose at the beginning of this program, 10 years ago, was to encourage counties to foster relationships between child support agencies, child support programs and law enforcement. While he said the program was successful in doing this, he also said the one-day a year roundup was only
one tool that counties could use to round up parents.
"What we have stopped is the focus on one-day because there are far more efforts on a daily basis," Evans said.
In addition to the one-day roundup, Evans said other tools to help catch parents include driver's license suspension, holding of federal income tax refunds and other financial and enforcement tools.
According to Brown, 37 parents from Butler County were arrested in 2006 during a week-long roundup. Brown said Butler County ranked fourth out of the 88 participating counties. For the complete year of 2006, 83 parents were arrested, Brown said.
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