Gov. Heineman Announces New Record in Collection of Child Support Payments

Gov. Heineman Announces New Record in Collection of Child Support Payments

Gov. Dave Heineman announced that Nebraska's child support collections set a new record last year. The state distributed more than $237 million to families and other states in 2004, an increase of $8.5 million over 2003 collections.

"Nebraska's parents are making their children a priority and I commend all those who provide not only the financial, but the emotional support children need," Gov. Heineman said. "In the instances where parents don't willingly provide financial support, Nebraska's child support professionals are committed to working to make a difference in the lives of children."

The Governor has also signed proclamation declaring August as Child Support Awareness Month. Nebraska had a total of nearly 99,000 child support cases in 2004 serving more than 111,000 children.

Daryl Wusk, administrator of the HHS Office of Economic and Family Support, said "Children have a right to financial support. We do everything in our power to make sure Nebraska's kids are taken care of."

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) uses a variety of techniques to help enforce a child support order, including: income withholding, license suspension, consumer credit bureau reporting, passport denial, and intercepting tax refunds.

Custodial and non-custodial parents can apply for support services. The child support customer service hotline is available by calling (877) 631-9973, and more information is available on the HHS Child Support Enforcement Web site at http://www.hhss.ne.gov/cse/cseindex.htm.

http://gov.nol.org/news/2005_08/18_child_support.html