The Office of Child Support was established to ensure that the needs of children of single parent households are provided for through the financial support of the non-custodial parent. To that end, they look for ways to encourage single parents to seek assistance in receiving all of the child support payments to which they are entitled. Texas parents who are struggling to either pay or receive these payments may choose to seek additional information regarding their options.
Recently, several states were selected to receive funding to start a new initiative geared toward reaching out to single-parent households regarding their rights to pursue child support payments. The program will involve composing advertisements for social media sites and Google. The ads will be geared toward households that are not currently receiving these support monies. The ads will also seek to encourage parents who are already active clients to continue to make their required contributions.
The Office of Child Support will use the response to the ads to gauge the effectiveness of such campaigns. Studies have shown that the majority of the target households own cell phones and that parents frequent social media sites on a regular basis. The agency conducted a previous campaign using social media that encouraged single mothers to establish paternity for their children in order to obtain any and all benefits and support that may be owed to their children.
The stated goal of the initiative is to increase the numbers of families signing up for child support services by an estimated 5 percent over the next 24 months. At this time, only 14 states were included in the initiative. One of the biggest expenses for households with children is quality child care, and single parents may struggle even more since they often fall in the lower-income brackets. Texas parents who need assistance in collecting support payments for their children may benefit from contacting an experienced family law attorney.