NEWS                                                                                     CONTACT:  April Wiesner

For Immediate Release:                                                        Phone: (330) 643-8386

Monday, November 14, 2011                                                wiesner@prosecutor.summitoh.net

CSEA Collects $25 Million from Deadbeat Parents

Summit County committed to supporting children

AKRON, OHIO – November 14, 2011 – Summit County Prosecuting Attorney Sherri Bevan Walsh today announced that the Summit County Child Support Enforcement Agency (CSEA) has collected $25 million from criminal non-support cases since the Criminal Non-Support Unit was created in 2001.

“I am extremely proud of everyone at CSEA for their dedication and hard work on behalf of the children of Summit County,” said Prosecutor Walsh. “The results of our Criminal Non-Support Unit prove that aggressive prosecution works. Many parents start making their child support payments when their other option is losing their driver’s license or even going to prison. Our ultimate goal is ensuring parents take at least financial responsibility for their children, and we will do what it takes to accomplish that goal.”

The Criminal Non-Support Unit, a division of CSEA, prosecutes parents who are at least $5,000 behind on their child support payments and have not made a payment in more than six months. Prosecution is a last resort after other enforcement tools – such as driver’s license suspension, income withholding, liens and tax offsets – are exhausted.

“Prosecution is a worst-case scenario, reserved for those people who adamantly refuse to comply with the court’s order to pay child support,” said Prosecutor Walsh. “But we often see cases in which a father is withholding child support because the mother is denying visitation. Even though those are separate matters and CSEA has no legal jurisdiction over visitation, we believe active involvement from both parents is extremely beneficial to children. And that’s why we’ve partnered with other county agencies and nonprofits to create Family Support Matters, which attempts to improve compliance with court orders without formal court involvement.”

Family Support Matters, which started at the beginning of this year, is a family-centered alternative to formal court proceedings for parents facing their first contempt proceedings for non-payment of child support. Parents selected for Family Support Matters participate in an educational seminar identifying and addressing the factors that contributed to their non-payment. Family Support Matters offers community services such as education, mediation and employment assistance. The program is funded through a Special Improvement Project grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families and is a collaboration between CSEA, Domestic Relations Court, Department of Jobs and Family Services, Man 2 Man Fatherhood Program, Community Legal Aid and the University of Akron.

About CSEA

The Summit County Child Support Enforcement Agency collects nearly $86 million annually and handles more than 58,000 child support cases. Each year it establishes support orders for approximately 4,000 children. Since its inception in 2001, the Criminal Non-Support program has collected more than $25 million through its aggressive prosecution of individuals neglecting to pay child support. You can learn more about CSEA on its website: http://www.co.summit.oh.us/prosecutor/childsupp.htm.

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Note to editors: We have a custodial parent available to discuss her experience with the Criminal Non-Support Unit.