Child Support Amnesty Outreach
2022 NACo Achievement Award Winner
Hamilton County, Ohio, OH
Best In Category
About the Program
Category: Human Services (Best in Category)
Year: 2022
For years, Hamilton County Job and Family Services has marked national Child Support Awareness Month in August by offering amnesty to obligors whose licenses (driver's and professional) were suspended for failure to pay child support. We believe obligors need a fresh start and the amnesty program gives them that opportunity. Obligors got their licenses reinstated as long as they made one payment and agreed to set up a payment plan. In 2021, we boosted our efforts to reach more obligors with our You Drive, They Thrive campaign. We emailed obligors twice during the month, reminding them how to get started, framing it as us wanting to help them get back on track. We created advertising for bus shelters in targeted neighborhoods. Those ads were seen, according to the company, almost 3 million times during the month. Obligors on 176 cases participated. We collected $25,578 more in August 2021, the amnesty month, than in the month before. Six months later, many are still paying. Eight percent of these cases have been paid in full.