Young children often imitate the people with whom they spend the most time. Many California parents will be familiar with hearing their children repeat the phrases they use the most, or watching a child pretend to be mom or dad on the phone. August is Child Support Awareness Month, and noncustodial parents who make regular payments in respect of child support give their children something to imitate that will stand them in good stead for the future.
The levels of child support payments that are collected across California remain consistently high year on year. The amount distributed among 1,425 families in one county alone last year was $8.4 million. Making regular child support payments will not only improve the quality of a child’s life, it also gives the child a positive example of taking responsibility. Children are always watching how their parents behave, and this is often how they learn life skills that they then take forward into adulthood.
There are a number of ways in which one may make child support payments. They include using retail locations, by phone, by mail or online. One can set up a direct debit to make automatic payments, or use a card to make individual payments. The choices are wide ranging, designed to make it easy for as many parents to make their payments as possible, in a timely and regular manner.
The Department for Child Support Services facilitates not only child support payments, but also other matters such as establishing paternity or supervising medical support. Using the online portal, California parents can keep track of all the services they avail themselves of. This may help everyone involved to know where they stand, and to maintain contact and upkeep with minimal disruption while setting good examples for their children. Of course, family law attorneys are available to help anyone trying to enforce a child support order or seeking to modify one due to a substantial change in circumstances.
Source: Novato, CA. Patch, “Marin Celebrates Child Support Awareness Month With Parental Challenge“, Kristina Houck, Aug. 07, 2017
