From Staff Reports
Cumberland Times-News
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BALTIMORE — Interim Maryland Department of Human Resources Secretary Brian Wilbon recently honored 25 child support workers, including two from this area, during an event culminating Child Support Awareness month.
Among those cited are Bryan Leatherman of Allegany County and Tonya Kessell of Garrett County.
Child support workers play a vital role to ensure financial security to over 500,000 Maryland children who depend on child support for their financial well-being. These workers collected and distributed over $516 million in child support monies to almost 252,000 cases during fiscal year 2010.
"Because the work they do is so critical to so many, we are acknowledging staff whose performance and dedication reached the highest level of excellence’’" said Wilbon.
Child support plays a vital part in ensuring the well-being of so many of Maryland's children and enhances the stability of many single-parent households. These workers use various tools and technology to locate parents, establish paternity, and support orders, collect and disburse child support payments and collaborate with community organizations to provide employment services. On average, they worked with over 30,000 interstate cases, established paternity for 139,000 children born out of wedlock, and established support orders for 205,000 cases.
To ensure robust collections, child support workers use tools like cross-referencing data with other agencies, denying the issuance of passports, and intercepting lottery winnings and income tax returns when child support debt exists. In addition, they have strengthened collaboration with the business community, the judiciary, and other local and state government offices.
The honored workers were selected by their peers and represent every part of the state.
