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Child Support Collections Improve During Pandemic; New System Coming

John Gibson
/
WNIN

Above: Child advocate Julie Eder spoke to reporters in front of Evansville's Civic Center on Tuesday.

Child support collections have improved during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke stressed the importance of collecting child support during a news conference in front of the Civic Center on Thursday.

"Be it resloved that I, Lloyd Winnecke, Mayor of the City of Evansville, do hereby proclaim the month of August as Child Support Awareness Month in the city of Evansville."

Child advocate Julie Eder told reporters she dealt with many years of difficulty getting her three children’s father to pay.

"A lot of non-custodial parents work under the table or they switch jobs frequently. Once child support catches up with them they've moved on to another job."

But Eder said people who owe child support were easier to track during the pandemic.

"A lot of non-custodial parents were receiving unemployment as well as the $600 a week extra that the government was giving and all of that was garnishable."

Child support supervisor Michelle DeWitt-Thompson said a technology upgrade is in the works to help track those who owe.

"In May of 2022, Vanderburgh County is going to be one of three counties in Indiana that will do a three-month pilot for this new web-based child support system."

About $2 billion in child support is owed in Indiana.

Eder said a billboard will be posted soon in Evansville promoting child support collections.