HCJFS Update: August's News and Information

August 2015

Selena is an intelligent and gifted young woman. She very much enjoys being at school and going to her science class. Selena says the experiments are the most exciting part of her day. Her proudest achievement - that she is studying to become a registered nurse - keeps her going on the right path.

In her spare time, Selena likes to play basketball and she's pretty good. At home, she watches a variety of reality TV shows and listens to hip-hop R&B. Her favorite show is Bad Girls Club and her favorite artists are Beyonce, Lil Wayne and Ciara. When she isn't busy with school work, Selena goes to the movies where she will see pretty much anything.

Selena wants a smaller family where she can get a lot of attention. A family that keeps busy and can teach Selena to express her emotions appropriately would be a perfect fit. She's looking for someone who will help encourage her to follow her path to a good future.

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Child Support

Strengthens Families

Quick - what is the largest JFS program?

Child welfare? No, that is the program that gets the most attention.

Food assistance? No, we feed more families than anyone in southwest Ohio on a regular basis, but that is not our biggest program.

Medicaid? No, that is growing rapidly, but still has a good ways to go to catch our number one.

It is Child Support. Our Child Support program serves more children than any public program in Hamilton County except education.

August is National Child Support Month. We are one of the busiest child support agencies in the state and currently have about 81,000 child support cases. Conservatively, that is 243,000 people being served - one father, one mother, one child. But we know a good portion of those cases concern more than just one child.

Read more...

Child support amnesty: help for pe ople with suspended licenses

August is Child Support Awareness Month. We're marking it by again offering our amnesty program to people whose driver's licenses have been suspended for not paying support.

"It is in the child's best interest to have the parent working regularly and providing support, so suspending a license is never a good option," said Moira Weir, director of Hamilton County JFS. "We do everything we can to work with the parent and amnesty month is just another chance to re-establish that working relationship. All you have to do is call."

So if you know anyone whose license has been suspended for non payment of support, let them know August is their chance to get their license back. Payment of one month's worth of their total child support obligation and reporting their employment to us can get someone's license reinstated.

We want to reinforce: Just call us. We'll work with you.

Our Child Support Enforcement Agency handles about 85,000 cases a year involving more than 250,000 Hamilton County residents. Last year, it collected $129 million for families that might not otherwise have the financial support necessary to pay for things like food, medical care and child care.

Please join us in emphasizing the importance of paying your child support by wearing green Aug. 5 and sharing a photo on social media.

Could you help a youth make it through high school, college?

As you prepare your kids for returning to school in the next couple of weeks, we ask you to think about our youth in foster care who are trying to make it through high school and college.

HEMI, which stands for Higher Education Mentoring Initiative, is a collaboration between Hamilton County Job and Family Services, the University of Cincinnati, Hamilton County Board of County Commissioners, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, Great Oaks Institute of Technology and Career Development, Mount St. Joseph University, and OhioMeansJobs. It pairs youth in foster care with mentors who help keep the students on track and in school.

The mentors and youth get together in person, talk by phone and text each other as they work through issues that challenge our foster youth.

If you'd like to learn more, please contact Sarah Mangan at (513) 556-3045 or sarah.mangan@uc.edu.