Some quick thinking and a little detective work by the Department of Health and Human Services put thousands of dollars into the hands of parents who had not been receiving child support in Maine.
More than 7,500 former inmates of the York County Jail successfully sued the county last year over what they considered illegal strip searches between 1996 and 2004, being awarded a total $3.3 million by the court in the class action case.
It turned out, after some investigation by DHHS, that 284 of the former inmates owed substantial child support payments In fact, and 120 of them had not made payments in more than a year. The Department worked in cooperation with the Attorney General and the U.S. District Court, in Portland, to place liens on money awarded to plaintiffs who owed child support.
A total of $463,000 was collected from individuals awarded damages as a result of the class action suit. Of that sum, $240,000 was turned over to families. The remainder went to state and federal government to help repay the cost of public assistance during the time that child support payments were not available.
“When the court authorizes us to collect child support, we do anything we can to meet that obligation. It’s the children and the taxpayers we’re thinking of,” said Steve Hussey, Director Division of Support Enforcement and Recovery (DSER) in the Office of Integrated Access and Support.
Last year, the Department collected $110-million in child support payments, with $80-million going directly to families.
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