Delaware’s Division of Child Support Services is hosting town halls in July throughout the state to answer questions about the child support process.
Georgetown Public Library hosted the first of these meetings Wednesday night.
The presentation covers establishing a child support case, dealing with dormant cases, and general courses of action for custodial and non-custodial parents.
DCSS director Ted Mermigos leads a presentation at each event and answers any questions from attendees.
“When individuals ask questions, they're really asking questions that maybe other people have in the room, but are afraid too ask,” Mermigos said. “So, we're hoping that it's going to be a learning environment where the people who come to the event will be able to learn, not only from us at Child Support but from other people in the room.”
There are four meetings in July. The upcoming meetings will be on Tuesday, July 16 from 4:45-7 p.m. at Wilmington Public Library; Tuesday, July 23 from 6-8 p.m. at Appoquinimink Library and Tuesday, July 30 from 6-7:45 p.m. at Dover Public Library.
The events aim to inform both custodial and non-custodial parents about the child support process. Mermigos said the events will have an interesting dynamic, as the crowd will include both custodial and non-custodial parents.
“I think it's going to be important for non custodial parents to hear from custodial parents what it's like to be in their shoes, hoping and expecting that a child support payment is going to be going to be received and sent to them,” Mermigos said.
He notes non-custodial parents should be heard too, since DCSS is aware they often struggle to be self-sufficient and make child support payments on top of living expenses.
One goal of these events is to have on-one-on conversations to get people back on track with their cases and payments.
DCSS’s website has more information on child support in Delaware.
