 welcome to this episode of In the Studio. I'm your host Madeline Hamaguchi. Today we're going to be talking about Yolo County child support services. Child support services are for parents whose relationship is not intact and need support co-parenting their children. So we have a short video to share with you first. Joining us today is Natalie Dillon, the director of Yolo County child support services. Welcome. Thank you. Nice to be here. It's nice to have you. Can you tell us a little bit about in general what your mission is and some of the services that you provide? Absolutely. So Yolo County child support services is a program to serve parents to support them in establishing paternity, establishing child support orders, collecting and distributing child support to families who are not intact. The video that we just saw really I think demonstrated that these this applies to many families today. This is not a program specifically for a specific population. It's for anyone who's no longer in a relationship together to parent those children. So we can help them with paternity establishments so determining who dad is if that's not already been established through a legal process as well as getting the court documents to really show and have an order for child support and then we'll collect it and distribute it and help those families through that process. So we were looking at this video that talked about just parents but you said that it also can extend to grandparents and any other guardians that still need the support of the biological parents. Absolutely. We see you know grandparents are raising children, aunts and uncles raising children and other caregivers and those folks are also eligible to receive child support from the biological parents even if they're not in the home and so we can help facilitate getting a child support order in those situations as well. So the goal really is to find the best outcomes for children, the best support, however they can get it and so one of those one of the problems at times is that not both parents are in Yolo County but they can still at least one of those parents or the caregivers can come to you even when they are in Yolo County. Really the the fundamental mission of our program is and I think that our values are built around the premise that every child deserves the support of both parents right so whether they live in Yolo County whether they the other parent is in another state in another country they still deserve children still deserve the support of both parents and and we're here to help them so if the child is residing here in Yolo County Yolo County child support services can support that guardian that caregiver that parent in getting the child support they need to help raise that child. Children there's so much research that really shows that children's outcomes are better if they have the support both the financial support but the emotional support of both parents and so we can facilitate working with other states or other countries the other parent regardless of where they are to help that child get that support and some of that research really shows that children have better academic outcomes they have better social outcomes there's less teen pregnancy less involvement in the criminal justice system if both parents are involved so I think our program is such an important program to help ensure children have positive outcomes as they grow up and have access to opportunities that they may not have if they just had the support of one parent. There's been a question about how someone who isn't a parent who isn't a guardian just yet but is looking at your services as a beneficial resource for the community what are some ways that they can support you. So one of the things that we're trying to do is just really educate the community at large about what our services are our services are free to low cost the most that they can cost is $25 a year so it's essentially free and many families who again their relationships not intact don't know that we exist and don't know that they can apply for our services to apply for our services is really easy we have a lot of different ways to do it but we have one that we have a quick app that is super simple it's on the Yolo County child support website and and so if folks are interested in applying for services they can go through that quick app they'll get a call from one of our staff right away they will help walk them through that process there are other ways that one can apply for services if you don't have access to a computer or or to a mobile device we can also mail you an application but really the quick app if at all you can have access to a phone or mobile device is an easy way to apply for services so to answer your question really what we're asking is to spread the word we all know people who are raising children as a single parent and and we're here to help and so the more that we can educate this community about the services that we provide I think the children do better mm-hmm sounds it sounds very accessible and and available as long as people know about it exactly exactly and I think one of the things that has changed as more people are having children not within marriage but out of wedlock that they're not going through a marriage dissolution they're not going through a divorce and so they don't have a legal court order that establishes child support so they don't even know that we exist because they haven't gone through the court process so what we're trying to do is really reach out directly to families and we're using that through social media we're now we have an ad campaign at the movie theaters in Yolo County and through venues like this to really show and demonstrate to people that we do we exist we're here to help we're free to low cost and that it's really easy to apply for services you were mentioning that you worked closely with a few other Yolo County agencies would you could you tell me about those again absolutely so one of the populations that we work with and it's not limited to this population but that's to folks who are receiving cow works or public assistance so as folks apply for cow works they're automatically referred directly to child support services so that we can work to find the other parent and help engage them in the child's life and support their child we also work with the children that are in foster care families so we don't work directly with the children but we'll work to collect and force child support against those parents who may no longer have their children because their children still need their support so if parental rights have not been terminated and the child's in foster care we'll work very closely with Yolo County Health and Human Services to support those families who are in poverty on cow works as well as in the foster care system well so the other thing that that is provided it's mentioned on your website but is a resource no matter you know if you call your offices or elsewhere or employer services and how can how do employers help child services so a child support services as I've mentioned we collect and distribute child support one of the the predominant ways we do that is engaging with employers so employers will remit child support payments as a result of an income withholding order or a wage garnishment so if a parent who owes support is working will submit an income withholding order directly to that employer the employer will mail or transmit that money directly to what's called the state disbursement unit which then collects all the child support money and then distributes it right to families so employers submit approximately 70% of all child support that's due in California or that's paid in California so employers are really important stakeholder and we have a lot of different paper processes that will set into them so on our website we have a page dedicated for employers that help them understand those forms those processes and to answer any questions they may have oh wow the so coming up very soon is the month of August and that happens to be child support awareness month now from what I understand it's not only yellow county that promotes this month but it's several other child support agencies throughout California yes so every county in the state of California has a child support agency there are a few counties that have combined to provide regional services but so in California and they're now 49 local child support agencies YOLO is one of them and the state of California has put together a campaign to really celebrate and honor the child support awareness month and to honor the parents that are supporting their children and helping them and then also to educate other families that that we exist the campaign that we're rolling out as a state this year is around that parents that children want parents who they can imitate and that every day we are role models for our children and that how we support our children is not just through financially but through that emotional support and social support that is so important in a parent's role so that's one of the things that we're really emphasizing in the month of August is the important role of parents in child support right although the it sounds like this is not just a month you know a one month per year effort this is something that we want to spread the word about your round absolutely absolutely and that's something here in YOLO County that we're really focused on is we want to ensure that all the citizens in YOLO County understand that we exist that we're here for them we are fully state and federal tax funded program and that's how and so the money that we collect gets distributed back to the families we're here to support their families and I think a piece of the child support awareness month is for families to understand that we're for both parents we're here to support both parents whether you have the custody of the child whether you have 50-50 custody or some other sort of shared arrangement we're here to support both parents you know one of the aspects of our services that many parents have commented on how helpful is is that we'll do all of the audits we'll do all of the financial accounting and child support can be complicated when you start adding in all of the other components and we can keep track of all of those payments provide audits upon request and so that the two parents don't have to necessarily work together on those things it happens naturally seamlessly behind the scenes we can direct deposit into bank accounts we can use income with holding orders so you don't have to write a check you don't have to deposit a check we can work with parents to make whatever is easiest for them wow it sounds amazingly accessible as long as people know about it exactly well so so again I want to mention we're out of time but I wanted to mention that that easy access support app where people can donate just apply just no donations no nation's at all but just apply just go to Yolo County child support org you can go there's a parents page you can apply directly use the quick app we'll have staff call you right away and we'll get that application processed sounds easy and it sounds like it's a service that's continued to be needed absolutely it's beautiful all right well thank you Natalie so much for joining us today this has been in the studio I am Madeline Homiguchi your host thank you so much for joining us we'll hope to see you next time