LAURINBURG — There are 360 pinwheels placed outside the Scotland County Department of Social Services — all representing the child support that was collected in July.
There are over 4,000 child support cases in Scotland County and, to show support for Child Support Awareness Month, SCDSS placed pinwheels for every $1,000 of child support that was collected for the month prior.
Gov. Roy Cooper created a proclamation which that commended the judges, district attorneys, clerks of court, sheriffs’ personnel and child support professionals across the state for being vital resources. The proclamation also stated that “in the state fiscal year 2018-19, more than $700 million in child support for more than 400,000 children was collected from the no parents of North Carolina minors.”
Locally, during the past fiscal year while there were thousands collected, there was more outstanding debt than what was collected.
“In fiscal year 2019, Scotland County collected $5,179,745 in Child Support for custodial parents and guardians of Scotland County,” said Scotland County Department of Social Services Director April Snead. “Paternity was established on 98.98-percent of cases and has established orders on 91.30-percent of cases open in Scotland County. Currently we have 71 outstanding orders for arrest with bonds totaling $601,503.40.”
The 71 cases have gone up since this time last year where there were only 57 non-custodial parents had orders for their arrest.
Back in April the SCDSS hosted its Child Support Amnesty Program for the second time and allowed parents who fall under a court order of arrest for child support to avoid jail time.
The Scotland County Sheriff’s Office has a Facebook page for the Child Support Enforcement Division where need to locate flyers are posted that include the name, address and usually a photo of those who have warrants for failure to pay child support.
For information of Scotland County Department of Social Services contact them at 910-277-2525
