Each May, we celebrate Military Appreciation Month. If you are an active-duty service member, a member of the National Guard or Reserves, or a military family member, I want to thank you for serving our country.
This month, OCSE published an updated version of A Handbook for Military Families: Helping You with Child Support (PDF). Managing child support debt and barriers to payment can weigh heavily on military members. Engaging parents in uniform and empowering them with information is good for everyone — and it advances the child support program’s goal of ensuring America’s children have the support they need.
Military families and child support
Military service provides rewarding opportunities and experiences, but it can also be a challenge for family relationships. Service members move more frequently than civilians do, and they’re often separated from their families for months at a time. All branches of the armed forces offer parenting programs and resources to strengthen military families. This handbook supplements those resources by providing information about paternity establishment, child support, access and visitation, and child custody that families might need. Each chapter has answers to frequently asked questions, and there’s a glossary of terms at the end of the handbook. Supervisors and military commanders may also find this a helpful addition to a leadership toolkit.
We hope this handbook will help military families navigate the child support process.
Tanguler Gray, Commissioner
This blog gives the commissioner a forum to communicate directly with child support professionals and other stakeholders about relevant topics. The Commissioner’s Voice is reprinted from the May 2022 Child Support Report newsletter.