Caseworkers Arlena Courtney and MarRissa Clark, DNA Specialist Wanda Sims, and Monique Lott, supervisor, seated.
Lake County's Child Support hosts open house at Gary office
Contributed By:The 411 News
Public invited to meet the staff and see remodeled offices
With remodeling finished about a month ago, staff at Lake County’s Child Support office in Gary have settled in and were ready to welcome the public to a tour of their offices in the county court building at 4th & Broadway.
Tour guide and Lake County Prosecutor’s public information officer Bradley Carter said the tour was their chance to give the public a look at the internal operations of the office and let them meet all the people who work to protect children. “We also wanted them to see the renovations,” Carter said.
Refreshments were even served at the end of the tour.
It was about time for the renovations, said Jose Vega, a deputy prosecuting attorney. “We’re the second busiest child support agency in the state behind Marion County. Furnishings in this office haven’t been changed since the 1980s.”
Attorneys, caseworkers, and finance staff opened their offices to the public at the Friday, November 8 tour. They work to establish and enforce child support and medical support orders; they locate non-custodial parents, establish paternity, and enforce child support payments.
Intake workers on the first floor are pleased with the remodeling. They like their new closed cubicles that offer applicants more privacy.
A reception area with seating has been added to the intake section. Until now, applicants had to wait in the halls of the county court building. When completed, the reception area will have a television and play area for children.
Technology will bring more changes to the child support division, said prosecuting attorney Robert Harkins. The county is soliciting bids for a web site and kiosks that will offer applicants easier access to child support services. The kiosks will be placed throughout the county for those unable to travel to downtown Gary and Crown Point.
Two kiosks will be placed in the intake area if participants want to complete the application process online.
The official name for child support is Title IV-D Child Support that often gets shortened to just IV-D. It is a division of the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office.
Rochelle Moody, supervising prosecuting attorney with Bradley Carter and Robert Harkins
Story Posted:11/16/2019
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