Montgomery County offers license reinstatement program for those who owe child support

People in Montgomery County whose driver’s license is suspended due to not paying child support can take advantage of a program this month to get it back.

August is Child Support Awareness Month, and the Montgomery County Child Support Enforcement Agency is giving parents a chance to pay one month of back support instead of the usual three months that are required to get a driver’s license reinstated.

On top of getting their license back, a person can also get resources to help ensure they don’t get behind again, said Sarah Fields, Montgomery County’s assistant director for Child Support. The office provides services like employment resources. and co-parenting resources like mediation.

“The need to drive is a reality in life, so if your license has been suspended for non-payment that is something that we can easily overcome,” Fields said. “We just want to encourage people to come in and chat with us so we can get them resources so they can comply with that order.”

About 55,000 children in the county benefit from child support and getting that money to them is important Fields said. The enforcement agency has offered the program in August for several years now and last year 44 people took advantage of the program and collected about $12,000 in back child support.

The program is not debt forgiveness, but does give a parent an opportunity to get back on track, Fields said.

“A lot of times when you can’t make that child support payment, you might feel ashamed or you might feel like you don’t want to be in touch with us and go underground so you don’t face any kind of repercussions, but really the best thing to do is the opposite of that. Come talk to us, we have a lot of ways we can assist you.”

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