With children returning to school and parents oftentimes seeing some extra costs for their children, the subject of child support may be on their mind. This is fitting in a sense, because August is National Child Support Awareness Month.
National Child Support Awareness Month was started by President Clinton via a special Proclamation, much like other Proclamations that other presidents have used to set up federal holidays and events. The point of this commemoration is to remind parents that, ultimately, child support payments go to benefit the needs of that parent’s child. Not only does this mean that the child and the child’s custodial parent don’t need to go to the government or some other source to meet these needs, it also means that, at least according to reliable studies, the child will fare better emotionally. Children seem to thrive when both of their parents contribute to their support.
While the surrounding campaign for this year’s observation encourages parents to be their child’s superhero by paying their support and also encouraged them to wear green on August 15, this month is also a great time for parents to remember to review their child support orders to make sure they still fit the circumstances. After all, child support works best not only when parents pay the full amount owed, regularly and on time, but also when the support parents are ordered to pay is checked periodically to make sure it is still accurate.
A parent who is paying too much support may wind up getting into financial trouble, and this ultimately helps no one. On the other hand, a parent receiving too little support may struggle to meet the children’s needs if the other parent was not paying or not paying the full amount.
