INSIDE OKDHS FEATURE STORY, OCTOBER 2013 - CHILD SUPPORT SERVICES; COMMUNITY CONNECTION

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No Audio: Jeff Wagner - Programs Administrator, Center for Communications and Community Relations, Child Support Services

Jeff Wagner: To raise awareness about the Child Support Program, we request of the Governor each year that she sign a proclamation declaring August Child Support Awareness Month, and we do this to raise awareness about the program as well as to educate the people who may need our services, Child Support Services or to open a child support case. 

Each year we have a number of Child Support Awareness Month activities including school supply drives as a way to show communities that we are interested in helping children, as well as some offices will have coloring contests where children draw pictures and color pictures of what family means to them. All of this ties back to our mission of promoting healthy families. 

One of the projects that we recently became involved in is a grant-funded project called "Project WIN," and that stands for Workforce Innovation Now. Under Project WIN, we worked with a number of partners and other agencies to identify ways that we can help our non-custodial parents overcome barriers to employment. The reason that overcoming barriers to employment is important to Child Support Services is because the more successful an individual is who owes child support, the better able he or she is to be able to support their family. 

Over the past two years and wrapping up this past August as part of Child Support Awareness month, staff through Child Support Services conducted workshops around the state primarily in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, because those are the grant-funded areas, but also in some small towns like Enid and Chickasha to give us a pilot in rural areas as well. 

And what would happen at those is staff would conduct these workshops that would walk you through the workbook. We also put together a 20-minute video through Project WIN that describes the process that a person needs to be able to go through to find a job. It tells you how to go through a job search. It uses the workbook as material to be able to put all the information together that you need in one place to apply for and obtain a good job. 

Narrator: Trying to get hired can feel like a game, but it's no fun unless you're winning. This video brought to you by Child Support Services will help you win the game of getting a job. 

Jeff Wagner: The "Closer To Hired" video that we produced through the Project WIN grant is really useful to anyone that is conducting a job search. Job search skills, interviewing techniques, even the elevator speech, being able to sell yourself in a 30 second sound bite, all these things are skills that can be strengthened through the Project WIN video. 

As a function of the Project WIN grant, we conducted telephone surveys of participants in the Project WIN workshops, and what we found overwhelmingly, not only were people able to find employment which was our ultimate objective, but more importantly, it raised their self-esteem in their job search. Unanimously participants were telling us that participating in Project WIN gave them the confidence to restart an otherwise ended job search. 

Each year Child Support Services tries to outdo itself on how we reach out to the community during Child Support Awareness Month and this year we came up with the Outreach Scavenger Hunt photo contest as a way to do above and beyond what we've always done. We've always done things like school supply drives so that we can show our partnership with community schools and our interest in children becoming successful. We often do things like coloring contests. Offices have done fundraisers on the courthouse grounds, as well as awareness events and a lot of public speaking. 

The Community Outreach contest, the photo contest, really got people out and engaging in new and different ways. We have a number of partners that we work with every day, but the biggest is employers. Over 70% of all child support comes in through Income Withholding Orders that are submitted by employers and so we have units dedicated to full-time outreach to employers. But this really got Child Support caseworkers talking about the direct impact that employers can have on a family by submitting the child support that's owed. 

It was really during a staff meeting that we were discussing how we could do bigger, better and different for Child Support Awareness Month when Rachel Mitchell, one of the Public Information Managers here at Child Support, said that her family had just done a scavenger hunt using photos instead of actually collecting items. She then came up with the full list of photos that teams would use to compete doing community outreach on behalf of Child Support. 

So, at the 1st of August we announced the Outreach Scavenger Hunt to staff. Teams then participated. Each team member submitted a $5 entry fee, and that entry fee plus the other money collected through donations by partners, as well as Child Support staff who wanted to donate, all of that money went towards the grand prize which was a $300 donation to the school of the winning team's choice. 

To win, a team had to complete 14 different assignments under the Outreach Contest. This was places like banks, hospitals, even the sheriff's office that they had to go and conduct some community outreach. This could be things like dropping off publications to the hospital about what it means to be a father under the legal definition, at the sheriff's office we talk about our partnership in the Most Wanted and Missing Parents programs. 

These type of acts then they had to document. They would have a two to three person team, and one member of the team had to be in the photo, and another member of the team had to take the photo of this community outreach being conducted. A number of the photos would be in front of a local business that may have had Child Support cases and was submitting regular child support. 

They also had to go find where their local payment kiosk was. These are cash kiosks that people can go and pay their child support in person. So, that it not only raised the community's awareness about our program, but it also raised the participating team members' awareness about, "Where is the closest kiosk?" Because if they took a picture at the one that was farther away, then that wouldn't qualify. It made sure that each team member was reaching out to members of the community in a new and different way. 

No Audio: Janice Liggett - Voluntary Paternity Worker, Child Support Services. Scavenger Hunt Team.

Janice Liggett: We were able to really just put a face. I think that everybody seemed to really appreciate when we came in and talked to them. Like I said, we got information to bring back here to possibly set up some meetings with other people. So, I thought that was a good deal. 

No Audio: Chris Kieffer - Oklahoma Central Registry, Child Support Services. Scavenger Hunt Team.

Chris Kieffer: It was a very positive experience. I was a little bit surprised at how receptive people were to it. It was surprising to me after eight years. 

No Audio: Yolanda Fininen - Voluntary Paternity Worker, Child Support Services. Scavenger Hunt Team.

Yolanda Fininen: I just liked being with the babies at the Infant Crisis Center. That was good. 

Jeff Wagner: Out of the 26 teams competing in the Photo Outreach contest the Ardmore Office, which is a District Attorney's Office contracted by DHS, was the winner. They presented to Jefferson Elementary School a $300 check that Jefferson Elementary School is now going to use to fund a project of their own that allows students to learn how to do their own outreach and community service. 

Chris Kieffer: I would say that people want to talk to you, and I would encourage everybody to do it. Like I said earlier, it was really a surprise that people were so receptive, and they want to hear about what we have to do. 

Yolanda Fininen: I know a lot of people that are on DHS and do child support. A lot of men are scared to come talk to you about it and everything like that. I think if we open up to them more, I think we'll get a lot more done. 

Jeff Wagner: Community outreach is probably the best opportunity that we have to be seen as more than just a government agency, but also a caring organization. And anything that we can do to make ourselves more approachable by the community ensures that the people who need our services are likely to ask for them. 

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