County to Offer Child Support Workshops

Solano County Department of Child Services is looking to make the child support process easier to understand with a series of workshops. Each workshop covers a specific subject within the child support process, and is free and open to the public. The next class will be “Compromise of Arrears,” scheduled for March 30.

“The real concern for people is that needing child support, and dealing with the courts, and all of this stuff is foreign,” said Stephen Pierce, Solano County Public Communications Officer. “It’s not something you learned in school, it’s not something you trained for, it is not something that most people are prepared for.”

Pierce said that “Compromise of Arrears” is not only ideal for people who are paying child support, but for those interested in passing the information along to someone who is paying. The workshop will go over the steps necessary to change the amount of child support in arrears because of a decrease of income. Often times, courts will adjust the amount due, as well as future payments, for such reasons as being laid off, cut hours at work, or incarceration.

“There’s a special program we do where we go out to prisons and identify inmates and give them that info, but a family member, a sister, brother or mother could come and learn about that for a relative that is in jail, “said Pierce.

Pierce said this is the second year that Solano County has reached out to the public with these workshops. Other workshops previously offered include “Case Opening and Understanding Child Support,” and “Review and Adjustment.”  “What to Expect at Court” is scheduled for April 27.

The “Compromise in Arrears” workshop will be at the Solano County Department of Child Services, 435 Executive Court North, Fairfield. This is a lunchtime workshop and is scheduled from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. For more information, visit their website.