Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Director Tom Hayes today announced that Ohio has been awarded a $30.4 million incentive for performance in the child support program.

"To receive such a large incentive is further evidence of the progress that has occurred with Ohio's child support program," Hayes said. "Child support professionals at the state and county level are committed to continually improving the services we provide."

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families divided $461 million in incentives among all states and territories for federal fiscal year 2003 in five performance categories: support order establishment, current collections, past due collections, paternity establishment and cost effectiveness. Only three states received a greater amount than Ohio.

"The child support program benefits families both financially and emotionally," said Joseph Pilat, ODJFS child support director. "We will reinvest this money in the program in order to achieve further success."

Ohio received a $32.2 million incentive for federal fiscal year 2002. An estimated $4 million of that incentive was due to a redistribution of money that was overpaid to other states in 2001. Ohio received a $23.7 million incentive for federal fiscal year 2001. This brings the total received over the past three years to more than $86 million.

The incentive money will be allocated to counties based on their performance in each of the performance indicators measured by the federal office. The money may be used only to support the child support program.

Ohio collected a record amount of more than $2 billion in child support in state fiscal year 2004. There are about 975,000 child support cases in the state. Ohio has the third largest child support caseload in the nation but ranks second in total collections and first in collections for non-public assistance cases.

It is the second federal incentive to be announced by the department this month. On Oct. 14 Hayes announced that Ohio had been awarded a Temporary Assistance for Needy Families bonus of more than $28.1 million for federal fiscal year 2003.

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For more information, contact the ODJFS Office of Communications, (614) 466-6650