The child support program serves one in seven children in New York City and collects more than three-quarters of a billion dollars annually on their behalf. As an agency, we continuously seek to identify improvements to our program to achieve better outcomes for the children, parents, and guardians we serve. For a basic summary of our services, see Child Support Overview or access the CBO Information Packet.
Community Partners and the partnerships OCSS has with other City agencies are vital to us for sharing information about child support with parents and informing strategies to best assist the families and children that we all serve. If your organization would like to receive training for your staff on any child support topics, please contact Alan Farrell at 929-252-5219 or alan.farrell@dfa.state.ny.us. You can also refer to the desk guide entitled How You Can Help Your Clients with Child Support (19-DG-03) for some taking points.
For close to 10 years, we have had a committee of community partners who meet with us to share ideas, suggestions, and concerns. There have been several new initiatives and changes that have come out of the committee, as outlined in our Child Support Snapshot . Contact Alan Farrell at 929-252-5219 or alan.farrell@dfa.state.ny.us if you are interested in participating.
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Relevant Documents
Additional Videos
Although all of our videos are posted to the OCSS YouTube Channel, this section lists videos intended for our partners.
Upcoming Presentations
We look forward to seeing you at our free virtual child support webinars.
HRA's Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) Training Institute presents The Child Support Information Hour – an ongoing series designed to shed light on the sometimes complicated issues around child support. Programs are designed for staff at city agencies and community-based organizations, as well as our clients – custodial and noncustodial parents – and professionals that work with those clients. Each session starts with a presentation that is followed by a question and answer period.
How community-based organizations can benefit from learning about the child support program: Child support clients who are either noncustodial or custodial parents are also often participants of many other programs such as: Child Welfare, Corrections, Veterans Affairs, Workforce One, DYCD, Head Start, SNAP, Cash Assistance, Nurse Family Practitioners, Jobs Plus, and many community-based organizations. The services the child support program provides can support or detract from the goals of your organization. These information sessions can help you better understand the intersection between our program and yours. We would love for you to encourage your clients to attend sessions that might interest them. All are welcome!
All sessions are held virtually on Tuesdays from 10:00 to 11:00am, unless otherwise noted. There is no cost for these webinars, we end each session with a question-and-answer period. Links for registering are below. Please Note: If you have trouble registering for any session, please email us immediately at OCSS.TrainingInsitute@dfa.state.ny.us.
Tuesday, December 12 at 10:00am
This training provides noncustodial parents who have recently received a child support order with information on child support – how it works, the responsibilities an NCP must meet, and the benefits – including the long-term positive effects of child support on children. The session will also address how to modify an order, available debt reduction options, and what enforcement actions could mean for the NCP.
Best Suited For:
New parents and staff of organizations that serve families and individuals who are unfamiliar with child support.
Register for the December 12 What New Noncustodial Parents Need to Know webinar
Tuesday, January 9th at 10:00am
This training provides new custodial parents with information on child support – how it works, how to apply, and the benefits – including the long-term positive effects of child support on children. Child support can make a difference in moving a family out of poverty and many families that could benefit from the program are not taking advantage of it. The session will also address how to obtain child support safely if there is a domestic violence concern, what a new custodial parent can expect the process to be like, and when to expect a first payment.
Best Suited For:
New parents and staff of organizations that serve families and individuals who are unfamiliar with child support.
Register for the January 9 What New Custodial Parents Need to Know webinar
Tuesday, January 23rd at 10:00am
This webinar provides an overview of the child support process including information on the value of child support, the lifecycle of a child support case, and a description of programs designed to benefit parents who have a child support case.
Best Suited For:
Parents and staff of organizations that serve families or individuals that are new to child support or those who would like to refresh their knowledge.
Register for the Fundamentals of Child Support webinar
Tuesday, February 6th at 12:00pm
This event is open to everyone in the community, including noncustodial and custodial parents with or without a child support order and professionals who serve them. The leaders of OCSS want to listen and hear from you. They will make short presentations about how NYC Child Support works and then answer questions from attendees on all subjects related to child support.
Best Suited For:
Parents and staff of organizations that work with individuals who have a child support case or who are thinking of applying for child support. This is an opportunity to meet the leadership of OCSS and let them know your thoughts and ideas about the program. Please help us spread the word to parents involved with or interested in the child support program.
Register for the Special Lunchtime Session: Q&A with OCSS Leadership webinar
Tuesday, February 20th at 10:00am
This training takes a deep dive into enforcement actions that are taken when child support payments aren't made in a timely fashion and arrears begin to accumulate. Participants will learn about when enforcement actions occur, exemptions, and how to challenge an administrative enforcement action.
Best Suited For:
Attorneys, parents, and staff of organizations that have a working knowledge of child support and want a deeper understanding of the administrative enforcement mechanism.
Register for the Child Support Administrative Enforcement Actions: What You Need to Know webinar
Tuesday, March 5th at 10:00am
Unpaid child support debt is a serious problem for noncustodial parents as well as custodial parents and their children. It leads to enforcement actions and causes stress for all parties. Participants will learn about the important OCSS programs that can administratively reduce child support debt owed to the government as well as strategies to avoid debt in the first place and an option for negotiating debt owed to custodial parents.
Best Suited For:
Attorneys, parents, and staff of organizations that have a working knowledge of child support and want a deeper understanding of the steps NCPs can take to reduce debt that is owed either to the government or the custodial parent.
Register for the Debt Reduction Options for NCPs webinar
Tuesday, March 19th at 10:00am
Attendees will learn about our latest initiatives, our new program offerings, and our approach to make child support easier to understand. Attendees will also receive information about the new NYC Child Support App where custodial parents can apply for child support, noncustodial parents can make online payments, and both parents can manage aspects of their child support case.
Best Suited For:
Staff of organizations who work regularly with families or individuals and want to learn about new services available from OCSS.
Child Support in the Community Newsletter