DCFS Offers Help to Get Non-Custodial Parents 'On the Road Again' with Child Support Payments

BATON ROUGE - The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) will celebrate Child Support Awareness Month in August with another opportunity for non-custodial parents who are behind on their child support payments to get their driver's licenses reinstated for a reduced amount.

The "On the Road Again" project, now in its second year, will begin Aug. 1 and run through Sept. 30. DCFS is raising awareness about the project now, before its launch date, so that child support payors can budget and plan to participate. The project is open to non-custodial parents whose licenses DCFS has administratively suspended.

DCFS collected $193,882.30 in past-due child support during the inaugural, 6-week "Back on the Road" project in 2018, giving 249 families needed support and providing an opportunity for 195 payors of child support to get their licenses reinstated.

The Department is lengthening the project time this year to give payors more time to save up the necessary funds to participate and provide their children the support they need.

Typically, a payor who has fallen behind in their child support payments, and had their license suspended as a result, must come into subsequent or partial compliance with their court-ordered support payments before the license may be reinstated. Subsequent compliance requires the payor to be up-to-date with current child support payments; have paid all past-due support or be making periodic payments in accordance with either a court order or a written agreement with the DCFS analyst; and have provided health insurance, if required to do so.

With the "On the Road Again" project, DCFS Child Support Enforcement (CSE) is offering to reduce those requirements for eligible payors who seek to participate on or before Sept. 30, 2019. Under the limited-time program, payors can begin the license reinstatement process by paying, on each case:

• Two months of their court-ordered child support,
• $100 toward arrears or past-due support, and
• Administrative fee, if court ordered.

This payment does not include any reinstatement fees or fines that may be required by the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles (OMV).

Interested payors can request an appointment or speak to their caseworker by:

• Going online to www.dcfs.la.gov/cafe and sending their caseworker a direct message (If you do not have an online Cafe account, you may create one); OR
• Contacting CSE by email at OntheRoad.DCFS@la.gov; OR
• Contacting the DCFS Customer Service Center at LAHelpU.DCFS@la.gov or 1-888-524-3578, from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday; OR
• Visiting the nearest CSE office from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. A list of CSE offices throughout the state can be found at www.dcfs.la.gov/offices.

Payors are encouraged to make an appointment with their caseworker to determine the exact amount needed for a cashier's check or money order to qualify. After making the full payment required, the payor will be given the necessary paperwork to take to their nearest OMV office to have their license reinstated.

For more information about the "On the Road Again" project, visit www.dcfs.la.gov/ontheroadagain.

For more information about DCFS Child Support services, visit www.dcfs.la.gov/CSE.