The Georgia Department of Human Resources Office of Child Support Enforcement has changed its name to the Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) to reflect the office's focus on customer service, according to OCSS Director Cindy Moss.

"It's time for our agency's name to emphasize our mission, which is to serve children and families," says Moss, who took the helm as OCSS director in March. "Enforcing support orders continues to be a big part of our work, because the payments make a big difference for children and help many families stay self-sufficient, but we do so much more. In fact, over half of the custodial parents we serve don't need enforcement of their cases at all, because they receive regular payments."

Child Support Services not only establishes and enforces paternity orders; it provides many other services to parents as well. The Fatherhood Program provides parents (either mothers or fathers) who have difficulty paying child support because they are unemployed or underemployed to obtain job training and counseling at state technical colleges like Augusta Tech in Thomson.

According to Linda Samples, Child Support Administrator of the Toombs circuit, plans are already being made statewide to offer other services through the Child Support Offices. An automatic event notification program will allow parents, who request this service, to receive news about payments to their account, court dates, and other events in their case through text messaging or messages to their home answering machines. There are also plans underway to assist parents who cannot pay support through paycheck deductions because they are self-employed to request automatic transfer of the payments from their bank accounts, instead of sending checks.

"It is our hope that our services to both parents will help us obtain our goals of providing support for the children of our communities. If we can make the process easier for both parents, the children and our communities will benefit," says Administrator Samples.

The Toombs Circuit Child Support Services office, under the direction of District Attorney Dennis Sanders, is located at 110 East Hall Street in Thomson, Georgia. The six-county Toombs Circuit Child Support Services office provides services to McDuffie, Wilkes, Lincoln, Warren, Taliaferro, and Glascock counties.