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Michigan launches campaign to increase number of children receiving child support

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Michigan is launching a new digital campaign to increase the number of children in the state receiving child support.

The state received a nearly $170,000 federal grant to fund a digital marketing campaign aimed at reaching out to custodial parents who don’t currently receive child support.

Bob Wheaton is with the Department of Health and Human Services.

“The goal of the program for us is to increase by 5% over the next two years the number of new child support cases for parents who aren’t receiving any other types of assistance.”

Wheaton said a portion of the grant will also be used to test the effectiveness of a digital campaign in increasing child support payments.

“What this grant is going to do is allow us to expand efforts to reach those folks using social media or other digital means and analyze what kind of impact that has as far as increasing the number of parents who seek child support payments.”

Wheaton said parents who receive other types of social welfare are required to seek child support.

840,000 parents currently receive child support payments in Michigan.