ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The Belmont County Board of Commissioners proclaimed last week that August is Child Support Awareness Month in the county.

Belmont County Job and Family Services Director Jeff Felton said this year marks the 50th anniversary of President Gerald Ford creating the state and federal child support enforcement program. Since the program’s creation, it has generated $786 billion to help single parents support their children.

“We serve one out of every four children in the household, and 42% of our cases are children born in Ohio out of wedlock,” Felton said. “As far as collections in the whole state of Ohio, in 2024, $1.5 billion was collected. And so far in 2025, Belmont County itself has collected $5,742,000.”

He added that the money collected goes back into the community’s economy.

Belmont County Department of Job and Family Services Child Support Administrator Cindy Berry said that collecting child support is a team effort from the Belmont County Sheriff’s Office and the Belmont County Prosecutor’s Office.

“You get the obligor who doesn’t really think they should pay what they are obligated to pay, and you have generally the custodial parent who says, ‘why can’t you make them pay what they owe me, and they don’t pay consistently?'” Berry said. “There’s only so much we can do to encourage people to pay their support obligation, but once they get so far behind, the Sheriff’s Office becomes involved in terms of warrants and failure to pay child support-types of cases.”

She added that collecting child support would not be possible without the joint effort of county officials including the commissioners.

Belmont County Court of Common Pleas Probate/Juvenile Division Judge Al Davies said that Belmont County has some great employees.

“You all know that my staff is amazing in the probate juvenile division. I’m sure you feel the same way about your staff. (Belmont County Sheriff James Zusack), I’m sure you feel the same way about your staff,” Davies said.

“We’ve got some very talented, dedicated, caring individuals that work for this county, and it’s nice to be able to recognize these folks today, because they obviously fall into that category.”

He added that he’ll never profess to be the greatest legal mind, but is very organized and prepared. He said that he believes those two traits go a long way in keeping up with somebody who maybe is a little bit smarter than him.

“These folks can have those traits. They are always very organized. They are always prepared for the proceedings that I have in court, and that is greatly appreciated,” Davies said while speaking about DJFS staff members.

Zusack said that his office’s role in serving warrants to collect support is fairly straightforward.

“Our job is pretty easy,” he said. “We get the warrant then go and try to serve it and let them know so that they can pay it back.”

Commissioner J.P. Dutton said that it’s obviously a collaborative effort and sees the positive reports Felton gives the board regarding the collection of child support.

“It happens because there’s a lot of good people involved,” Dutton said.

He then read a proclamation that says children are the most precious resource and their well-being, development and success are deeply dependent on the support and involvement of both parents. He continued that child support helps lift families out of poverty, promotes parental responsibility and strengthens families and communities across Belmont County and beyond.