DCF Announces New Convenient Way to Make Child Support Payments

TOPEKA – Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF) Secretary Phyllis Gilmore is pleased to announce paying your child support is now easier than ever. By visiting the PayNearMe website, you can request a payment code that allows you to submit your child support payment with cash at more than 85 locations in the state at any time of the day. Locations include Family Dollar and participating 7-Eleven stores. Payments can also be made at locations outside of Kansas. There are 17,000 stores nationwide that can process payments.

“In an ongoing effort to ensure that custodial parents are receiving court-ordered support to care for their children, we are excited to launch this additional effort to increase child support collections,” Gilmore said.

The process is simple:

1. Visit the PayNearMe website, and enter your court order information.
2. Select whether you want the payment code sent to your phone or to print.
3. Choose from the list of payment locations closest to you
4. Visit the store and provide both the payment code and cash to the cashier.

“There are many parents who don’t have a bank account, and we are not withholding anything from their income,” said DCF Child Support Services (CCS) Director Trisha Thomas. “This new program gives them an easy and convenient way to get into the routine of making payments.”

Thomas says approximately 1 in 13 (or 8 percent) of Americans don’t have a bank account.

Payments made at any of the participating retail locations are transferred electronically to the Kansas Payment Center (KPC) to be credited to child support court orders within a few business days. The payer receives a proof of payment in the form of a receipt. Payments can be completed in less than a minute in the store, and will allow payers to avoid purchasing and sending money orders.

Thomas said the State will benefit from having more clients use the new system because money orders sometimes lack the necessary information needed for the KPC to credit the right cases. Money orders also require more work for the State, while the payments made through this new effort are processed through an automated system.

Once a payment code is obtained through the website, you also have the option to download the free PayNearMe app, which allows you to keep track of payments and set reminders.

Thomas says approximately 40,000 Kansans have failed to make their child support payment within the last 45 days. The effects of missed child support are felt by children and families. DCF Secretary Gilmore emphasizes the positive result of parental involvement when payments are made.

“We know that when non-custodial parents pay their child support, they are more invested in the lives of their children financially and emotionally,” Secretary Gilmore said. “It is our goal to promote healthy families by encouraging that investment.”

Learn more about PayNearMe in Kansas at http://www.kspaycenter.com/pay_support-1.aspx.