State Hotline Gives Parents Free Legal Help for Custody and Visitation Issues
FRANKFORT, Ky. (May 1, 2017) – A new telephone hotline
gives qualifying parents free legal assistance related to their custody and
visitation concerns. The toll-free Custody and
Visitation Hotline number is 1-844-673-3470. Phone lines are open
Monday-Friday: 9 a.m.-noon and 1-3 p.m. Eastern time.
The Kentucky
Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) Office of Child Support
Enforcement (CSE) has an agreement with the Legal Aid
Society (LAS) to operate the “Custody and Visitation” Hotline. The statewide service is for eligible
parents, on an income-based scale, who have concerns regarding custody and
visitation issues with their children.
Steve
Veno, Commissioner of the CHFS Department for Income Services, which oversees
the CSE, said an LAS attorney will handle all hotline calls and provide legal
advice or assistance to callers such as how to file a motion, how to file or change a child custody
or visitation order in the appropriate court and how to work through visitation
and custody issues.
“We have heard from many parents who ask about access to
legal help, so we know the need is there,” Veno said. “Our agency isn’t able to
address these issues, but now there is a resource for parents with simple legal
questions or deeper concerns. We anticipate a lot of parents will take
advantage of this new resource.”
LAS attorneys
cannot file legal pleadings, appear in court or address child support issues.
Funding
for the hotline comes from a grant from the federal Department of Health and
Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families and provides for initial
operation of the service through June 2018. CSE and LAS staff will meet regularly to evaluate the program, address
challenges and ensure progress.
“Helping parents
with their custody and visitation questions will give them more peace of mind,”
concluded CHFS Secretary Vickie Yates Brown Glisson. “In turn, this will help
children. The connection between parents having a relationship with their
children and financially supporting their children is strong. Collection of
court-ordered child support payments is another integral part of the Office of
Child Support Enforcement’s mission.”
While this
partnership deals specifically with custody and visitation issues, a number of
separate resources are also available for parents dealing with child support
issues.
The Child Support Enforcement Hotline - 800-248-1163
- is available from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern time.
The Child Support Interactive Voice Response Payment Line - 800-443-1576
– is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The Kentucky Child
Support Interactive website - https://csws.chfs.ky.gov/csws/
- is available for parents to access information about their cases and to make
payments.
For more information about Kentucky Child
Support Enforcement, log on to http://chfs.ky.gov/dis/cse.htm.
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The Cabinet for
Health and Family Services is home to most of the state’s human services and
healthcare programs, including the Department for Medicaid Services, the
Department for Community Based Services, the Department for Public Health, and
the Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual
Disabilities. CHFS is one of the largest agencies in state government, with
nearly 8,000 full- and part-time employees located across the Commonwealth
focused on improving the lives and health of Kentuckians.
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