On Friday, March 4, 2017, the staff of the St. Mary’s County Child Support Enforcement Unit received the coveted Bronze Golden Plate Award as well as the much sought-after Executive Director’s Most Improved Award. These awards were given to the St. Mary’s County Department of Social Services in recognition of the work performed by the Child Support Enforcement Unit.
Notably, St. Mary’s County is the only jurisdiction to have achieved this annual goal in all four performance metrics. Those measures include the establishment of paternity, the establishment of court orders, collections on current support and cases paying on arrears.
Present at the ceremony were several representatives of the St. Mary’s County Department of Social Services and their partners: Sheriff Tim Cameron, Major Michael Merican, Captain Steven Hall and deputies working in the Child Support Enforcement Unit, as well as representatives from the St. Mary’s County State Attorney’s Office and the St. Mary’s County Court System.
Leyla Layman, Acting Executive Director, presented the awards on behalf of the Maryland Department of Human Resources Child Support Enforcement Administration. Layman stated, “It takes a tremendous amount of work to reach this achievement,” and commented that “a new executive award was created specifically because St. Mary’s County was the only Maryland jurisdiction to have met all four of its performance goals for federal fiscal year 2016.”
Ella May Russell, Director of St. Mary’s Department of Social Services, added, “None of this could have happened without the relationships between the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office, the State Attorney’s Office, the Clerk’s Office, and the St. Mary’s County Court System. Our partnerships are crucial, and we are grateful for them.”
