Warrant amnesty day Friday for parents who owe child support payments

Folks in and around Wichita who owe child support and have a warrant out for their arrest may want to circle Friday on the calendar.

The Kansas Department for Children and Families is offering a reprieve that day for residents of Wichita and Sedgwick County who face prosecution for failure to pay child support. Friday is Child Support Bench Warrant Amnesty Day in the county.

The event allows parents to start making child support payments without facing prosecution, according to a statement issued by state officials. All other counties in the state held a similar day Aug. 12.

By reporting to the Atwater Neighborhood Resource Center, 2755 E. 19th St. in Wichita, and making a payment of $500 or two months’ worth of child support payments — whichever is less — noncustodial parents will have their warrants lifted.

The center will be open from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Friday to handle the child support payments.

“By lifting these warrants, it’s our goal to get the money the children deserve and help parents get in the routine of making payments,” Trisha Thomas, director of child support services at DCF, said in a statement.

The department has offered child support amnesty in Wichita previously and expanded it statewide last year. More than 200 warrants were cleared statewide in 2015, according to state officials.

This story was originally published September 7, 2016 at 3:42 PM with the headline "Warrant amnesty day Friday for parents who owe child support payments."