The U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Justice announced today that more than $600,000 in child support funds remain unclaimed by about 130 parents, and that the funds are currently held by the department’s Paternity and Child Support Division.
Attorney General Claude Walker announced in a Wednesday news release that as part of the “Operation Support Our Children” initiative, he has directed the support division to launch a public campaign to notify the community of the unclaimed funds.
The unclaimed monies were collected by the division from parents for their children and amounts are as much as $5,000. PCSD has had difficulty locating these parents for a number of reasons, including lack of a current address, Walker said.
“The Division of Paternity and Child Support must make every effort to locate the parents owed this money, as many of them are single mothers who are struggling to make ends meet," Walker said.
"Upon a learning of these unclaimed funds, I immediately directed PCSD to track down these parents as some of them have relocated. I have also instructed the division to institute better measures that would greatly reduce the likelihood that this problem will reoccur.”
Walker said the division will publicly release the names of the parents within the next week and any person whose name is on the list must physically appear at a PCSD office and present personal identifying information to collect funds owed. If the individual is off-island, she or he contact PSCD to make alternative arrangements.
Walker urged any person with knowledge of the whereabouts of any individual listed to contact PSCD.
Further information is available by calling 340-775-3070.