Ottawa County JFS still open online

PORT CLINTON — Effective 4:30 p.m. Friday, Ottawa County Job and Family Services will temporarily close our lobby and the Ohio Means Job Center to the public. During this pandemic, we will continue to provide services through our phone and online applications. We will continue to ensure the safety of children by investigating complaints, completing visits and providing supports and referral to families. We have gathered information from our local and state officials, our associations and the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services to make this important decision. The agency is not closing, just providing services without walk-in visitors currently. We will arrange appointments, if needed, to ensure services are delivered to those who need them. There are many services that are available without a visit to the agency: • Documents for all programs can be placed in the agency dropbox, which is located right in front of the main entrance, or emailed to info@ottawacountyjfs.org. When emailing documents, please provide a case number, name and phone number. This email box accepts documents for all programs in the building. Please do not leave cash or checks in this box. • For public assistance programs, such as food stamps (SNAP), cash assistance and Medicaid programs, please use the website benefits.ohio.gov to apply, renew or report changes to an existing case. For Medicaid only, a call center is available to apply, reapply or report changes at 844-640-6446. • The child support web portal gives customers access to view and print case and payment information as well as report changes. The portal is available at http://jfs.ohio.gov/ocs/custservwebportalwelcome2.stm. • Administrative hearings are currently being conducted by telephone, and genetic testing for paternity establishment is on hold until April 1. • If there are court hearings associated with a child support case, parties should contact the court directly to determine the status of any court hearings. • While the agency is not processing cash payments currently, there are a number of other options for paying on a child support order: — Credit card payments at http://oh.smartchildsupport.com, e-wallet accounts using Alipay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Paypal and WeChatPay. — Telephone payments are accepted by phone at 419-898-3688 or 888-965-2676. No fees apply. Online payments from checking or savings accounts can be done at www.expertpay.com. — Payments can also be mailed in the form of a personal check, money order or cashier's check, made out to Ohio Child Support Payment Central (OhioCSPC) to Ohio CSPC, P.O. Box 182372, Columbus, OH 43218-2372. Payments should include payor name, payor SETS case number, court order number and the amount to be applied to each case (if payment is for more than one child support case). Suspected child or elder abuse can still be reported at 419-707-8639 during normal business hours — 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays — or to the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office after hours, who will contact a 24/7 on-call caseworker (419-734-4404). • All review hearings are being conducted by telephone until further notice. Ohio Means Jobs Services through the Ohio Means Jobs Ottawa County also have online options with job searches available through ohiomeansjobs.com, resume creation at ohiomeansjobs.com/ottawa and unemployment information at unemployment.ohio.gov. People can also call toll-free at 877-644-6562. Specific questions can be answered by contacting the staff at 419-707-8605 or 419-707-8635 or by email at ASKOMJ@ocic.biz. We look forward to reopening our lobby again in the future.