by Mindy Aguon

Guam - More than $5 million in undistributed collections checks are sitting at the Attorney General's Office waiting to be claimed. Child Support Enforcement Division Deputy AG Barbara Cepeda says the checks are for custodial and non-custodial parents who the office has been unable to reach because of various reasons.

Cepeda says some individuals may have changed their address. In other cases custody may have been issue and the money was held temporarily and in some instances, the money was intercepted through tax refunds.

"Now $3.8 million of that is due to stale dated checks and these stale dated checks date all the way back to the 90's. Back then the only option to receive child support was to receive a paper check now we have two other options-the kids first debit card program, which we launched in 2005 and most recently in July 2010 we launched our Direct Deposit Program," said Cepeda.

She added that the remaining $1.4 million in undistributed collection checks are a result of delays in court orders. Those who believe they are owed a child support check that has not been claimed should contact the AG's Office at 475-3324. Additionally parents are reminded to provide the office with current addresses.