Forsyth County must do a better job of collecting child-support payments, because when those payments aren’t collected, children can suffer. And, as their parents turn to social-service agencies for help, the costs are eventually passed on to the rest of us.

Forsyth leaves millions of dollars that is owed to custodial parents uncollected each year, Blair Goldstein reported in Sunday’s Journal. The county’s social services department is supposed to step in when a parent has trouble collecting court-ordered support. So far this year, the county DSS has collected just 61 percent of the support payments owed each month. That’s less than the collection goal of 71 percent set by the state. And that makes Forsyth the urban county with the worst collection rate other than Mecklenburg.

That has got to change.