Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) and Child Support
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Federal law requires applicants for, and recipients of the cash assistance program Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) to assign their rights collect child support to the State in order to receive benefits. In addition, each applicant or recipient must cooperate with the State to establish the paternity of a child born outside marriage and to obtain child support payments.
Any current child support collected while a child is receiving TANF goes to the State to reimburse it for monies it is paying to support the child.
When a child receives public assistance monies, a referral is automatically generated by the Department of Human Services (DHS) and sent to the Child Support Enforcement Agency (CSEA) to obtain an administrative child support order requiring the noncustodial parent to pay child support to the State to reimburse it for monies it is paying to support that parent’s child.
When the CSEA receives a referral from the DHS to establish a child support order for a child receiving TANF benefits, it begins the administrative process to locate the parents, obtain income information and generate a proposed child support order using the Hawaii Child Support Guidelines.