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The federal government collected a record $1.4 billion in overdue child support from federal income tax refunds for tax year 2000, representing a 100 percent increase since 1992. More than 1.42 million families benefited from these collections. In addition, a program to match delinquent parents with financial records found more than one million accounts belonging to more than 690,000 delinquent non-custodial parents nationwide with a value in excess of $3 billion.

"The Clinton administration has worked hard to ensure that children receive the support they deserve," said Secretary Shalala. "By committing to strengthen the nation's child support program, we're helping to make sure that children receive both financial and emotional support from both parents."

Under the federal tax offset program, state child support agencies report names of parents who owe child support payments and the overdue amount to the HHS Administration for Children and Families. These individuals are first notified by the state in a pre-offset letter of their overdue child support obligation. This gives them the opportunity to have their case reviewed for correctness before final submission to the U.S. Treasury Department for action. These individuals are then notified in writing by the U.S. Treasury Department, Financial Management Services, of the amount to be withheld to cover their child support debt. That amount is then deducted from their income tax refund. The delinquency may also be reported to credit reporting agencies.

The 1996 welfare reform law included President Clinton's proposed Financial Institution Data Match Program, which matches records of delinquent parents with financial institutions. The program requires states to identify accounts of delinquent parents and use existing state laws to "freeze and seize" the dollars. In 1998, Congress made it easier for multistate institutions to match records by using the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement. When successful matches are made, the information is sent to the states within 48 hours for placement of a lien on and seizure of all or part of the accounts identified.

The 1996 law's provisions also included: computerized statewide collection, uniform interstate child support forms and tough new penalties for non-payment of support such as driver's license revocation, among other provisions.

"With the 1996 welfare reform law, the child support enforcement program has some of the best tools to accomplish its goals. Now, children are better served by the child support program than ever before," said Olivia Golden, assistant secretary for children and families. "And, research has shown that a child's well-being and life chances are improved with regular, adequate child support, both financial and emotional."

In other child support enforcement measures, parents whose children receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and whose unpaid child support totals $150 or more may have their federal income tax refunds withheld. For tax year 2000, refunds were withheld on behalf of more than 881,000 families with children receiving TANF. Parents of children who do not receive TANF must owe at least $500 to have their refunds withheld. More than 540,000 non-TANF families benefited from the program.

Since taking office, the Clinton administration has made child support a priority. During fiscal year 2000 more than 642 million records were posted to the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH), which matches child support orders to employment records. The Federal Case Registry (FCR) maintained records involving more than 30 million individuals. The NDNH information is compared with the FCR to locate individuals who are involved in child support cases and live in a different state than their children. Last year, 3.5 million non-custodial parents and putative fathers were located through the NDNH. In addition, paternity establishment rose to nearly 1.5 million in 1999, a more than three-fold increase from 516,000 in 1992. The Passport Denial Program has collected more than $6.5 million in lump sum child support payments and is currently denying about 60 passports to delinquent parents per day.

"Children must come first in our efforts to leave no child behind," said David Gray Ross, commissioner, office of child support enforcement. "For those trying to evade their responsibility to their children, new laws and continued vigorous enforcement efforts have made walking away from a child a much more difficult thing to do."

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