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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, Sept. 28, 1998 Contact: Michael Kharfen (202) 401-9215
HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala announced today that the new Federal Case Registry, which will contain records of all parents who owe child support, will start operation Oct. 1. Combined with the National Directory of New Hires, HHS now has the strongest child support enforcement resource in the history of the program for finding parents who are earning money, but not paying child support.
Already, with select information submitted by states, the National Directory has found over 1.1 million delinquent parents since Oct. 1, 1997. With the Federal Case Registry in operation, many more will be found even faster. The registry will shortly compile records on 16 million non-custodial parents who owe support to an estimated 32 million children.
"This is an exciting day of hope for children whose parents have abandoned them financially," said Secretary Shalala. "Now we can build on our recent success to increase child support and send a message to parents who think they can evade their responsibility to their children -- you can run, but you can't hide."
President Clinton proposed the strongest child support enforcement measures ever enacted in 1994 and Congress included them in the new welfare law of 1996. Those measures included new hire reporting, license revocation, streamlined paternity establishment, uniform interstate collections and centralized collection and disbursement. It also included the development of an expanded federal parent locator service, comprising the National Directory of New Hires which began operation in October 1997, and the Federal Case Registry which begins operation this week.
Under the 1996 law, states are required to maintain their own case registries and provide data to the federal registry on non-custodial parents, custodial parents and the children who need the support. As data is provided, the federal registry matches millions of records automatically and overnight of persons who have been recently hired and already employed in the National Directory of New Hires. The match with employer and wage information is then sent to the state to place a wage withholding order on the delinquent parent's paycheck.
"To have all records of parents across the country who owe child support in one registry is an unprecedented resource we've never had before," said Olivia A. Golden, HHS assistant secretary for children and families. "Since one-third of all child support cases are interstate, we now can confidently close the loopholes for parents escaping their financial obligations to their children."
There are strict security and safety provisions in the use of the registry's information. States must identify cases where the custodial parent may be a victim of domestic violence or have an order of protection, indicating that disclosure of information could be harmful to the parent or child. Congress prohibited unauthorized access, use or disclosure of information from the registry by federal employees, punishable by dismissal and a fine.
The registry also provides other benefits to children. Non-custodial parents, most of whom are fathers, can request information through the court to gain access and visitation to their children and for custody arrangements. In a unique collaboration with child protective services, certain child welfare agencies can request the registry to locate an absent parent for a child who is in foster care and seeking a parent, or to terminate parental rights for the child to be adopted.
"The goal of the federal/state child support program is to ensure the financial and emotional support of both parents for their children to grow up healthy and strong," said David Gray Ross, commissioner of the HHS Office of Child Support Enforcement. "The Federal Case Registry will benefit children for years to come."
Since 1992, there have been record improvements in the child enforcement program. In 1997, a record $13.4 billion in child support was collected, a 68% percent increase from the $8 billion collected in 1992. Also in 1997, 1.3 million children had paternity established, an increase of over 250 percent from 512,000 in 1992.
Note: HHS press releases are available on the World Wide Web at: www.hhs.gov.