2002.07.31: (Fact Sheet)HHS Role in Child Support Enforcement

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July 31, 2002

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ACF Press Office
(202) 401-9215

HHS ROLE IN CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT

Overview: The Child Support Enforcement Program is a joint federal, state and local partnership to ensure that parents provide support to their children. The program involves 54 separate state and territory systems, each with its own unique laws and procedures. The program is usually run by state and local human service agencies, often with the help of prosecuting attorneys and other law enforcement officials, as well as officials of family or domestic relations courts. At the federal level, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) provides policy guidance, technical assistance, training and funding to states, operates the Federal Parent Locator Service, which uses computer matching to locate non-custodial parents in order to establish and enforce child support orders, and provides grants to states for child access and visitation services.

BACKGROUND

The Child Support Enforcement Program was established in 1975 under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act. Each state runs a child support program, either in the human services department, department of revenue, or district attorneys office, often with the help of prosecuting attorneys, other law enforcement agencies, and officials of family or domestic relations courts. The program provides four major services: locating non-custodial parents, establishing paternity, establishing child support obligations, and collecting child support for families.

Provisions in the 1996 bipartisan welfare reform legislation strengthened and improved state child support collection activities by establishing a national new hire and wage reporting system, streamlining paternity establishment, creating uniform interstate child support forms, computerizing statewide collections, and authorizing tough new penalties for nonpayment, such as driver's license revocation. Following these reforms, national child support collections have increased 65 percent to a record $18 billion in fiscal year 2000. The welfare reform legislation must be reauthorized by October 2002.

The majority of the program's 17 million cases are not currently receiving cash public assistance through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. However, child support enforcement services are available automatically for families receiving assistance under TANF. Currently, the child support collected for TANF recipients reimburses the state and federal governments for cash assistance payments made to the family. Collections above that amount go directly to the family. The administration's proposal for welfare reform reauthorization gives states incentives to pass more of the child support collected for families that receive TANF cash assistance directly to the family in need. Studies have shown that non-custodial parents are more likely to pay child support when they know the funds are going to their children instead of to the government.

Child support services are also available to families not receiving TANF who apply for such services. Child support payments that are collected on behalf of non-TANF families are sent to the family. The HHS budget for fiscal year 2002 includes $3.9 billion to state and child support enforcement programs.

In HHS, the Office of Child Support Enforcement in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) oversees child support enforcement. More information about federal programs and links to state enforcement programs is available at www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cse.

IMPROVEMENTS TO CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT ENACTED UNDER WELFARE REFORM

The 1996 welfare reform law that created the TANF program also included the most extensive child support reforms ever. The changes benefit not only families receiving cash assistance, but also other families owed child support. Under the law, each state must operate a child support enforcement program meeting federal requirements in order to be eligible for TANF block grants. Provisions in the law include:

National new hire reporting system. The law established a Federal Case Registry and National Directory of New Hires to track delinquent parents across state lines. It also required that employers report all new hires to state agencies for transmittal to the national directory and expanded and streamlined procedures for direct withholding of child support from wages. Since the creation of the national directory, more than 3 million parents have been located. This location information is sent to states so child support can be established and enforced.

Streamlined paternity establishment. Paternity establishment is a crucial step toward securing an emotional and financial connection between the father and child. The law streamlined the legal process for paternity establishment, making the process easier and faster. It also expanded the voluntary in-hospital paternity establishment program, started in 1993, and required a state affidavit for voluntary paternity acknowledgment. In addition, the law mandated that states publicize the availability and encourage the use of voluntary paternity establishment processes. Individuals who fail to cooperate with paternity establishment will have their monthly TANF assistance reduced. In fiscal year 2000, more than 1.5 million paternities were established and acknowledged, an increase of 46 percent since 1996. Of these, almost 688,000 were in-hospital paternities that were voluntarily acknowledged.

Tough penalties. Under the law, states can implement tough child support enforcement techniques. The law expanded wage garnishment, allowed states to require participation in work activities in some cases, and authorized states to suspend or revoke driver and professional licenses for parents who owe delinquent child support. The Department of State will deny a passport to an individual who owes more than $5,000 in back child support, resulting in nearly $5 million in child support collections. The President's welfare reform reauthorization proposals would build on this success, reducing the threshold to deny a passport to $2,500 in back child support.

Financial institution data matching. The 1996 welfare reform law included a proposal to match records of delinquent parents with financial institutions. Successful matches are sent to the states within 48 hours so that the states can place a lien on and seize all or part of the accounts identified. In 1998, Congress made it easier for multi-state institutions to match records by using the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement. To date, more than 4,500 financial institutions have agreed to participate. As of December 2001, nearly 800,000 individuals delinquent in their child support had been matched with their accounts. The value of those accounts was nearly $2.8 billion.

Access and visitation programs. Since fiscal year 1997, HHS has awarded $10 million each year in block grants to states to promote access and visitation programs to increase non-custodial parents' involvement in their children's lives. The grants may be used to provide such services as mediation, counseling, education, developing of parenting plans, visitation programs, and the development of visitation and custody guidelines.

Promoting marriage and responsible fatherhood. The 1996 welfare reform law recognized that two-parent, married families represent the ideal environment for raising children and therefore featured a variety of family formation provisions. HHS has approved grants and waivers for responsible fatherhood efforts designed to help non-custodial fathers support their children financially and emotionally. Under the Partners for Fragile Families demonstration, 10 states are testing ways for child support enforcement programs and community and faith-based organizations to work together to help young unmarried fathers obtain employment, provide financial support to their families, and improve parenting skills. Eight states have also received demonstration grants or waivers to allow them to test comprehensive approaches to encourage more responsible fathering by non-custodial parents. In addition, the President's welfare reform reauthorization proposal includes up to $300 million for programs that encourage healthy, stable marriages. These programs would include research and technical assistance into promising approaches that work and may involve premarital education and counseling efforts.

More information on the President's welfare reform proposal, including proposals for child support enforcement, can be found at www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/02/20020226.html.

ADDITIONAL CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT INITIATIVES

Project Save Our Children. An initiative on criminal child support enforcement, Project Save Our Children, is succeeding in its pursuit of chronic delinquent parents who owe large sums of child support. Since the project's creation in 1998, multi-agency regional task forces, involving federal and state law enforcement agencies, have received and reviewed more than 4,600 referrals, resulting in more than 580 arrests, 450 convictions and civil adjudications, and court orders to pay more than $18 million in owed child support.

New tribal programs. HHS now directly supports tribes, tribal organizations and Alaskan Native village child support programs for those groups that have applied to establish the programs and have shown that they are able to meet the programs' objectives. To date, HHS has approved direct funding for five tribes.

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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at www.hhs.gov/news.