IV-Child Support Collections

VI. Child Support Collections

Access and Visitation Program
Link to Appendices

The goal of the nation's Child Support Enforcement Program is to ensure that children are supported financially and emotionally by both of their parents. Single parents receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) are required to cooperate with child support enforcement efforts. Fiscal Year (FY) 2002 efforts produced a four percent increase in the percentage of current assistance cases that had orders established and a five percent increase in the percentage of former assistance cases that had orders established. This means that over 50 percent of current assistance cases had orders established, and about 77 percent of former assistance cases had orders established.

In FY 2002, over $20.1 billion was collected for children by the Child Support Enforcement Program, an increase of six percent from FY 2001, and a 40 percent increase since FY 1998. Total collections included almost $1.5 billion in overdue child support intercepted from Federal tax refunds. In addition, the Passport Denial Program collected over $6 million in calendar year 2002.

Over 1.5 million paternities were established in FY 2002. Figure A shows the number of paternities established by IV-D agencies and by acknowledgement at birth in a hospital from 1998 to 2002. There has been a substantial increase in paternities acknowledged due to the in-hospital acknowledgement program.

Link to table version
Figure A Paternities Established by IV-D and Acknowledgements

Data for FY 2002 show that:

With a caseload of over 16 million, nearly 49 percent of the total child support cases had a collection, significantly more than the 38 percent achieved in FY 1999.

In FY 2002, about 69 percent of the cases with orders established reported a collection. This was a slight increase over the 64 percent achieved in FY 1999.

Nationally, about $2,575 was collected per case for those with a collection.

Total administrative expenditures were $5.2 billion, a 28 percent increase from FY 1999. Figure B shows the Federal and State share of expenditures from 1998 to 2002. The Federal government pays the largest share of expenditures.

Link to table version
Figure B Total Expenditures on the Child Support Enforcement Program

· Of the 16.1 million child support cases served by IV-D agencies, only 2.8 million are currently receiving public assistance, 5.9 million have never received public assistance, and 7.4 million formerly received public assistance. Figure C shows the caseload represented in terms of welfare receipt. The current assistance caseload has decreased 15 percent since FY 2000, and the former assistance caseload has decreased over seven percent from FY 2000. This shift represents a dramatic change in those being served by the program, as the vast majority of child support services are now provided to non-public assistance cases.

Link to table version
Figure C Total Caseload, FY 2002

· The Census Bureau's Current Population Survey on Child Support for calendar year 2001 indicates that 45 percent of parents who were owed child support payments received the full payment, and nearly 75 percent received some payment. The Child Support Enforcement Program does not collect information on the number of custodial parents who receive their full support.

The number of non-welfare families (non-TANF) receiving child support services has been steady over the last few years, while TANF-related cases have been declining. In FY 2002, non-TANF collections were $17.2 billion, which is a 47 percent increase from FY 1998. TANF collections were $2.9 billion in FY 2002, which is a nine percent increase from FY 1998.

Figure D shows the dollar value of child support collections distributed each year from 1998 to 2002 divided in terms of two categories of families, those on TANF or in Foster Care (FC) and those not on TANF. Figure E shows the distribution of child support collections, but in terms of the family's recipient status. Families that were never on welfare receive the largest portion of total collections.

Link to table version
Figure D Total Distributed Collections by TANF/Foster Care and Non-TANF

Link to table version
Figure E Total Distributed Collections, FY 2002

Note: In FY 1999, States started using a new form (OCSE-157) to report caseload, orders and paternities established, medical support, staffing, and other statistical information to the Administration for Children and Families' Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE). The new reporting form includes some of the data found on the old statistical reporting forms (OCSE-156 & OCSE-158), but also adds new information and deletes data elements that are no longer needed. Changes were made to the reporting forms to allow OCSE to meet the requirements of the new performance-based incentive funding system mandated under the Child Support Performance and Incentive Act of 1998. Some information collected before FY 1999 is not comparable to later years' data because of this new data series. In addition, Federal auditors are assessing the completeness and reliability of State-reported data. In response, many States have improved data reporting.

Access and Visitation Program

The Federal Access and Visitation Program provides $10 million per year to States enabling them to encourage non-custodial parents to stay involved with their children. Based upon the number of children living with only one biological or adoptive parent, each State receives from $100,000 to almost $1 million to fund mediation, education, counseling, development of parenting plans, visitation enforcement, visitation monitoring, supervised visitation, and neutral drop off and pick up services.