Child Support Enforcement: Program Basics
July 19, 2023
The Child Support Enforcement (CSE) program was enacted in 1975 as a federal-state program
(Title IV-D of the Social Security Act). The primary purpose of this program was to reduce
Jessica Tollestrup
public expenditures for recipients of cash assistance by obtaining ongoing support from
Specialist in Social Policy
noncustodial parents that could be used to reimburse the state and federal governments for part of

that assistance. (This purpose often is referred to as public assistance cost-recovery.) Relatedly,
the program also sought to strengthen families by securing financial support for children from

their noncustodial parents on a consistent and continuing basis to enable some of those families
to remain off public assistance. Over the years, CSE has evolved into a multifaceted program. While public assistance cost-
recovery still remains an important function of the program, its other aspects include service delivery and promotion of self-
sufficiency and parental responsibility. The CSE program has different rules for assistance families (e.g., those receiving cash
benefits under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program; TANF) and non-assistance families.
The CSE program provides seven major services on behalf of children: (1) parent location, (2) paternity establishment, (3)
establishment of child support orders, (4) review and modification of child support orders, (5) collection of child support
payments, (6) distribution of child support payments, and (7) establishment and enforcement of medical support.
The CSE program has a vast array of enforcement methods at its disposal. Most child support payments are collected from
noncustodial parents through income withholding. Other methods of enforcement include intercepting federal and state
income tax refunds; intercepting unemployment compensation; filing liens against property; sending insurance settlement
information to CSE agencies; intercepting lottery winnings, judgments, or settlements; seizing debtor parent assets held by
public or private retirement funds and financial institutions; withholding, suspending, or restricting driver’s licenses,
professional or occupational licenses, and recreational or sporting licenses; and denying, revoking, or restricting passports.
The CSE program is funded via a number of sources. The program is a federal-state matching grant program under which
states must spend money in order to receive federal funding. For every dollar a state spends on CSE expenditures, it generally
is reimbursed 66 cents from the federal government. This reimbursement requirement is “open ended,” in that there is no
upper limit or ceiling on the federal government’s match of those expenditures. In addition to matching funds, states receive
CSE incentive payments from the federal government. States also collect child support on behalf of families receiving TANF
assistance to reimburse themselves (and the federal government) for the cost of that assistance to the family. Finally, fees and
costs recovered also help finance the CSE program.
In FY2022, the CSE program paid to families $26.3 billion in child support and served more than 12.3 million child support
cases. The program collects 64.6% of current child support obligations for which it has responsibility (19.5% if payments on
past-due child support are taken into account), and collects payments for 62.3% of its caseload. In FY2022, total CSE
expenditures amounted to $6.1 billion. On average, in FY2022 the CSE program collected $4.73 in child support payments
for each $1 spent on the program.
In recent years, CSE programs have been increasingly concerned with the issues of noncustodial parents’ access to and
engagement with their children. The $10 million per year CSE Access and Visitation Grants Program, issues related to
parenting time agreements, and the $75 million per year Responsible Fatherhood Program (administered elsewhere within
HHS) are described in the final section of the report.
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Child Support Enforcement: Program Basics

Background
In general, child support is the cash payment that noncustodial parents are obligated to pay for the
financial support of their children. These payments enable parents who do not live with their
children to fulfill their financial responsibility to them by contributing to childrearing costs. Child
support orders generally are established when parents divorce or separate, or when the custodial
parent applies for certain public benefits.
The Child Support Enforcement (CSE) program was enacted in 1975 as a federal-state program
(Title IV-D of the Social Security Act).1 The primary purpose of this program was to reduce
public expenditures for recipients of cash assistance by obtaining ongoing support from
noncustodial parents that could be used to reimburse the state and federal governments for part of
that assistance. (This purpose often is referred to as public assistance cost-recovery.) Relatedly,
the program also sought to strengthen families by securing financial support for children from
their noncustodial parents on a consistent and continuing basis to enable some of those families to
remain off public assistance.2 Over the years, CSE has evolved into a multifaceted program.3
While public assistance cost-recovery still remains an important function of the program, its other
aspects include service delivery and promotion of self-sufficiency and parental responsibility. The
CSE program has different rules for assistance families (e.g., those receiving cash benefits under
the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program [TANF]) and non-assistance families.
The CSE program is administered by the Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) in the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). (Prior to June 5, 2023, this office was named
the Office of Child Support Enforcement [OCSE].4) The program receives mandatory funding
each fiscal year in the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and
Related Agencies Appropriations Act. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico,
the Virgin Islands, and 60 tribal nations operate CSE programs and are entitled to federal
matching funds.5 The CSE program is estimated to handle the majority of all child support cases;6

1 The CSE program statutory authorities are found in Sections 451 through 469B of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
§651 through §669b). The CSE federal regulations are found in 45 C.F.R. §301 through §310. Note that Title IV-D and
the regulations in 45 C.F.R. refer to the Office of Child Support Enforcement and the Child Support Enforcement
Program. However, on June 5, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a notice in
the Federal Register changing the name of the program and administering entity within HHS to the Office of Child
Support Services in Part K of the Statement of Organization, Functions, and Delegations of Authority of the
Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF) (Federal Register, Vol.
88, No. 107, Monday July 5, 2023, p. 36587). As no conforming changes have been made to Title IV-D or 45 C.F.R,
this report continues to refer to the program as Child Support Enforcement.
2 See S. Rept. 93-1356, pp. 42-55.
3 See, for example, HHS, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), “The Personal
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, August 31, 1996, https://aspe.hhs.gov/reports/
personal-responsibility-work-opportunity-reconciliation-act-1996.
4 See footnote 1. For citations, this report uses the name of the entity and program listed on the cited publication.
5 States were historically required to provide CSE services to Indian tribes and tribal organizations as part of their CSE
caseloads. Tribes were not specifically included in the CSE statute until the Personal Responsibility and Work
Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA, P.L. 104-193), although several tribes had previously negotiated
agreements (e.g., informal, cooperative, intergovernmental, and joint powers) with some states in a mutual effort to
serve Native American children. Section 456(f) of the Social Security Act allows direct federal funding of approved
tribal CSE programs. In general, Native American children living on Indian reservations that have a tribal CSE
program are covered by that specific tribal CSE program; Native American children who do not live on Indian
reservations are covered by the state’s CSE program. For further information, see https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/child-
support-professionals/tribal-agencies.
6 Elaine Sorensen, Arthur Pashi, and Melody Morales, Characteristics of Families Served by the Child Support (IV-D)
(continued...)
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the remaining cases are handled by private attorneys, collection agencies, or through mutual
agreements between the parents.
Under federal law, families receiving cash benefits through the Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families program (Title IV-A of the Social Security Act) or Medicaid coverage (Title XIX of the
Social Security Act)—and, at state option, families receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program (SNAP) assistance—are required to cooperate with the CSE program as a condition of
receiving benefits.7 These assistance families are not charged for CSE services. Collections on
behalf of families receiving cash TANF benefits are used, in part, to reimburse state and federal
governments for the TANF payments made to the family. Other families must apply for CSE
services, and states must charge all non-assistance families an annual user fee that cannot exceed
$35.8 Child support collected by CSE agencies on behalf of non-TANF families goes to the
family, usually through the state disbursement unit.
Child support payments distributed by CSE agencies increased from $1 billion in FY1978 to
$27.4 billion in FY2022.9 (The CSE program also distributed an additional $3.1 billion in child
support for non-Title IV-D cases.) Over the same period, the number of children whose paternity
was established or acknowledged each year increased from 111,000 to 1.276 million. The
program collects 19.5% of child support obligations for which it has responsibility if payments on
past-due child support (i.e., “arrearages”) are taken into account (otherwise, 64.6%)10 and collects
payments for 62.3% of its caseload. In FY2022, total CSE expenditures (federal and state)
amounted to $6.1 billion. On average, in FY2022 the CSE program collected $4.73 in child
support payments for each $1 spent on the program.
Table 1, below, provides FY2022 data on the CSE program, including total collections and
expenditures, caseload numbers, and the number of paternities and child support orders
established. The balance of this report describes each of the major program elements of the CSE
program. It also includes a discussion of CSE Access and Visitation Grants, issues related to
parenting time agreements, and the Responsible Fatherhood Program (administered elsewhere
within HHS).

Program: 2016 Census Survey Results, Office of Child Support Enforcement, November 2018, p. 3,
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/programs/css/iv_d_characteristics_2016_census_results.pdf.
7 In addition, families who are required by the state Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to cooperate
with the CSE agency automatically qualify for CSE services free of charge. One or both parents of a child who is
placed in foster care may be ordered to pay child support, but the determination of whether this requirement should be
made is left up to the state child welfare agency. Section 471(a)(17) of the Social Security Act requires the child
welfare agency “where appropriate” to secure assignment of child support rights on behalf of any child receiving foster
care support pursuant to Title IV-E of the Social Security Act. However, the establishment of a child support order is
not a condition of Title IV-E foster care support.
8 Roughly half of states have opted to require that the custodial parent cooperate with the CSE program as a condition
of receiving child care subsidies (see HHS, ASPE, Child Support Cooperation Requirements in Child Care Subsidy
Programs and SNAP: Key Policy Considerations,” November 1, 2018, https://aspe.hhs.gov/pdf-report/child-support-
cooperation-requirements-child-care-subsidy-programs-and-snap-key-policy-considerations). If a state opts to exempt
these families from the annual user fee, the state must reimburse the federal government its portion of the fees that
otherwise would have been collected.
9 Unless otherwise noted, all FY2022 data in this report is from HHS, Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE),
FY2022 Preliminary Data Report and Tables, Department of Health and Human Services, https://www.acf.hhs.gov/
css/policy-guidance/fy-2022-preliminary-data-report-and-tables.
10 In FY2022, $145.5 billion in child support obligations ($31.3 billion in current support and $114.1 billion in past-due
support) was owed to families receiving CSE services, but $28.3 billion was paid ($20.2 billion current, $8.1 billion
past-due; numbers do not sum to total due to rounding).
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Table 1. Preliminary Child Support Data—FY2022
Total CSE caseload
Total, 12.3 mil ion; TANF families, 0.9 mil ion; former-TANF families, 4.8 mil ion;
never-TANF families, 6.5 mil ion
Total CSE distributed
Total, $27.404 bil ion; TANF families, $0.616 bil ion; former-TANF, $7.574 bil ion;
col ections
never-TANF, $9.8 bil ion (plus $9.415 bil ion on behalf of Medicaid-only families)
Payments to families
Total, $26.261 bil ion; TANF, $0.107 bil ion; former-TANF, $6.757 bil ion; never-
TANF, $9.634 bil ion (plus $9.016 bil ion on behalf of Medicaid-only families); in
addition, $648 mil ion in medical support, $96 mil ion passed through to current
TANF families, and $4 mil ion passed through to former TANF families
Federal share of TANF
$670 mil ion
reimbursement
State share of TANF
$400 mil ion
reimbursement
Total CSE expenditures
$6.109 bil ion; federal share, $3.694 bil ion, state share, $2.415 bil ion
Incentive payments to states
Data not available for FY2022. FY2021 amount was $509 mil ion.
(estimated)
Paternities established and
1,275,657
acknowledged
Cases for which support
627,223 (includes only new orders; excludes modifications)
orders were established
Cases for which col ections
Total, 7,658,707: TANF, 337,386; former-TANF, 2,935,154; never-TANF, 4,386,167
were made
Source: Table prepared by the Congressional Research Service, based on data from the Office of Child Support
Enforcement (HHS), FY2022 Preliminary Data Report, available at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/policy-guidance/fy-
2022-preliminary-data-report-and-tables.
Note: Numbers may not add to totals due to rounding. “TANF” amounts include both TANF families (Title IV-
A of the Social Security Act) and col ections on behalf of children receiving foster care support pursuant to Title
IV-E of the Social Security Act.
Program Elements
The CSE program provides seven major services on behalf of children: (1) parent location, (2)
paternity establishment, (3) establishment of child support orders, (4) review and modification of
child support orders, (5) collection of child support payments, (6) distribution of child support
payments, and (7) establishment and enforcement of medical support.
Parent Location
If a state’s CSE program cannot locate the noncustodial parent with the information provided by
the custodial parent, it must try to locate the noncustodial parent through the State Parent Locator
Service (SPLS). The SPLS in each state is an assembly of systems that includes the State Child
Support Case Registry and the State Directory of New Hires. The automated State Child Support
Case Registry, as required by federal law, contains records of each case in which CSE services are
being provided and all new or modified child support orders. The registry includes information on
the case, the child or children in the case, and both parents, as listed in Table 2.
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Table 2. State Child Support Case Registry: Selected Data Elements
Information on the
Information on Both
Case Information
Child(ren)
Parents
•
case identification number
•
name
•
name
•
case status
•
date of birth
•
date of birth
•
child support owed under the order
•
Social Security number
•
Social Security number
•
amounts col ected
•
amounts distributed
•
any arrearages, interest, or late penalty
charges
•
any liens imposed with respect to the order
Source: HHS, OCSE, Policy Responses Regarding the State Case Registry and the Federal Case Registry, AT-98-
08, March 5, 1998, available at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/policy-guidance/policy-responses-regarding-state-case-
registry-and-federal-case-registry.
Each state also has an automated State Directory of New Hires that includes information from
employers, including federal, state, and local governments and labor organizations. For each
newly hired employee, this directory includes the name, address, and Social Security number of
the employee, and the employer’s name, address, and tax identification number. This information
generally is supplied to the directory within 20 days after the employee is hired.
The SPLS also may use other information sources, such as telephone directories, motor vehicle
registries, tax files, and employment and unemployment records.
In addition to the resources discussed above, a state can request the assistance of the Federal
Parent Locator Service (FPLS).11 The FPLS is an assembly of systems, including the state
systems discussed above, operated by the OCSS. It can be used for any of the following purposes:
• parent location;
• establishing parentage;
• establishing, setting the amount of, modifying, or enforcing child support
obligations; or

11 Developed in cooperation with the states, employers, federal agencies, and the judiciary, the FPLS includes the
following:
• The National Directory of New Hires (NDNH): a central repository of employment, unemployment insurance, and
wage data from State Directories of New Hires, State Workforce Agencies, and federal agencies.
• The Federal Case Registry (FCR): a national database that contains information on individuals in child support cases
and child support orders.
• The Federal Offset Program (FOP): a program that collects past-due child support payments from the tax refunds of
parents who have been ordered to pay child support.
• The Federal Administrative Offset Program (FAOP): a program that intercepts certain federal payments in order to
collect past-due child support.
• The Passport Denial Program (PDP): a program that works with the Secretary of State in denying passports of any
person that has been certified as owing a child support debt greater than $2,500.
• The Multistate Financial Institution Data Match (MSFIDM): a program that allows child support agencies a means of
locating financial assets of individuals owing child support.
For additional information on the FPLS, see https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/training-technical-assistance/overview-
federal-parent-locator-service.
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• enforcing child custody or visitation orders.12
The FPLS assists federal and state agencies in identifying overpayments and fraud, and assessing
benefits. Its component systems can access data from the Social Security Administration, the
Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the
National Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and State Employment Security
Agencies. The FPLS also can search its federal case registry of child support orders and the
national directory of new hires (NDNH), which is a federal directory consisting of information
from federal agencies and all of the state directories.13
Automation is critical to the operation and success of the CSE program so that records in the
various parent location systems can be cross-checked to aid in the location of noncustodial
parents.14 Federal law requires that a designated state agency (directly or by contract) conduct
automated comparisons of the Social Security numbers reported by employers to the state
directory of new hires and those associated with CSE cases that appear in the State Child Support
Case Registry. It also requires the HHS Secretary to conduct similar comparisons of the federal
directories.15
Paternity Establishment
Legally identifying the father is a prerequisite for obtaining a child support order. For any
children born into a marriage, the husband is generally deemed to be the father; therefore, in
divorce cases, paternity generally does not need to be affirmatively established. In nonmarital
birth cases, however, paternity must be established prior to when a child support order is
obtained. (With regard to same-sex parents, states are permitted by Title IV-D of the Social
Security Act to adopt gender-neutral processes for establishing parentage. However, the
procedures that are specified in Title IV-D related to genetic testing would generally not be
applicable in such cases.16)
Federal law requires states to have procedures that permit the establishment of paternity for all
children under the age of 18.17 TANF applicants and recipients are legally required to cooperate in

12 PRWORA (P.L. 104-193) permits both custodial and certain noncustodial parents to obtain information from the
FPLS. The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-33), however, prohibits FPLS information from being disclosed to
noncustodial parents in cases where there is evidence of domestic violence or child abuse, and the local court
determines that disclosure may result in harm to the custodial parent or child.
13 Within three business days after receipt of new hire information from the employer, the state directory of new hires is
required to furnish the information to the national directory of new hires. (For additional information, see CRS Report
RS22889, The National Directory of New Hires: In Brief.)
14 The Child Support Performance and Incentive Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-200) imposes financial penalties on states that
failed to meet the law’s automated data systems requirements. The HHS Secretary is required to reduce the amount the
state would otherwise have received in federal CSE funding by the penalty amount for the fiscal year in question.
Section 455(a)(4)(B) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. §655(a)(4)(B)) stipulates that the penalty amount percentage
is 4% in the case of the first year of noncompliance; 8% in the second year; 16% in the third year; 25% in the fourth
year; and 30% in the fifth or any subsequent year.
15 When a match occurs, the state directory of new hires is required to report to the state CSE agency the name, address,
and Social Security number of the employee, and the employer’s name, address, and identification number. Within two
business days, the CSE agency then instructs appropriate employers to withhold child support obligations from the
employee’s paycheck, unless the employee’s income is not subject to income withholding.
16 For further information, see HHS, OCSE, “Same-Sex Parents and Child Support Program Requirements,” PIQ-22-
02, March 29, 2022, https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/policy-guidance/same-sex-parents-and-child-support-program-
requirements.
17 Section 466(a)(5) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. §666(a)(5)). The DRA (P.L. 109-171) reduced the 90%
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establishing paternity or obtaining support payments, and may be penalized for noncooperation. If
it is determined that an individual is not cooperating and that individual does not qualify for any
good cause or other exception, the state must reduce the family’s TANF benefit by at least 25%,
and may eliminate it entirely. Additional federal requirements associated with paternity
establishment include the following:
• state CSE programs must establish paternity for at least 90% of the CSE cases
needing such a determination;
• each state must implement a simple civil process for establishing paternity;
• an affidavit must be available to voluntarily acknowledge paternity and a
completed affidavit must be entitled to full faith and credit in any state;18
• a signed acknowledgment of paternity must be considered a legal finding of
paternity unless it is rescinded within 60 days, and thereafter may be challenged
in court only on the basis of fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact; and
• no judicial or administrative action will be needed to ratify an acknowledgment
that is not challenged.19
For contested paternity cases, federal law further requires that all parties submit to genetic
testing.20
Establishment of Child Support Orders
A child support order is a legal document that obligates a noncustodial parent to provide financial
support for their children, and stipulates the amount of the obligation and how it is to be paid. It is
usually established at the time of divorce or when an unmarried couple dissolves their
relationship. It also may be established when cooperation is required as a condition of receiving
public assistance.21
The child support order is established administratively by a state/county CSE agency or through
the state courts. Federal law requires states to use their state-established guidelines in establishing
child support orders.22 These guidelines are a set of rules and tables that are used to determine the
amount of the child support order. Child support guidelines are designed to protect the best
interests of the child or children in question by trying to ensure that they continue to benefit from
the financial resources of both parents in situations in which the parents go their separate ways.
They are also intended to make the calculation of child support fair, objective, consistent, and

federal financial participation rate for laboratory costs associated with paternity establishment to 66% as of October 1,
2006.
18 Section 466(a)(5)(D) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. §666(a)(5)(D)) stipulates that when parents are
unmarried, the “father” shall be included in the birth record only if both parents have signed a voluntary
acknowledgement of paternity, or a court or administrative agency has issued an adjudication of paternity.
19 Sections 452(g) and 466 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. §652(g) and §666).
20 Federal law requires states to have procedures that create a rebuttable or, at the option of the state, conclusive
presumption of paternity upon genetic testing results indicating a threshold probability that the alleged father is the
actual father of the child (Section 466(a)(5)(G) of the Social Security Act) (42 U.S.C. §666(a)(5)(G)).
21 Families required to cooperate with the CSE agency under federal law include those receiving TANF cash assistance
or Medicaid coverage, and those in states that have adopted cooperation requirements for their SNAP programs.
Roughly half of states have additionally opted under their own laws to require cooperation of recipients of child care
subsidies.
22 See the Family Support Act of 1988 (P.L. 100-485).
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predictable (which in many instances can have the added benefit of reducing conflict and tension
between the parents).
States decide child support amounts based on the noncustodial parent’s income or based on both
parents’ incomes. Other factors that may be considered include the age of child, whether a
stepparent is in the home, whether the child is disabled, and the number of siblings. States
currently use one of three basic types of guidelines to determine child support award amounts
(i.e., the child support order):
1. “Income shares,” which prorates the combined incomes of both parents to
determine the child support obligation of the noncustodial parent (41 states,
Guam, and the Virgin Islands);
2. “Percentage of income,” in which only the noncustodial parent’s income
(factoring in the number of children to which child support is to be paid) is used
to determine the support obligation (6 states); and
3. “Melson-Delaware,” which provides a minimum self-support reserve for parents
before the cost of rearing the children is prorated between the parents to
determine the award amount (3 states).23
Review and Modification of Support Orders
The circumstances of both the noncustodial parent and custodial family can change with time. As
these changes occur, child support obligations can become inadequate or inequitable. Effective
review and modification of child support orders are important steps in ensuring that noncustodial
parents continue to comply with realistic orders based on an actual ability to pay them.24
Federal law requires that states review and, if appropriate, adjust child support orders for TANF
family cases at least once every three years.25 For non-TANF family cases, such a review is not
required to be automatic but either one of the parents can request it every three years. If a request
for review and modification is made prior to when that three-year cycle has been completed, the
requesting party must demonstrate that there was a substantial change in circumstances. Child
support adjustments and modifications must be in accordance with a state’s child support
guidelines.
CSE programs usually rely on one of the parents to request a modification of the child support
order. It is important for parents facing job loss, incarceration, or other substantial changes in
circumstances to seek a modification to their order quickly so that they do not fall behind in their
payments and thereby have to contend with past-due child support payments. Pursuant to federal
law, the court cannot retroactively reduce the arrearages that a noncustodial parent owes.26

23 The District of Columbia uses a hybrid model that starts as a percentage of income model and is then reduced by a
formula based on the custodial parent’s income. Information was not available for Puerto Rico. See National
Conference of State Legislatures, Child Support Guideline Models by State, July 10, 2020, available at
http://www.ncsl.org/research/human-services/guideline-models-by-state.aspx.
24 See Office of Child Support Enforcement, Providing Expedited Review and Modification Assistance, Child Support
Fact Sheet Series, No. 2, available at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ocse/
providing_expedited_review_and_modification.pdf.
25 Section 466(a)(10) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. §666(a)(10)).
26 Section 466(a)(9) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. §666(a)(9)).
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Enforcement
The CSE program has a vast array of enforcement methods at its disposal to help ensure that child
support payments are made on time and in the full amount that is owed. Most payments are
collected from noncustodial parents through income withholding.27 In FY2022, 68.6% of
collections were obtained through income withholding.28 Other methods of enforcement include
• intercepting federal and state income tax refunds;
• intercepting unemployment compensation;
• filing liens against property;
• subjecting insurance settlements to withholding;
• intercepting lottery winnings, judgments, or settlements;
• seizing debtor parent assets held by public or private retirement funds and
financial institutions;
• withholding, suspending, or restricting driver’s licenses, professional or
occupational licenses, and recreational or sporting licenses; and
• denying, revoking, or restricting passports.
Past-due child support may accumulate if the noncustodial parent is unable or unwilling to pay
the child support that is owed. In addition to collecting child support arrearages through the
enforcement methods above, all jurisdictions have civil or criminal contempt-of-court procedures
and criminal nonsupport laws. Federal criminal penalties also may be imposed in certain cases.
Federal law requires states to enact and implement the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act
(UIFSA), and expand full faith and credit procedures for child support orders issued by other
states.
Federal law also provides for international enforcement of child support.29 The Preventing Sex
Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act (P.L. 113-183) contained provisions designed to
improve child support collections in cases where the custodial parent lives in one country and the
noncustodial parent lives in another country.30 Specifically, this act included implementing
legislation for The Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other
Forms of Family Maintenance (the Convention).31 (Forty other countries, including the European
Union member states, have also ratified the Convention.) The enactment of the law also ensured
that the United States continued to be compliant with any multilateral child support enforcement
treaties and, as part of this, required states to update their UIFSA law to incorporate verbatim any

27 There are three exceptions to the immediate income withholding rule: (1) if one of the parties demonstrates, and the
court (or administrative process) finds that there is good cause not to require immediate withholding, (2) if both parties
agree in writing to an alternative arrangement, or (3) at the HHS Secretary’s discretion, if a state can demonstrate that
the rule will not increase the effectiveness or efficiency of the state’s CSE program.
28 This includes collections received from IV-D and non-IV-D child support cases processed through the State
Disbursement Unit.
29 The United States has reciprocal agreements with certain countries to process cases and enforce child support orders.
These countries include those that have joined the Hague Child Support Convention, and countries and Canadian
provinces/territories that have bilateral agreements with the U.S. government and are not parties to the Hague
Convention. OCSS maintains a list of these countries at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/partners/international.
30 For more information on P.L. 113-183, see CRS Report R43757, Child Welfare and Child Support: The Preventing
Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act (P.L. 113-183).
31 The Convention was adopted at the Hague Conference on Private International Law on November 23, 2007. On
August 30, 2016, President Obama signed the instrument of ratification for the Convention.
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amendments adopted as of September 30, 2008, by the National Conference of Commissioners on
Uniform State Laws. Additionally, the act facilitated greater access to the FPLS by foreign
countries and tribal governments as part of improving child support collections. The act also
amended federal law so that the federal income tax refund offset program would be available for
use by a state to handle CSE requests from foreign reciprocating countries and foreign treaty
countries.32
Financing
The CSE program is funded with both state
CSE Funding Elements
and federal dollars. There are five funding
•
State dol ars
streams associated with the CSE program.
•
Federal financial participation (i.e., 66% of general
First, states spend their own money to
state CSE expenditures)
operate a CSE program; the level of funding
•
Retained child support col ections from
allocated by the state and/or localities
noncustodial parents on behalf of TANF families
determines the amount of resources available
•
Incentive payments to states
to CSE agencies.
•
Fees and costs recovered
Second, the federal government reimburses
each state 66% of all allowable expenditures on CSE activities, referred to as federal financial
participation or federal matching funds.33 The federal government’s reimbursement is open-ended
in that it pays its percentage of allowable state and local government expenditures with no upper
limit or ceiling. For the purposes of the federal budget process, this funding is considered to be
mandatory spending, and is appropriated each fiscal year in the Departments of Labor, Health and
Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.
Third, states collect child support on behalf of families receiving TANF assistance to reimburse
themselves (and the federal government) for the cost of TANF cash payments to the family. (See
the “Distribution of Support” section, below.)

32 For additional information on international enforcement of child support, see CRS Report R43779, Child Support
Enforcement and the Hague Convention on Recovery of International Child Support.
33 In contrast to the federal financial participation of 66% for CSE programs run by the states or territories, pursuant to
PRWORA (P.L. 104-193), the CSE program provides tribes and tribal organizations direct federal funding equal to
100% of approved and allowable CSE expenditures during the start-up period, provides 90% federal funding for
approved CSE programs during the first three years of full program operation, and provides 80% federal funding
thereafter. (On April 21, 2023, OCSE published a notice of proposed rulemaking proposing to eliminate the tribal non-
federal share requirements. [88 Federal Register 24526-24535, April 21, 2023.] As of the cover date of this report, that
regulation has not yet been finalized.) According to OCSS, as of July 11, 2022, 60 Indian tribes or tribal organizations
operated comprehensive tribal CSE programs. For a listing of the tribal programs, see https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/
resource/tribal-child-support-agency-contacts. For additional information, see CRS Report R41204, Child Support
Enforcement: Tribal Programs.
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Fourth, the federal government provides states with an incentive payment to encourage them to
operate effective programs.34 Federal law requires states to reinvest CSE incentive payments back
into the CSE program or related activities.35
Fifth, fees and costs recovered may help finance the CSE program. Families receiving TANF
benefits or Medicaid coverage, as well as families required by their state SNAP program to
cooperate with the CSE agency, automatically qualify for CSE services free of charge.36 The CSE
agency must charge all other families a fee when they apply for CSE services, not to exceed $25.
CS cases that have never received TANF benefits also are charged an annual user fee, not to
exceed $35, when child support enforcement efforts on their behalf are successful (i.e., at least
$550 annually is collected on their behalf).37 The CSE agency may charge these fees to the
custodial or noncustodial parent, pay the fee out of state funds (or, in the case of the annual user
fee, deduct it from child support paid to the family).38 In addition, fees may be charged in other
circumstances, including for performing genetic tests (for purposes of paternity establishment) on
any individual who is not a recipient of TANF assistance or Medicaid. Finally, a state may at its
option recover administrative costs in excess of the fees, either from the custodial parent or the
noncustodial parent. Fees and administrative costs recovered must be subtracted from the state’s
total administrative costs before calculating the federal reimbursement amount (i.e., 66% federal
financial participation).
Collection and Disbursement
In order to make the processing of child support payments more efficient and economical, all
states are required to have a centralized automated State Collection and Disbursement Unit
(SDU) to which child support payments are paid and from which they are distributed. SDUs assist
the income withholding process by providing employers with a single location in each state to
send the withheld child support payments. In addition to collecting and promptly distributing
money to custodial parents or other states, SDUs
• generate orders and notices of withholding to employers,
• create and maintain records associated with each payment, and
• furnish parents with a record of the current status of child support payments.

34 The CSE incentive payment—which is based in part on five performance measures related to establishment of
paternity and child support orders, collection of current and past-due child support payments, and cost-effectiveness—
was statutorily set by the Child Support Performance and Incentive Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-200). In the aggregate,
incentive payments to states may not exceed $458 million for FY2006, $471 million for FY2007, and $483 million for
FY2008 (to be increased for inflation in years thereafter). According to OCSE estimates, FY2021 incentive payments
total $509 million. (FY2022 estimates were not provided in the FY2022 Preliminary Data Report and Tables.) For
additional information on CSE incentive payments, see CRS Report RL34203, Child Support Enforcement Program
Incentive Payments: Background and Policy Issues.
35 The DRA (P.L. 109-171), effective October 1, 2007, prohibited federal financial participation from including a 66%
reimbursement of state expenditure of federal CSE incentive payments. However, the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009 (P.L. 111-5) required HHS to temporarily provide federal matching funds at the 66% rate (in
FY2009 and FY2010) on CSE incentive payments that states reinvest back into the CSE program. Currently, CSE
incentive payments that are received by states and reinvested in the CSE program are no longer eligible for federal
reimbursement.
36 The DRA (P.L. 109-171).
37 In addition, the state cannot charge a fee to a custodial parent or noncustodial parent who is cooperating with the
CSE program as a condition of SNAP eligibility (45 C.F.R., Ch. III, 302.33(a)(3), (e)(3)(i-iii)).
38 For more information on the CSE annual user fee, CRS Report RS22753, Child Support Enforcement Annual User
Fee: In Brief.
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The SDU must use automated procedures, electronic processes, and computer-driven technology
to the maximum extent that is feasible, efficient, and economical.
The SDU must be operated directly by the state CSE agency, by two or more state CSE agencies
under a regional cooperative agreement, or by a contractor responsible directly to the state CSE
agency. Alternatively, instead of a single state system, a SDU may be established by linking local
disbursement units through an automated information network. In such cases, the Secretary of
HHS must first agree that the system will not cost more, take more time to establish, or take more
time to operate, than a single state system. Like single state systems, linked systems must give
employers only one location for submitting withheld income.
Federal law generally requires employers to remit to the SDU income withheld within seven
business days after the employee’s payday. Then, the SDU is required to send child support
payments to custodial parents within two business days of when they are received.
Distribution of Support
When child support is owed to a current or former TANF family, distribution rules determine
whether the family or the state retains any support that is collected. These distribution rules are
important when a payment is not enough to cover the current support, or if any arrearages are due
for those claims.
To reimburse the states and federal government for the cost of TANF cash benefits, TANF
families are required by federal law to assign their child support rights to the state. While the
family receives TANF, the states and federal government generally retain any current support and
any assigned arrearages collected up to the cumulative amount of TANF benefits paid to the
family.39 While states may opt to pass through (i.e., pay) to the family some or all of the state
share of the child support (thereby forgoing its share of those collections), they generally still
must pay the federal government its share of child support collected on behalf of TANF families.
However, in order to help states pay for the cost of their CSE pass-through policies, federal law
waives the federal government’s share of child support collections that are passed through by
states, up to $100 per month for one child or up to $200 per month for two or more children. (The
state also must disregard the passed-through payments as income for the purposes of determining
TANF eligibility in order for the federal government to waive its share.) Based on May 2023 data,
26 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have a CSE pass-through and disregard
policy; 24 states, Guam, and the Virgin Islands do not.40
States must distribute to former TANF families the following child support collections before the
state and the federal government are reimbursed:
• all current child support, and
• any child support arrearages that accrue after the family leaves TANF (these
arrearages are called never-assigned arrearages), and any arrearages that accrued
before the family began receiving TANF benefits. (Any child support arrearages

39 The DRA (P.L. 109-171), effective October 1, 2009, or at state option, October 1, 2008, provides that the assignment
only covers child support that accrues while the family receives TANF.
40 National Conference of State Legislatures, Child Support Pass-Through and Disregard Policies for Public
Assistance Recipients, May 30, 2023 (https://www.ncsl.org/human-services/child-support-pass-through-and-disregard-
policies-for-public-assistance-recipients).
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that accrue during the time the family is on TANF belong to the state and federal
government.41)
Medical Child Support
Medical child support is defined as the legal provision of payment of medical, dental,
prescription, and other health care expenses for children living apart from one of their parents.42 It
can include provisions for health care coverage (including payment of costs of premiums, co-
payments, and deductibles) as well as cash payments for a child’s medical expenses. By
connecting children to coverage—through either of their parents’ employers, Medicaid, State
Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Health Insurance Exchanges, or other options—the
CSE program can try to ensure that children will have continuous, stable access to health care as
they grow up, and that the resources of both parents are being used most effectively for the child.
The establishment and enforcement of medical support is also intended to promote fairness in
allocating childrearing costs between the parents and, when employer-sponsored health care is
obtained, it saves federal and state dollars.43
Federal law requires every Title IV-D child support order to include a provision for health care
coverage.44 It requires that medical support for a child be provided by either or both parents and
that it must be enforced. It authorizes the state CSE agency to enforce medical support against a
custodial or noncustodial parent whenever health care coverage is available to that parent at
“reasonable cost.”45 It also stipulates that medical support may include health care coverage
(including payment of costs of premiums, co-payments, and deductibles) and payment of medical
expenses for a child. States generally seek medical child support as sequenced below:
• The noncustodial or custodial parent may be ordered to provide health insurance
if it is available at reasonable cost through the parent’s employer.
• The noncustodial parent may be ordered to pay for other private health insurance
(health care coverage) premiums.

41 The DRA (P.L. 109-171) gave states the option of distributing to former TANF families the full amount of child
support collected on their behalf (i.e., both current support and all child support arrearages—including arrearages
collected through the federal income tax refund offset program). This provision took effect on October 1, 2009, or
October 1, 2008, at state option.
42 For additional information on medical child support, see CRS Report R43020, Medical Child Support: Background
and Current Policy.
43 Health care coverage of children and medical child support are not synonymous. A child could be covered by a
custodial parent’s health insurance plan and the child support order may not contain any provision for medical support.
Conversely, a child may be receiving cash medical support but not be insured.
44 The regulations implementing this provision recognize that state CSE agencies generally do not establish child
support orders. Rather, many orders are established under a judicial, quasi-judicial, or administrative process outside of
the CSE agency. When orders are established through the courts, state CSE agencies can petition but cannot require
inclusion of medical support provisions. State child support guidelines are also required to provide for the inclusion of
medical support, but judges and administrative officials can deviate from those guidelines if appropriate. (For a
discussion of establishment provisions, see the Lewin Group, Administrative and Judicial Processes for Establishing
Child Support Orders, for OCSE, ACF, HHS, June 2002, https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ocse/
dcl_03_15a.pdf. For information on the requirements to petition for inclusion of medical support, see 45 C.F.R.
§303.31(b)).
45 45 C.F.R. §303.31(a)(3) provides that “cash medical support or the cost of health insurance is considered reasonable
in cost if the cost to the parent responsible for providing medical support does not exceed five percent of their gross
income or, at State option, a reasonable alternative income-based numeric standard.” For state-specific definitions of
reasonable cost, see https://ocsp.acf.hhs.gov/irg/irgpdf.pdf?geoType=OGP&groupCode=EMP&addrType=NMS&
addrClassType=EMP.
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• The noncustodial parent may be ordered to reimburse the custodial parent for all
or a portion of the costs of health insurance obtained by the custodial parent (on
behalf of the child[ren]).
• If neither parent is able to obtain health insurance at a reasonable cost, the
custodial parent may be ordered to apply on behalf of the child to a government-
funded medical program such as Medicaid or CHIP. The cost of any Medicaid
expenses or CHIP coverage (including premiums, co-pays, or coinsurance costs)
may be added to the noncustodial parent’s monthly child support payment.
• Both parents may be required to pay a percentage of out-of-pocket medical
expenses that are not covered through insurance. The percentage is determined
by the financial circumstances of each parent.
• If neither parent has private insurance and the children are not eligible for
Medicaid or CHIP, the court may order the noncustodial parent to provide cash
medical support in addition to the monthly child support payment; and/or the
noncustodial parent may be ordered to pay additional amounts to cover a portion
of ongoing medical bills or as reimbursement for uninsured medical costs.
When the noncustodial parent is ordered to pay cash medical support, generally it is included in
the cash child support order and a single notice of income withholding is sent to the employer to
withhold from the parent’s paycheck. If the parent is ordered to provide insurance through the
employer, the employer is required to enroll the child in health insurance coverage and withhold
the necessary premium payments from the parent’s income.46 The employer is required to send
any amount withheld directly to the health care plan. In addition, employers must promptly notify
the CSE agency whenever the employment of the noncustodial parent (and, at state option, the
custodial parent) is terminated.47
Noncustodial Parent Access to and Engagement with
their Children
Access and Visitation Grants and Parenting Time Agreements
A noncustodial parent’s right to visit with one’s children is commonly referred to as visitation or
child access (and more recently as voluntary parenting time agreements). State domestic relations
or family laws almost universally treat child support and visitation as completely separate issues.
Historically, the federal government has agreed that visitation and child support should be legally
separate issues, and that only child support should be under the purview of the CSE program.
Both federal and state policymakers have maintained that denial of visitation rights should not be
considered a reason for stopping child support payments.48 However, in recognition of the
negative long-term consequences for children associated with the absence of their noncustodial
parent, as well as evidence that contact between the child and noncustodial parent can make it

46 This requirement is effectuated through the National Medical Support Notice. (See OMB 0970-0222 and 1210-0113,
National Medical Support Notice Forms & Instructions, January 19, 2023, https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/form/national-
medical-support-notice-forms-instructions.)
47 State CSE agencies are also required to promptly notify the employer when there is no longer a current medical
support order in effect (45 C.F.R. §303.32(c)).
48 See HHS, OCSE, Child Support and Parenting Time: Improving Coordination to Benefit Children, July 2013,
available at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/programs/css/13_child_support_and_parenting_time_final.pdf.
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more likely that child support responsibilities will be met,49 federal and state policymakers have
increasingly promoted efforts that address child support and access and visitation in the same
forum.
In order to promote visitation and better relations between custodial and noncustodial parents, the
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-193)
provided mandatory spending in the amount of $10 million each fiscal year from the federal CSE
budget account for grants to states for access and visitation programs.50 Eligible activities include
but are not limited to mediation, counseling, education, development of parenting plans, visitation
enforcement, and development of guidelines for visitation and alternative custody arrangements.
In 2019, OCSE (now, OCSS) reported the results of their multiyear pilot program, Parenting Time
Opportunities for Children (PTOC). The purpose of PTOC was to evaluate the extent to which
CSE agencies could implement integrated processes for the establishment of child support orders
and parenting time agreements. The study also examined the feasibility of sufficient family
violence safeguards, and whether the establishment of parenting time would result in greater
parental involvement or child support payments. According to the agency, “evaluators of the
project sites confirmed that parents appreciate the opportunity to address parenting time and feel
that it increases the fairness of child support. Furthermore, PTOC appears to help some parents
with improved relationships, more time with their children, and some small increases in child
support compliance.”51
CSE administrative costs related to parenting time arrangements are not considered to be eligible
expenditures for federal reimbursement. However, there has been recent congressional interest in
these arrangements and the feasibility of implementing them on a more widespread basis using
existing funding sources. The Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act (P.L.
113-183) included a Sense of the Congress statement specifying that
• establishing parenting time arrangements (also known as visitation) when
obtaining child support orders is an important goal that should be accompanied
by strong family violence safeguards; and
• states should use existing funding sources to support the establishment of
parenting time arrangements, including child support incentives, Access and
Visitation Grants, and Healthy Marriage Promotion and Responsible Fatherhood
Grants.
Responsible Fatherhood Programs
The federal government has also sought to engage noncustodial parents in the lives of their
children through what are known as “responsible fatherhood programs.”52 Based on the premise
that committed, involved, and responsible fathers are important in the lives of their children, these
programs seek to promote the financial and personal responsibility of noncustodial parents for

49 See HHS, OCSE, Noncustodial Parents: Summaries of Research, Grants and Practices, July 2009, available at
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/ocse/dcl_09_26a.pdf.
50 Even before PRWORA (P.L. 104-193), the Family Support Act of 1988 (P.L. 100-485) authorized a limited number
of grants to states for demonstration projects to develop, improve, or expand activities designed to increase compliance
with child access provisions of court orders.
51 HHS, OCSE, Parenting Time Opportunities for Children Research Brief, August 2019, p. 1,
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/programs/css/ptoc_research_brief.pdf.
52 Although programs that seek to help fathers initiate or maintain contact with their children and become emotionally
involved in their children’s lives are usually referred to as “fatherhood” programs, the programs are generally gender
neutral. Their underlying goal is participation of the noncustodial parent in the lives of their children.
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their children, and increase the participation of fathers in their children’s lives. Some responsible
fatherhood programs help noncustodial parents strengthen their parenting skills. Other programs
try to discourage young men from becoming fathers until they are married and ready for the
responsibility.
The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-171) included a provision that provided mandatory
funding for a Healthy Marriage Promotion and Responsible Fatherhood grants program (in Title
IV-A of the Social Security Act). For FY2006-FY2010, that program was provided up to $50
million per year for competitive responsible fatherhood grants. For FY2011, funding for those
fatherhood grants was increased to $75 million.53 Between FY2011 and FY2018, $75 million in
mandatory funding for this program each year was provided through provisions in appropriations
acts. Since FY2019, funding for this program was provided through a series of temporary
extensions, the most recent of which was Section 6102 of P.L. 117-328 (the Consolidated
Appropriation Act, 2023, enacted December 29, 2022), which extended TANF funding through
September 30, 2023.
Most responsible fatherhood programs include parenting education; training in responsible
decisionmaking, conflict resolution, and coping with stress; mediation services for both parents;
problem-solving skills; peer support; and job-training opportunities.54 Grantees include states,
territories, Indian tribes and tribal organizations, and public and nonprofit community groups
(including religious organizations).

Author Information

Jessica Tollestrup

Specialist in Social Policy

Acknowledgments
Carmen Solomon-Fears, retired CRS Specialist in Social Policy, authored earlier versions of this report.
Sylvia Bryan, CRS Research Assistant, assisted with the most recent report update.

53 See the Claims Resolution Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-291).
54 For more information on responsible fatherhood programs, see CRS Report RL31025, Fatherhood Initiatives:
Connecting Fathers to Their Children.
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Disclaimer
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under the direction of Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other
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