HOW EFFECTIVE IS CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT?
Since the inception of the Federal-State child support
program in 1975, there appears to have been growing public
awareness of the problem of nonpayment of child support and
increased willingness by taxpayers to spend money trying to
improve child support enforcement. As measured either by
expenditures or total collections, the Federal-State program
has grown about tenfold since 1978. To the extent that private
arrangements fail to ensure child support payments, our laws
and, increasingly, our practices bring child support cases into
the public domain. In view of these quite remarkable changes in
law and practice, it seems useful to provide a broad assessment
of the performance of the Nation's child support system in
general and of the IV-D program in particular.
Impact on Taxpayers
One useful measure of the Federal-State program is the
impact of collections on TANF costs. As outlined above, States
retain and split with the Federal Government collections from
parents whose children are on TANF. In addition, States can
often retain part of collections from parents whose children
were on TANF in the past as repayment for taxpayer-provided
TANF benefits.
As shown in table 8-1 above, TANF collections have in fact
been rising every year since 1978, growing from less than $0.5
billion in that year to nearly $2.9 billion in 1996. Equally
important, the child support agencies collected a level of
payments on behalf of TANF parents that equalled 15.5 percent
of all TANF benefits in 1995. This figure, which has been
rising every year since 1980, seems especially impressive in
view of the fact that even if States could collect all of the
child support due, it would not be possible for some States to
recover 100 percent of TANF benefits because TANF benefit
payments usually exceed child support award levels.
Of course, it will be recalled that despite this
impressive rise in TANF collections and cost offset, the
overall impact of the child support program on taxpayers is
negative. As shown in table 8-5, taxpayers lost over $0.7
billion on the program in 1996, although the loss has dropped
from its peak of $853 in 1995. The rise of TANF collections and
cost offset ratios suggests that with reform, the child support
program could become more efficient.
Impact on Poverty
Another good measure of child support performance is the
impact of collections on poverty. In 1991, 1.26 million (24
percent) of the 5.3 million women and men rearing children
alone who were supposed to receive child support payments had
incomes below the poverty level. If full payment had been made
to these custodial parents and if none of these families had
received welfare payments, only 140,000 of them would have
received enough income from child support payments to put them
above the poverty level (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1995, pp. 7
& 26). Thus, the potential of child support to greatly reduce
poverty appears to be modest. Of course, if the child support
program could obtain orders and collect support for a
substantial fraction of the additional 5.3 million single
parents who don't even have an award, the antipoverty impact of
child support could be increased somewhat.
Despite the modest impact of child support on poverty,
many families on welfare have received enough of a financial
boost from child support payments that they were able to leave
the rolls. In 1995, 294,000 families with child support
collections, representing about 6 percent of the welfare
caseload, became ineligible for AFDC. Similarly, about 3
percent of families in the non-AFDC child support program were
lifted out of poverty by child support payments. This 3 percent
figure is more impressive than it appears at first because a
substantial fraction of the non-AFDC caseload had incomes above
the poverty level before receiving any child support payments.
For most of these nonpoor families, incomes and standards of
living were improved by child support payments. Presumably,
even poor families that received child support but remained in
poverty had their standard of living improved by the child
support payments.
Impact on National Child Support Payments
Perhaps the most important measure of the Federal-State
program is its impact on overall national rates of paying child
support. Although the original intent of Congress in creating
the child support program was primarily to offset welfare
payments, both Congress and the American public have come to
see the program as a means of improving the Nation's system of
ensuring that parents who no longer live with their children
continue to provide for their financial support. An examination
of whether the IV-D program has had an impact on national child
support payments must begin with an assessment of the record of
noncustodial parents in paying child support.
The U.S. Census Bureau periodically collects national
survey information on child support. By interviewing a random
sample of single-parent families, the Census Bureau is able to
generate a host of numbers that can be used to assess the
performance of noncustodial parents in paying child support.
Table 8-7 provides detailed information for 1993, the most
recent year for which national data are available, on child
support payments by fathers to families headed by mothers.
Although the 1993 survey like the 1991 survey included
custodial fathers, the following discussion is focused solely
on custodial mothers. Several points bear emphasis, the most
important of which is that many female-headed families do not
receive child support. As shown in the top panel of table 8-7,
of the 11.5 million female-headed families eligible for
support, only 60 percent even had a support award. Most
observers would say that a major failure of the Nation's child
support system is that entirely too many mothers do not have a
child support award.
Of the 5.9 million mothers who do have an award and who
were supposed to receive payments in 1993, 71 percent actually
received at least one payment. However, as shown in tables
appended to this chapter, only about half of those due money
actually received everything that was due. So in addition to
its failure to get orders for a significant percentage of
mothers, critics assert that a second failure of the child
support system is that a large proportion of the money owed is
not paid.
Table 8-7, which also summarizes child support information
by ethnic group, by years of schooling, and by poverty level,
suggests a number of interesting and important features of
child support payments. White mothers are more likely to have a
support order than black or Hispanic mothers (65 percent versus
about 50 percent for blacks and 41 percent for Hispanics).
Similarly, mothers with a college degree have a 73 percent
chance of having an order as compared with 48 percent for high
school dropouts and 60 percent for high school graduates. As
for payments, white mothers receive over $3,400 per year on
average as compared with around only $2,100 for black mothers
and $2,700 for Hispanic mothers. College graduates receive
$4,800 per year in support as compared with $1,700 and $2,800
for high school dropouts and graduates respectively.
Clearly, mothers who are already financially worse off get
less from child support than mothers who are financially better
off. This generalization is made especially clear by two
further pieces of information depicted in the table. First,
never-married mothers, one of the poorest demographic groups in
the Nation, are less likely to have an award than divorced
mothers (44 percent versus 73 percent); even never-married
mothers who actually receive support get considerably less than
divorced mothers ($1,700 versus $3,600). Second, as shown by
the data at the bottom of the table, poor mothers are less
likely to have orders and receive less money than nonpoor
mothers. Table 8-8 shows similar data for the award of
TABLE 8-7.--CHILD SUPPORT PAYMENTS AWARDED AND RECEIVED BY WOMEN WITH CHILDREN PRESENT, BY SELECTED
CHARACTERISTICS, 1993
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Supposed to receive child support in
1993
Percent ----------------------------------------
Total awarded Received support in 1993
Characteristics of women (thousands) child ---------------------------
support Total Mean
payments \1\ (thousands) Percent child Mean
support income
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ALL WOMEN
Current marital status:
Married \2\............................. 2,408 70.5 1,547 74.3 $3,088 $17,538
Divorced................................ 3,813 73.3 2,488 75.7 3,632 21,760
Separated............................... 1,725 49.1 654 66.4 3,528 17,723
Widowed \3\............................. 126 42.1 38 55.3 (\5\) (\5\)
Never married........................... 3,398 43.6 1,177 59.6 1,738 10,689
Race and Hispanic origin:
White................................... 7,798 64.7 4,381 74.7 3,439 19,721
Black................................... 328.1 49.8 1,345 60.8 2,055 12,785
Hispanic origin \4\..................... 1,455 41.1 507 65.5 2,732 14,829
Years of school completed:
Less than high school graduate.......... 2,529 48.4 1,025 62.7 1,675 8,320
High school graduate or GED............. 4,273 60.3 2,161 70.7 2,797 15,053
Some college, no degree................. 2,688 62.6 1,504 73.3 3,548 19,363
Associate degree........................ 821 66.1 466 69.3 3,263 23,089
Bachelors degree or more................ 1,150 73.0 747 79.7 4,831 32,849
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Total............................... 11,470 59.9 5,903 71.0 3,147 18,301
===================================================================
WOMEN BELOW POVERTY
Current marital status:
Married \2\............................. 299 55.5 148 65.5 1,224 5,318
Divorced................................ 1,135 69.7 691 71.1 2,360 6,851
Separated............................... 838 46.2 287 62.7 2,713 6,025
Widowed................................. 63 23.8 10 40.0 (\5\) (\5\)
Never married \3\....................... 1,894 44.3 654 59.8 1,526 5,298
Race:
White................................... 2,371 57.0 1,109 68.3 2,266 6,177
Black................................... 1,716 46.3 634 60.1 1,580 5,851
Hispanic origin \4\..................... 698 37.7 203 69.0 1,925 6,242
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Total............................... 4,230 52.0 1,790 65.0 2,034 6,087
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Award status as of spring 1994.
\2\ Remarried women whose previous marriage ended in divorce.
\3\ Widowed women whose previous marriage ended in divorce.
\4\ Persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.
\5\ Sample too small to produce reliable estimate.
Note.--Women with own children under 21 years of age present from an absent father as of spring 1994.
Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1997. Forthcoming report: child support for custodial mothers and fathers:
1993. Current Population Reports. (Advance copy of preliminary data furnished to CRS.)
TABLE 8-8.--CHILD SUPPORT AWARD STATUS AND INCLUSION OF HEALTH INSURANCE IN AWARD, BY SELECTED CHARACTERISTICS
OF WOMEN, 1993
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Supposed to receive child support
payments in 1993
----------------------------------------
Health insurance included
Characteristic Total in child support award
(thousands) Total ---------------------------
(thousands) Percent of
Number total
(thousands) awarded
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Current marital status: \1\
Remarried \2\......................................... 1,839 1,278 881 68.9
Divorced.............................................. 3,813 2,488 1,719 69.1
Separated............................................. 1,725 654 334 51.1
Never married......................................... 3,398 1,177 474 40.3
Race and Hispanic origin:
White................................................. 7,798 4,381 2,898 66.1
Black................................................. 3,281 1,345 568 42.2
Hispanic \3\.......................................... 1,455 507 223 44.0
Age:
15-17 years........................................... 99 25 11 44.0
18-29 years........................................... 3,445 1,451 723 49.8
30-39 years........................................... 5,022 2,852 1,729 60.6
40 years and over..................................... 2,904 1,576 1,100 69.8
Years of school completed:
Less than high school graduate........................ 2,539 1,025 423 41.3
High school graduate or GED........................... 4,273 2,161 1,292 59.8
Some college, no degree............................... 2,688 1,504 979 65.1
Associate degree...................................... 821 466 302 64.8
Bachelors degree or more.............................. 1,150 747 566 75.8
Number of own children present from an absent father:
One child............................................. 6,398 2,952 1,882 63.8
Two children.......................................... 3,299 1,982 1,179 59.5
Three children........................................ 1,225 699 388 55.5
Four children or more................................. 549 270 114 42.2
-----------------------------------------------------
Total............................................. 11,470 5,903 3,562 60.3
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Excludes a small number of current widowed women whose previous marriage ended in divorce.
\2\ Remarried women whose previous marriage ended in divorce.
\3\ Persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.
Note.--Women 15 years and older with own children under 21 years of age present from absent fathers as of
spring 1994.
Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1997.
health insurance. While demonstrating that 60 percent of all
mothers have health insurance included in their award, the
table also shows that the probability of health insurance
coverage is greatly reduced for never-married women, black and
Hispanic women, and women with less schooling.
Table 8-9, which summarizes several child support measures
for selected years between 1978 and 1993, complements and
extends the conclusions drawn from the 1993 data. \4\ More
specifically, the pattern of poor women being less likely to
have an order and receive support is nothing new; the years
since 1978 show no change in this pattern. Overall, the
percentage of mothers with an award is only slightly higher
than in 1978, the percentage that actually receive any payment
is only slightly higher, and the aggregate payments have grown
less rapidly than the number of demographically eligible
mothers. Table 8-9 shows that while a slightly higher
percentage of women were awarded child support (60 percent in
1993 versus 59 percent in 1978), a significantly smaller
percentage of women received full payment (18 percent in 1993
versus 24 percent in 1978).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ The Census Bureau changed its interview procedures before
obtaining the 1991 data. Specifically, Census asked whether adults had
any children under age 21 in their household who had a parent living
elsewhere. This question may have excluded some mothers who would have
answered the child support questions in previous surveys. In the
interviews for the years 1978 through 1989, all never-married mothers
were asked the child support questions. Because of this and other
differences in procedure, the Census Bureau recommends ``extreme
caution'' (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1995, p. 40) in comparing data
from the 1992 interview with data from previous interviews. We present
the data from all the surveys and recommend that readers draw their own
conclusions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In summary, it appears that the performance of the Nation's
child support system is modest and that few if any of the
measures of national performance have improved in nearly two
decades. By contrast, as shown at the beginning of this chapter
(see table 8-1), the Federal-State child support program has
shown improved performance on a number of important measures
virtually every year since 1978. To promote comparison of
performance changes in the IV-D program with overall national
trends in child support performance, table 8-10 summarizes
several measures from both the IV-D program as revealed in
reports from the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement
and the national system of child support as revealed in U.S.
Census Bureau Surveys. The data are surprising and, at first,
confusing. As shown in the top panel, the Federal-State program
is showing impressive improvement on every measure. Total
collections, parents located, paternities established, and
awards established are all up by over 200 percent since 1978.
By contrast, the measures of overall national trends show
little improvement. In fact, the likelihood of having an award,
being legally entitled to a payment, and the percentage of
those with an award who received at least one payment have been
stagnant. Moreover, the percentage of mothers who received the
full amount due has decreased significantly, from 49 to 35
percent. On the other hand, total collections increased by
about 31 percent. This increase, however, is dwarfed by the 271
percent increase in IV-D collections. The increase must also be
interpreted in view of the fact that the number of single
mothers demographically eligible for child support increased by
62 percent over the same period.
TABLE 8-9.--CHILD SUPPORT PAYMENTS FOR ALL WOMEN, WOMEN ABOVE THE POVERTY LEVEL, AND WOMEN BELOW THE POVERTY
LEVEL, SELECTED YEARS 1978-93
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Category of women 1978 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 \3\ 1993 \4\
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All women:
Total (in thousands)........ 7,094 8,387 8,690 8,808 9,415 9,955 9,918 11,470
Percent awarded \1\......... 59.1 59.2 57.7 61.3 59.0 57.7 55.9 59.9
Percent actually received
payment.................... 34.6 34.6 34.9 36.8 39.0 37.4 38.1 36.5
Percent received full
payment.................... 23.6 22.5 23.2 24.0 26.3 25.6 25.7 17.8
Women above poverty level:
Total (in thousands)........ 5,121 5,821 5,792 6,011 6,224 6,749 6,405 7,240
Percent awarded \1\......... 67.3 67.9 65.3 71.0 66.5 64.6 65.2 64.6
Percent actually received
payment.................... 41.1 41.4 42.6 44.1 44.8 43.1 45.9 41.8
Women below poverty level:
Total (in thousands)........ 1,973 2,566 2,898 2,797 3,191 3,206 3,513 4,230
Percent awarded \1\......... 38.1 39.7 42.5 40.4 44.3 43.3 38.9 52.0
Percent actually received
payment.................... 17.8 19.3 19.6 21.3 27.7 25.4 24.1 27.5
Aggregate payment (in billions
of dollars): \2\
Child support due........... 15.5 16.0 14.7 14.7 18.6 19.1 18.8 21.4
Child support received...... 10.1 9.8 10.3 9.7 12.8 13.1 12.6 13.2
Aggregate child support
deficit.................... 5.4 6.1 4.4 5.0 5.9 6.0 6.1 8.2
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Award status as of spring 1979, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992 and 1994.
\2\ In fiscal year 1993 dollars based on Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers.
\3\ Data for 1991 are not directly compatible with data from other years because of refinements to the survey
universe.
\4\ Data for 1993 are not directly compatible with data from other years because of changes to survey questions.
Note.--Payments for women with own children under age 21.
Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census (1981, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1995, 1997).
TABLE 8-10.--COMPARISON OF MEASURES OF IV-D EFFECTIVENESS WITH CENSUS CHILD SUPPORT DATA, 1978-93
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Year Percent
Measure -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- change,
1978 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 \1\ 1993 \1\ 1978-93
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Federal-State IV-D Program
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total collections (1993 dollars, in billions) \2\............. 2.4 2.6 2.9 3.6 5.0 6.1 7.3 8.9 271
Parents located (thousands)................................... 454 696 831 878 1,145 1,624 2,577 3,777 732
Paternities established (thousands)........................... 111 164 208 232 269 339 472 554 399
Awards established (thousands)................................ 315 414 496 669 812 936 \3\ 821 1,026 226
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
National Trends
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total collections (1993 dollars, in billions) \2\............. 10.1 9.8 10.3 9.7 12.8 13.1 12.6 13.2 31
Of demographically eligible:
Percent with awards....................................... 59 59 58 61 59 58 56 60 2
Percent supposed to receive payment....................... 48 48 46 50 51 50 49 51 6
Percent who received some payment......................... 35 35 35 37 39 37 38 37 6
Of mothers supposed to receive payment, percent who received
full amount.................................................. 49 47 50 48 51 51 52 35 29
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IV-D Collections as a Percentage of National Collections
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IV-D collections as a percent of total collections............ 24 27 28 37 39 47 58 67 179
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The Census Bureau collected data on custodial fathers for the first time for 1991; only the data on custodial mothers is included here.
\2\ Constant fiscal year 1993 dollars using the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers.
\3\ The definition of support orders established changed in 1991.
Note.--Demographically eligible means women with own children under 21 years of age living with them from an absent father.
Sources: Office of Child Support Enforcement, Annual Reports to Congress, 1994 and various years; U.S. Bureau of the Census (1981, 1983, 1985, 1987,
1990, 1991, 1995, and 1997).
Clearly, although the IV-D program has been growing
steadily since 1978, and although its performance on many
measures of child support has been improving, the improvement
appears to have had only modest impact on the national picture.
How can these two trends be reconciled?
The last panel of table 8-10 suggests an answer. This panel
shows collections by the Federal-State program as a percentage
of overall national child support payments. In 1978, less than
one-fourth of child support payments were collected through the
IV-D program. This percentage, however, has increased every
year since 1978. By 1993, more than two-thirds (67 percent) of
all child support payments were made through the IV-D program.
The implication of this trend is that the IV-D program may be
recruiting more and more cases from the private sector,
bringing them into the public sector, providing them with
subsidized services (or substituting Federal spending for State
spending), but not greatly improving child support collections.
Whatever the explanation, it seems that improved effectiveness
of the IV-D program has not led to significant improvement of
the Nation's child support performance.
The data in table 8-10 suffer from a potentially important
flaw. Given that Congress passed major child support
legislation in 1996, as part of the 1996 welfare reform
legislation, the impacts of these reforms have yet to be
studied. The 1993 Census data is too old to capture any of the
effects of the innovative reforms enacted in 1996.
Two additional statistics must be considered in any general
assessment of national child support payments. First, according
to Sorensen (1994), noncustodial parents owe over $30 billion
in overdue child support. Some perspective on the magnitude of
this figure is provided by recalling that the entire Federal
outlay on the Aid to Families with Dependent Children Program
in 1996 was about $13 billion.
But many critics of the child support system contend that
this figure on arrearages, which is based on child support
orders currently in place, is actually an underestimate of the
shortcomings of the Nation's child support system. These
critics hold that too few noncustodial parents have orders,
that the amount of orders is too low, and that not enough of
the amount owed is actually paid. Considerations of this sort
have led to several studies of what might be called ``child
support collections potential''--the amount that could be
collected by a perfectly efficient child support system.
The most recent of these studies, conducted by researchers
at the Urban Institute (Sorensen, 1995), produced the estimate
that $47 billion could be collected in child support each year.
The assumptions underlying this estimate are that all custodial
parents had an order, that payments averaged $5,400 per year,
and that the full amount of every order was actually paid. Of
course, no one expects any program to be perfectly efficient.
Even so, comparing the $47 billion that could be generated by a
perfect system with the actual payments of around $17 billion
in 1996 provides a useful index of how far we need to go as a
Nation if we are to provide custodial parents and children with
the measure of financial security that is the major goal of our
child support system.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
1950
The first Federal child support enforcement legislation was
Public Law 81-734, the Social Security Act Amendments of 1950,
which added section 402(a)(11) to the Social Security Act (42
USC 602(a)(11)). The legislation required State welfare
agencies to notify appropriate law enforcement officials upon
providing Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) to a
child who was abandoned or deserted by a parent. Also that
year, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State
Laws and the American Bar Association approved the Uniform
Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act (URESA; subsequent
amendments to this act were approved in 1952, 1958, and 1968).
1965
Public Law 89-97, the Social Security Amendments of 1965,
allowed a State or local welfare agency to obtain from the
Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare the address and
place of employment of an absent parent who owed child support
under a court order for support.
1967
Public Law 90-248, the Social Security Amendments of 1967,
allowed States to obtain from the Internal Revenue Service
(IRS) the address of nonresident parents who owed child support
under a court order for support. In addition, each State was
required to establish a single organizational unit to establish
paternity and collect child support for deserted children
receiving AFDC. States were also required to work cooperatively
with each other under child support reciprocity agreements and
with courts and law enforcement officials.
1975
Public Law 93-647, the Social Security Amendments of 1974,
created part D of title IV of the Social Security Act (sections
451, et seq.; 42 USC 651, et seq.). The key child support
enforcement provisions, which reflect 3 years of intense
congressional attention, are as follows: The Secretary of the
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (now the
Department of Health and Human Services or HHS) has primary
responsibility for the program and is required to establish a
separate organizational unit to operate the program.
Operational responsibilities include: (1) establishing a parent
locator service; (2) establishing standards for State program
organization, staffing, and operation; (3) reviewing and
approving State plans for the program; (4) evaluating State
program operations by conducting audits of each State's
program; (5) certifying cases for referral to the Federal
courts to enforce support obligations; (6) certifying cases for
referral to the IRS for support collections; (7) providing
technical assistance to States and assisting them with
reporting procedures; (8) maintaining records of program
operations, expenditures, and collections; and (9) submitting
an annual report to the Congress.
Primary responsibility for operating the Child Support
Enforcement Program was placed on the States pursuant to the
State plan. The major requirements of a State plan are that:
(1) the State designate a single and separate organizational
unit to administer the program; (2) the State undertake to
establish paternity and secure support for individuals
receiving AFDC and others who apply directly for child support
enforcement services; (3) child support payments be made to the
State for distribution; (4) the State enter into cooperative
agreements with appropriate courts and law enforcement
officials; (5) the State establish a State parent locator
service that uses State and local parent location resources and
the Federal Parent Locator Service; (6) the State cooperate
with any other State in locating an absent parent, establishing
paternity, and securing support; and (7) the State maintain a
full record of collections and disbursements made under the
plan.
In addition, the 1975 legislation established procedures
for the distribution of child support collections received on
behalf of families on AFDC, created an incentive system to
encourage States to collect payments from parents of children
on AFDC, and subjected moneys due and payable to Federal
employees to garnishment for the collection of child support.
New eligibility requirements were added to the AFDC Program
requiring applicants for, or recipients of, AFDC to make an
assignment of support rights to the State, to cooperate with
the State in establishing paternity and securing support, and
to furnish their Social Security number to the State. The
effective date of Public Law 93-647 was July 1, 1975, except
for the provision regarding garnishment of Federal employees,
which was effective upon enactment. However, several problems
were identified prior to the effective date and Congress passed
Public Law 94-46 to extend the effective date to August 1,
1975. In addition, Public Law 94-88 was passed in August 1975
to allow States to obtain waivers from certain program
requirements under certain conditions until June 30, 1976 and
to receive Federal reimbursement at a reduced rate. This law
also eased the requirement for AFDC recipients to cooperate
with State child support agencies when such cooperation would
not be in the best interests of the child and provided for
supplemental payments to AFDC recipients whose grants would be
reduced due to the implementation of the Child Support
Enforcement Program.
1976
Public Law 94-566, effective October 20, 1976, required
State employment agencies to provide absent parents' addresses
to State child support enforcement agencies.
1977
Public Law 95-30, effective May 23, 1977, made several
amendments to title IV-D. Provisions relating to the
garnishment of a Federal employee's wages for child support
were amended to: (1) include employees of the District of
Columbia; (2) specify the conditions and procedures to be
followed to serve garnishments on Federal agencies; (3)
authorize the issuance of garnishment regulations by the three
branches of the Federal Government and by the District; and (4)
clarify several terms used in the statute. Public Law 95-30
also amended section 454 of the Social Security Act (42 USC
654) to require the State plan to provide bonding for employees
who receive, handle, or disburse cash and to insure that the
accounting and collection functions are performed by different
individuals. In addition, the incentive payment provision,
under section 458(a) of the Social Security Act (42 USC
658(a)), was amended to change the rate to 15 percent of AFDC
collections (from 25 percent for the first 12 months and 10
percent thereafter).
Public Law 95-142, the Medicare-Medicaid Antifraud and
Abuse Amendments of 1977, established a medical support
enforcement program under which States could require Medicaid
applicants to assign to the State their rights to medical
support. State Medicaid agencies were allowed to enter into
cooperative agreements with any appropriate agency of any
State, including the IV-D agency, for assistance with the
enforcement and collection of medical support obligations.
Incentives were also made available to localities making child
support collections for States and for States securing
collections on behalf of other States.
1978
Public Law 95-598, the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978,
repealed section 456(b) of the Social Security Act (42 USC
656(b)), which had barred the discharge in bankruptcy of
assigned child support debts. (This section of the act (now
546(h)) was restored by Public Law 97-35 in 1981.)
1980
Public Law 96-178 extended Federal financial participation
(FFP) for non-AFDC services to March 31, 1980, retroactive to
October 1, 1978.
Public Law 96-265, the Social Security Disability
Amendments of 1980, increased Federal matching funds to 90
percent, effective July 1, 1981, for the costs of developing,
implementing, and enhancing approved automated child support
management information systems. Federal matching funds were
also made available for child support enforcement duties
performed by certain court personnel. In another provision, the
law authorized IRS to collect child support arrearages on
behalf of non-AFDC families. Finally, the law provided State
and local IV-D agencies access to wage information held by the
Social Security Administration and State employment security
agencies for use in establishing and enforcing child support
obligations.
Public Law 96-272, the Adoption Assistance and Child
Welfare Act of 1980, contained four amendments to title IV-D of
the Social Security Act. First, the law made FFP for non-AFDC
services available on a permanent basis. Second, it allowed
States to receive incentive payments on all AFDC collections as
well as interstate collections. Third, as of October 1, 1979,
States were required to claim reimbursement for expenditures
within 2 years, with some exceptions. The fourth change
postponed until October, 1980 the imposition of the 5 percent
penalty on AFDC reimbursement for States not having effective
Child Support Enforcement Programs.
1981
Public Law 97-35, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of
1981, amended IV-D in five ways. First, IRS was authorized to
withhold all or part of certain individuals' Federal income tax
refunds for collection of delinquent child support obligations.
Second, IV-D agencies were required to collect spousal support
for AFDC families. Third, for non-AFDC cases, IV-D agencies
were required to collect fees from absent parents who were
delinquent in their child support payments. Fourth, child
support obligations assigned to the State no longer were
dischargeable in bankruptcy proceedings. Fifth, States were
required to withhold a portion of unemployment benefits from
absent parents delinquent in their support payments.
1982
Public Law 97-248, the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility
Act of 1982, included the following provisions affecting the
IV-D program: FFP was reduced from 75 to 70 percent, effective
October 1, 1982; incentives were reduced from 15 to 12 percent,
effective October 1, 1983; the provision for reimbursement of
costs of certain court personnel that exceed the amount of
funds spent by a State on similar court expenses during
calendar year 1978 was repealed; the mandatory non-AFDC
collection fee imposed by Public Law 97-35 was repealed,
retroactive to August 13, 1981, and States were given the
option of recovering costs by imposing fees on non-AFDC
parents; States were allowed to collect spousal support in
certain non-AFDC cases; as of October 1, 1982, members of the
uniformed services on active duty were required to make
allotments from their pay when support arrearages reached the
equivalent of a 2-month delinquency; beginning October 1, 1982,
States were allowed to reimburse themselves for AFDC grants
paid to families for the first month in which the collection of
child support is sufficient to make a family ineligible for
AFDC.
Public Law 97-253, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of
1982, provided for the disclosure of information obtained under
authority of the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to various programs,
including State child support enforcement agencies.
Public Law 97-252, the Uniformed Services Former Spouses'
Protection Act, authorized treatment of military retirement or
retainer pay as property to be divided by State courts in
connection with divorce, dissolution, annulment, or legal
separation proceedings.
1984
Public Law 98-378, the Child Support Enforcement Amendments
of 1984, featured provisions that required improvements in
State and local Child Support Enforcement Programs in four
major areas:
Mandatory enforcement practices
All States must enact statutes to improve enforcement
mechanisms, including: (1) mandatory income withholding
procedures; (2) expedited processes for establishing and
enforcing support orders; (3) State income tax refund
interceptions; (4) liens against real and personal property,
security or bonds to assure compliance with support
obligations; and (5) reports of support delinquency information
to consumer reporting agencies. State law must allow for the
bringing of paternity actions any time prior to a child's 18th
birthday and all support orders issued or modified after
October 1, 1985, must include a provision for wage withholding.
Federal financial participation and audit provisions
To encourage greater reliance on performance-based
incentives, Federal matching funds were reduced by 2 percent in
1988 (to 68 percent) and another 2 percent in 1990 (to 66
percent). Federal matching funds at 90 percent were made
available for the development and installation of automated
systems, including computer hardware purchases, to facilitate
income withholding and other newly required procedures. State
incentive payments were reset at 6 percent for both AFDC and
non-AFDC collections. These percentages could rise as high as
10 percent for each category for cost-effective States, but a
State's non-AFDC incentive payments could not exceed its AFDC
incentives. States were required to pass incentives through to
local child support enforcement agencies if these agencies had
accumulated child support enforcement costs. Annual State
audits were replaced with audits conducted at least once every
3 years. The focus of the audits was altered to evaluate a
State's effectiveness on the basis of program performance as
well as operational compliance. Penalties for noncompliance are
from 1 to 5 percent of the Federal share of the State's AFDC
funds. The Federal Government may suspend imposition of a
penalty based on a State's filing of, and complying with, an
acceptable corrective action plan.
Improved interstate enforcement
States were required to apply a host of enforcement
techniques to interstate cases as well as intrastate cases.
Both States involved in an interstate case may take credit for
the collection when reporting total collections for the purpose
of calculating incentives. Special demonstration grants were
authorized beginning in 1985 to fund innovative methods of
interstate enforcement and collection. Federal audits were
focused on States' effectiveness in establishing and enforcing
obligations across State lines.
Equal services for welfare and non-AFDC families
Several specific requirements were directed at improving
State services to non-AFDC families. All of the mandatory
practices must be made available for both classes of cases; the
interception of Federal income tax refunds was extended to non-
AFDC cases; incentive payments for non-AFDC cases became
available for the first time; States were required to continue
child support services to families terminated from the welfare
rolls without charging an application fee; and States were
required to publicize the availability of support enforcement
services for non-AFDC parents.
Other provisions
States were required to: (1) collect support in certain
foster care cases; (2) collect spousal support in addition to
child support where both are due in a case; (3) notify AFDC
recipients, at least yearly, of the collections made in their
behalf; (4) establish State commissions to study the operation
of the State's child support system and report findings to the
State's Governor; (5) formulate guidelines for determining
appropriate child support obligation amounts and distribute the
guidelines to judges and other individuals who possess
authority to establish obligation amounts; (6) offset the costs
of the program by charging various fees to non-AFDC families
and to delinquent nonresident parents; (7) allow families whose
AFDC eligibility is terminated as a result of the payment of
child support to remain eligible to receive Medicaid for 4
months (sunsets on October 1, 1988); and (8) establish medical
support orders in addition to monetary awards. The Federal
Parent Locator Service was made more accessible and effective
in locating absent parents. Sunset provisions were included in
the extension of Medicaid eligibility and Federal tax offsets
for non-AFDC families.
Public Law 98-369, the Tax Reform Act of 1984, included two
tax provisions pertaining to alimony and child support. Under
prior law, alimony was deductible by the payor and includable
in the income of the payee. The 1984 law revised the rules
relating to the definition of alimony. Generally, only cash
payments that terminate on the death of the payee spouse
qualify as alimony. Alimony payments, if in excess of $10,000
per year, generally must be payable for at least 6 years and
must not decline by more than $10,000. The prior law
requirement that the payment be based on a legal support
obligation was repealed and payors were required to furnish to
the IRS the Social Security number of the payee spouse. A $50
penalty for failure to do so was imposed. The provision was
effective for divorce or separation agreements or orders
executed after 1984. The 1984 law also provided that the $1,000
dependency exemption for a child of divorced or separated
parents be allocated to the custodial parent unless the
custodial parent signs a written declaration that she will not
claim the exemption for the year. For purposes of computing the
medical expense deduction for years after 1984, each parent may
claim the medical expenses that he or she pays for the child.
1986
Public Law 99-509, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of
1986, included one child support enforcement amendment
prohibiting the retroactive modification of child support
awards. Under this new requirement, State laws must provide for
either parent to apply for modification of an existing order
with notice provided to the other parent. No modification is
permitted before the date of this notification.
1987
Public Law 100-203, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act
of 1987, required States to provide child support enforcement
services to all families with an absent parent who receives
Medicaid and have assigned their support rights to the State,
regardless of whether they are receiving AFDC.
1988
Public Law 100-485, the Family Support Act of 1988,
emphasized the duties of parents to work and support their
children and, in particular, emphasized child support
enforcement as the first line of defense against welfare
dependence. The key child support provisions include:
Guidelines for child support awards
Judges and other officials are required to use State
guidelines for child support unless they rebut the guidelines
by a written finding that applying them would be unjust or
inappropriate in a particular case. States must review
guidelines for awards every four years. Beginning 5 years after
enactment, States generally must review and adjust individual
case awards every 3 years for AFDC cases. The same applies to
other IV-D cases, except review and adjustment must be at the
request of a parent.
Establishment of paternity
States are required to meet Federal standards for the
establishment of paternity. The primary standard relates to the
percentage obtained by dividing the number of children in the
State who are born out of wedlock, are receiving cash benefits
or IV-D child support services, and for whom paternity has been
established by the number of children who are born out of
wedlock and are receiving cash benefits or IV-D child support
services. To meet Federal requirements, this percentage in a
State must: (1) be at least 50 percent; (2) be at least equal
to the average for all States; or (3) have increased by 3
percentage points from fiscal years 1988 to 1991 and by 3
percentage points each year thereafter. States are mandated to
require all parties in a contested paternity case to take a
genetic test upon request of any party. The Federal matching
rate for laboratory testing to establish paternity is set at 90
percent.
Disregard of child support
The child support enforcement disregard authorized under
the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984 is clarified so that it
applies to a payment made by the noncustodial parent in the
month it was due even though it was received in a subsequent
month.
Requirement for prompt State response
The Secretary of HHS was required to set time limits within
which States must accept and respond to requests for assistance
in establishing and enforcing support orders as well as time
limits within which child support payments collected by the
State IV-D agency must be distributed to the families to whom
they are owed.
Requirement for automated tracking and monitoring system
Every State that does not have a statewide automated
tracking and monitoring system in effect must submit an advance
planning document that meets Federal requirements by October 1,
1991. The Secretary must approve each document within 9 months
after submission. By October 1, 1995, every State must have an
approved system in effect. States were awarded 90 percent
Federal matching rates for this activity until September 30,
1995.
Interstate enforcement
A Commission on Interstate Child Support was created to
hold national conferences on interstate child support
enforcement reform and to report to Congress no later than
October 1, 1990 on recommendations for improvements in the
system and revisions in the Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of
Support Act.
Computing incentive payments
Amounts spent by States for interstate demonstration
projects are excluded from calculating the amount of the
States' incentive payments.
Use of INTERNET system
The Secretaries of Labor and HHS are required to enter into
an agreement to give the Federal Parent Locator Service prompt
access to wage and unemployment compensation claims information
useful in locating absent parents.
Wage withholding
With respect to IV-D cases, each State must provide for
immediate wage withholding in the case of orders that are
issued or modified on or after the first day of the 25th month
beginning after the date of enactment unless: (1) one of the
parties demonstrates, and the court finds, that there is good
cause not to require such withholding; or (2) there is a
written agreement between both parties providing for an
alternative arrangement. Prior law requirements for mandatory
wage withholding in cases where payments are in arrears apply
to orders that are not subject to immediate wage withholding.
States are required to provide for immediate wage withholding
for all support orders initially issued on or after January 1,
1994, regardless of whether a parent has applied for IV-D
services.
Work and training demonstration programs for noncustodial parents
The Secretary of HHS is required to grant waivers to up to
five States to allow them to provide services to noncustodial
parents under the JOBS Program. No new power is granted to the
States to require participation by noncustodial parents.
Data collection and reporting
The Secretary of HHS is required to collect and maintain
State-by-State statistics on paternity establishment, location
of absent parent for the purpose of establishing a support
obligation, enforcement of a child support obligation, and
location of absent parents for the purpose of enforcing or
modifying an established obligation.
Use of Social Security number
Each State must, in the administration of any law involving
the issuance of a birth certificate, require each parent to
furnish his or her Social Security number (SSN), unless the
State finds good cause for not requiring the parent to furnish
it. The SSN shall appear in the birth record but not on the
birth certificate, and the use of the SSN obtained through the
birth record is restricted to child support enforcement
purposes, except under certain circumstances.
Notification of support collected
Each State is required to inform families receiving AFDC of
the amount of support collected on their behalf on a monthly
basis, rather than annually as provided under prior law. States
may provide quarterly notification if the Secretary of HHS
determines that monthly reporting imposes an unreasonable
administrative burden. This provision is effective 4 years
after the date of enactment. The Medicaid transition benefit in
child support cases is extended from October 1, 1988 to October
1, 1989.
1989
Public Law 101-239, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act
of 1989, made permanent the requirement that Medicaid benefits
continue for 4 months after a family loses AFDC eligibility as
a result of collection of child support payments.
1990
Public Law 101-508, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act
of 1990, permanently extended the Federal provision that allows
States to ask the IRS to collect child support arrearages of at
least $500 out of income tax refunds otherwise due to
noncustodial parents. The minor child restriction is eliminated
for adults with a current support order who are disabled, as
defined under OASDI or SSI. The IRS offset can be used for
spousal support when spousal and child support are included in
the same support order. The life of the Interstate Child
Support Commission was extended from July 1, 1991 to July 1,
1992, and the Commission was required to submit its report no
later than May 1, 1992. The Commission was allowed to hire its
own staff.
1992
Public Law 102-521, the Child Support Recovery Act of 1992,
imposed a Federal criminal penalty for the willful failure to
pay a past due child support obligation with respect to a child
who resides in another State that has remained unpaid for
longer than a year or is greater than $5,000. For the first
conviction the penalty is a fine of up to $5,000, imprisonment
for not more than 6 months, or both; for a second conviction,
the penalty is a fine of not more than $250,000, imprisonment
for up to 2 years, or both.
Public Law 102-537, the Ted Weiss Child Support Enforcement
Act of 1992, amended the Fair Credit Reporting Act to require
consumer credit reporting agencies to include in any consumer
report information on child support delinquencies provided by
or verified by State or local child support agencies, which
antedates the report by 7 years.
1993
Public Law 103-66, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of
1993, increased the percentage of children, from 50 to 75, for
whom the State must establish paternity and required States to
adopt laws requiring civil procedures to voluntarily
acknowledge paternity (including hospital-based programs). The
act also required States to adopt laws to ensure the compliance
of health insurers and employers in carrying out court or
administrative orders for medical child support and included a
provision that forbids health insurers to deny coverage to
children who are not living with the covered individual or who
were born outside marriage.
1994
Public Law 103-383, the Full Faith and Credit for Child
Support Orders Act, requires each State to enforce, according
to its terms, a child support order by a court (or
administrative authority) of another State, with conditions and
specifications for resolving issues of jurisdiction.
Public Law 103-394, the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1994,
stipulates that a filing of bankruptcy does not stay a
paternity, child support, or alimony proceeding. In addition,
child support and alimony payments are made priority claims and
custodial parents are able to appear in bankruptcy court to
protect their interests without paying a fee or meeting any
local rules for attorney appearances.
Public Law 103-403, the Small Business Administration
Amendments of 1994, makes parents who fail to pay child support
ineligible for small business loans.
Public Law 103-432, the Social Security Act Amendments of
1994, includes a provision that requires States to implement
procedures that require the State to periodically report to
consumer reporting agencies the name of debtor parents owing at
least 2 months of overdue child support, and the amount of
child support overdue.
1995
Public Law 104-35 extends for 2 years the deadline by which
States are required to have in effect an automated data
processing and information retrieval system for use in the
administration of their Child Support Enforcement Program (from
October 1, 1995, to October 1, 1997). The 90 percent Federal
funding was not extended.
1996
Title III of the 1996 welfare reform bill (Public Law 104-
193) was devoted to major reforms of the Child Support
Enforcement Program. A section-by-section summary of these
reforms follows:
Sec. 301. State obligation to provide child support enforcement
services
Imposes a State obligation to provide child support
enforcement services for each child receiving assistance under
IV-A (TANF), IV-E (foster care and adoption), and title XIX
(Medicaid). Services must also be provided for others who
apply, including families ceasing to receive assistance (no
application is permitted for this group).
Sec. 302. Distribution of collected support
Changes distribution priorities to provide that families
leaving welfare receive priority in payment of arrears. Changes
are effective October 1, 1997 for postassistance arrears and
October 1, 2000 for preassistance arrears. Exception is made
for collections from the Tax Refund Intercept Program. Provides
a hold harmless provision so that States are protected if the
amount they lose because of changes in distribution exceeds
what they gain from the elimination of the $50 pass-through
(eliminated October 1, 1996).
Sec. 303. Privacy safeguards
Protects privacy rights with respect to confidential
information.
Sec. 304. Rights to notification of hearings
Requires States to have procedures for providing notices of
proceedings and copies of orders to recipients of program
services or parties to cases being served under title IV-D.
Sec. 311. State case registry
Specifies requirements for the central State registry,
including maintaining and updating a payment record and
extracting data for matching with other databases. Allows
automated linkages of local registries.
Sec. 312. Collection and disbursement of support payments
Specifies requirements for the centralized collection and
disbursement of support payments, including the monitoring of
payments, generating wage withholding notices, and automatic
use of administrative enforcement remedies. Under some
circumstances, permits linkages of local disbursement units to
form centralized State disbursement unit for collection and
disbursement of child support payments. Requires distribution
within 2 business days of receipt of collection; requires
transmission of withholding orders to employers within 2
business days of notice of income source subject to
withholding.
Sec. 313. State directory of new hires
Requires employers and labor organizations to report name,
address, Social Security number (SSN), and employer
identification number of new hires to State directory of new
hires within 20 days of hire (in the case of an employer
transmitting reports magnetically or electronically, reports
may be made by two monthly transmissions); requires the report
to be the W-4 or equivalent at option of the employer with
penalties assessed for failure to report. State directory must
perform database matching using SSNs and report findings to any
State; directory must also report information to the National
directory within 3 business days, and issue withholding notices
within 2 business days of match, among other requirements.
Sec. 314. Amendments concerning income withholding
Strengthens and expands income withholding from wages to
pay child support by reducing the time for employers to remit
withheld wages to 7 business days and adding a State law
requirement that allows issuance of electronic withholding
orders by State agency and without notice to obligor.
Sec. 315. Locator information from interstate networks
Includes requirements for access by State child support
agency to locator information from State motor vehicle and law
enforcement systems.
Sec. 316. Expansion of the Federal Parent Locator Service
Expands the authority of FPLS to obtain information and
locate individuals. Permits access to FPLS for the enforcement
of child custody and visitation orders but specifies that
requests must come through courts or child support agencies.
Requires establishment of a Federal case registry of child
support orders, and details guidelines for the National
directory of new hires. Allows disclosure of certain
information, including Federal tax offset amounts, to child
support enforcement agents.
Sec. 317. Collection and use of Social Security numbers for use in
child support enforcement
Requires use of Social Security numbers on applications for
professional licenses, commercial driver's licenses,
occupational license or marriage licenses, and in records for
divorce decrees, support orders, paternity determinations or
acknowledgments and death certificates.
Sec. 321. Adoption of uniform State laws
Mandates adoption by all States of the Uniform Interstate
Family Support Act.
Sec. 322. Improvements to full faith and credit for child support
orders
Clarifies priorities for recognition of orders.
Sec. 323. Administrative enforcement in interstate cases
Requires States to respond within 5 business days to a
request from another State to enforce a support order;
electronic means are allowed for transmitting requests.
Sec. 324. Use of forms in interstate enforcement
Calls for the promulgation of forms, developed by the
Secretary of HHS, to be used in interstate income withholding
cases, the imposition of liens, and administrative subpoenas
across State lines.
Sec. 325. State laws providing expedited procedures
Grants authority to State IV-D programs to order genetic
testing for paternity establishment, issue a subpoena for
financial or other information, and require all entities to
respond to requests for information ``without the necessity of
obtaining an order from any other judicial or administrative
tribunal, but subject to due process safeguards as
appropriate.'' Grants States access to public records such as
vital statistics of marriage, birth and divorce, State and
local tax records, real and titled personal property, license
records, employment security records, public assistance
programs, motor vehicle records, and corrections records. Also
grants access to certain private records such as public utility
and cable television records and financial institution data,
among other administrative measures.
Sec. 331. State laws concerning paternity establishment
Streamlines the legal processes for establishment of
paternity, allows establishment of paternity anytime before a
child turns 18, and provides for mandatory genetic testing in
contested cases, among other provisions.
Sec. 332. Outreach for voluntary paternity establishment
Mandates that State programs publicize the availability and
encourage the use of procedures for voluntary establishment of
paternity and child support.
Sec. 333. Cooperation by applicants for and recipients of part A
assistance
Requires States to determine whether recipients of aid
under the TANF program or Medicaid are cooperating with the
State in conducting child support activities against the
noncustodial parent.
Sec. 341. Performance-based incentives and penalties
Requires the Secretary of HHS to develop a new cost-neutral
incentive system by March 1, 1997 which provides additional
payments to any State based on such State's performance.
Increases the mandatory IV-D paternity establishment percentage
in graduated phases from 75 to 90 percent.
Sec. 342. Federal and State reviews and audits
Changes the audit process to be based on performance
measures and requires the Secretary to ensure that State data
meets high standards of accuracy and completeness.
Sec. 343. Required reporting procedures
Requires States to collect and report program data in a
uniform manner as a State plan requirement.
Sec. 344. Automated data processing requirements
Creates additional requirements for the State automated
data processing systems, and sets a deadline of October 1, 2000
for implementation. Contains a new implementation timetable
that extends to October 1, 1997 the deadline by which a State
must have an automated case tracking and monitoring system
meeting all Federal IV-D requirements up through the enactment
of the Family Support Act of 1988. Caps aggregate spending on
the new automated system at $400,000 and requires the Secretary
to devise a formula for distributing these funds among the
States. The Federal Government will pay 80 percent of State
costs of meeting the new requirements.
Sec. 345. Technical assistance
Sets aside 1 percent of the Federal share of reimbursed
public assistance for information, training, and related
technical assistance concerning State automated systems and
research, demonstration, and special projects of regional or
national significance. An additional 2 percent is set aside for
the operation of the Federal Parent Locator Service.
Sec. 346. Reports and data collection by the Secretary
Clarifies data collection requirements and eliminates
requirements for unnecessary or duplicate information. Several
new data reports are to be included in the annual report to
Congress, including information about State compliance.
Sec. 351. Simplified process for review and adjustment of child support
orders
Requires processes for periodic modification of all child
support orders, with review occurring every 3 years, upon
request.
Sec. 352. Furnishing consumer reports for certain purposes relating to
child support
Expands access and use of consumer reports by child
support agencies for establishing and modifying child support.
Sec. 353. Nonliability for depository institutions providing financial
records to State child support enforcement agencies in child
support cases
Specifies that depository institutions are not liable for
disclosing financial information to the Child Support
Enforcement Agency; the Child Support Enforcement Agency is
prohibited from disclosing information obtained except for
child support purposes.
Sec. 361. Internal Revenue Service collection of arrearages
Makes technical corrections to the Social Security Act
section on IRS collection of arrearages.
Sec. 362. Authority to collect support from Federal employees
Eliminates separate withholding rules for all Federal
employees. Establishes procedures by which Federal agencies
must aggressively pursue child support collections from Federal
employees.
Sec. 363. Enforcement of child support obligations of members of the
Armed Forces
Establishes procedures by which all branches of the armed
forces must aggressively pursue child support collections from
Federal employees.
Sec. 364. Voiding of fraudulent transfers
Requires States to have laws that prevent obligor from
transferring income or property to avoid paying child support.
Sec. 365. Work requirement for persons owing past-due child support
Requires State child support officials to have the
authority to seek a judicial or administrative order that
requires any individual owing past-due support to pay such
support in accordance with a plan approved by the court or
participate in work activities.
Sec. 366. Definition of support order
Provides a definition of a support order.
Sec. 367. Reporting arrearages to credit bureaus
Requires all child support delinquencies and their amounts
to be reported to credit bureaus.
Sec. 368. Liens
Requires liens on real and personal property and the
extension of full faith and credit to liens arising in another
State in cases of past-due child support.
Sec. 369. State law authorizing suspension of licenses
Requires States to have laws providing for the suspension
of driver's, professional, occupational, and recreational
licenses.
Sec. 370. Denial of passports for nonpayment of child support
Establishes a process by which the Department of Health and
Human Services can submit the names of delinquent obligors who
are at least $5,000 in arrears to the State Department for the
denial of their passports.
Sec. 371. International support enforcement
Authorizes Federal officials to declare any foreign country
to be a foreign reciprocating country for purposes of
establishment and collection of child support obligations.
Sec. 372. Financial institution data matches
Requires States to enter agreements with financial
institutions doing business in the State to develop a data
match system by which records on individuals having accounts
with the financial institution are matched against the list of
child support obligors who have overdue payments.
Sec. 373. Enforcement of orders against paternal grandparents in cases
of minor parents
Adds a State option that a child support order of a child
of minor parents, if the mother is receiving cash assistance,
may be enforceable against parents of the noncustodial parent
of the child.
Sec. 374. Nondischargeability in bankruptcy of certain debts for the
support of a child
Clarifies that child support assigned to a State in
assistance cases is not dischargeable in bankruptcy.
Sec. 375. Child support enforcement for Indian tribes
Allows States to enter cooperative agreements with Indian
tribes; allows the Secretary to make direct Federal funding to
Indian tribes meeting certain criteria.
Sec. 381. Correction to ERISA definition of medical child support order
Requires the application of ERISA to support orders that
are judgments, decrees or orders issued by any court of
competent jurisdiction or through a State administrative
process.
Sec. 382. Enforcement of orders for health care coverage
Adds a new State law requirement providing that the State
IV-D agency have procedures for notifying a new employer of an
absent parent, when the absent parent was providing health care
coverage of the child in the previous job, of the medical
support obligation.
Sec. 391. Grants to States for access and visitation programs
Provides $10 million per year to the Secretary to award
grants to States for the purpose of establishing programs to
facilitate noncustodial parents' access to and visitation of
their children.
STATISTICAL TABLES
TABLE 8-11.--STATE PROFILE OF COLLECTIONS AND EXPENDITURES, FISCAL YEAR 1996 \1\
[In millions of dollars]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Child support collections
per dollar of administrative
Total AFDC Non-AFDC Total expenditures Incentive
State collections collections collections expenditures ------------------------------ payments
AFDC Non-AFDC (estimate)
Total total total
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama.................................................. $157.9 $23.5 $134.4 $46.3 3.41 0.51 2.90 $3.2
Alaska................................................... 57.7 18.5 39.2 17.4 3.31 1.06 2.25 2.9
Arizona.................................................. 113.0 23.8 89.3 46.9 2.41 0.51 1.90 3.8
Arkansas................................................. 79.4 19.7 59.7 28.7 2.77 0.69 2.08 2.9
California............................................... 1,034.4 496.2 538.2 438.0 2.36 1.13 1.23 61.1
Colorado................................................. 108.3 35.6 72.7 38.4 2.82 0.93 1.89 5.2
Connecticut.............................................. 125.2 54.3 70.9 43.0 2.91 1.26 1.65 8.1
Delaware................................................. 35.4 8.3 27.1 14.2 2.50 0.59 1.91 1.3
District of Columbia..................................... 27.8 6.0 21.8 11.7 2.38 0.52 1.86 1.0
Florida.................................................. 411.8 80.7 331.1 131.4 3.13 0.61 2.52 15.6
Georgia.................................................. 268.6 102.4 166.2 68.5 3.92 1.49 2.43 16.6
Guam..................................................... 6.7 2.0 4.7 2.6 2.57 0.76 1.80 0.0
Hawaii................................................... 52.2 12.2 39.9 23.9 2.18 0.51 1.67 1.7
Idaho.................................................... 44.0 11.1 32.9 18.9 2.32 0.59 1.74 2.1
Illinois................................................. 249.8 72.4 177.4 103.8 2.41 0.70 1.71 10.7
Indiana.................................................. 196.9 45.0 151.9 30.17 6.54 1.50 5.05 13.0
Iowa..................................................... 151.9 40.1 111.8 29.0 5.23 1.38 3.85 6.5
Kansas................................................... 107.6 28.8 78.8 18.5 5.82 1.56 4.26 4.2
Kentucky................................................. 144.9 39.4 105.5 42.2 3.43 0.93 2.50 6.1
Louisiana................................................ 143.6 31.2 112.4 34.5 4.16 0.91 3.26 3.9
Maine.................................................... 62.6 29.5 33.0 15.4 4.05 1.91 2.14 5.3
Maryland................................................. 287.9 46.7 241.2 66.0 4.36 0.71 3.65 7.1
Massachusetts............................................ 247.9 71.4 176.5 61.3 4.05 1.17 2.88 10.9
Michigan................................................. 948.6 171.0 777.6 143.1 6.63 1.19 5.43 19.3
Minnesota................................................ 318.8 64.9 253.9 73.2 4.36 0.89 3.47 8.1
Mississippi.............................................. 84.6 24.4 60.1 29.5 2.87 0.83 2.04 3.4
Missouri................................................. 279.2 66.6 212.6 74.4 3.75 0.90 2.86 8.7
Montana.................................................. 29.4 8.2 21.2 12.1 2.42 0.67 1.75 1.1
Nebraska................................................. 95.4 12.4 82.9 30.2 3.16 0.41 2.75 1.6
Nevada................................................... 56.6 8.4 48.2 22.3 2.53 0.38 2.16 2.1
New Hampshire............................................ 48.2 10.5 37.7 14.1 3.42 0.75 2.68 1.2
New Jersey............................................... 500.2 90.6 409.5 110.7 4.52 0.82 3.70 12.4
New Mexico............................................... 30.1 6.3 23.9 21.1 1.43 0.30 1.13 2.0
New York................................................. 701.9 205.9 496.0 174.2 4.03 1.18 2.85 24.9
North Carolina........................................... 261.7 75.0 186.7 89.1 2.94 0.84 2.09 11.1
North Dakota............................................. 28.5 6.1 22.4 6.6 4.34 0.93 3.41 1.0
Ohio..................................................... 981.3 124.8 856.5 161.6 6.07 0.77 5.30 18.3
Oklahoma................................................. 73.5 24.3 49.1 24.0 3.06 1.01 2.04 3.6
Oregon................................................... 178.4 31.2 147.3 31.9 5.60 0.98 4.62 6.4
Pennsylvania............................................. 958.3 138.7 819.6 123.8 7.74 1.12 6.62 18.7
Puerto Rico.............................................. 126.7 2.8 123.9 28.6 4.44 0.10 4.34 0.6
Rhode Island............................................. 35.5 18.4 17.2 8.3 4.31 2.22 2.08 3.0
South Carolina........................................... 118.1 29.6 88.5 35.1 3.37 0.84 2.52 3.8
South Dakota............................................. 28.0 6.6 21.4 4.8 5.87 1.39 4.49 1.3
Tennessee................................................ 159.8 34.7 125.1 39.3 4.06 0.88 3.18 5.3
Texas.................................................... 538.3 102.8 435.5 145.0 3.71 0.71 3.00 14.2
Utah..................................................... 77.6 21.6 56.0 29.2 2.66 0.74 1.92 3.2
Vermont.................................................. 25.4 8.9 16.5 6.7 3.79 1.33 2.46 1.2
Virgin Islands........................................... 5.4 0.5 5.0 2.4 2.25 0.20 2.05 0.0
Virginia................................................. 257.2 46.4 210.8 61.5 4.18 0.75 3.43 7.1
Washington............................................... 407.0 112.8 294.2 115.3 3.53 0.98 2.55 16.4
West Virginia............................................ 84.2 15.3 68.9 23.4 3.61 0.66 2.95 2.1
Wisconsin................................................ 440.2 81.0 359.3 74.1 5.94 1.09 4.85 12.8
Wyoming.................................................. 25.0 4.9 20.1 8.5 2.96 0.58 2.37 0.8
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. totals........................................ 12,018.6 2,854.4 9,164.2 3,054.8 3.93 0.93 3.00 408.9
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Totals may not add due of rounding.
Note.--Data is preliminary for fiscal year 1996. AFDC = Aid to Families with Dependent Children.
Source: Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
TABLE 8-12.--TOTAL CHILD SUPPORT COLLECTIONS BY STATE, SELECTED FISCAL YEARS 1979-96
[In thousands of dollars]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State 1979 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama....................................................... $6,854 $66,174 $80,952 $98,141 $113,273 $127,908 $141,212 $157,887
Alaska........................................................ 3,844 26,788 30,721 35,613 39,148 45,851 51,734 57,708
Arizona....................................................... 6,411 27,837 33,277 46,447 66,580 77,419 93,812 113,037
Arkansas...................................................... 3,921 26,010 32,783 42,065 49,147 55,215 63,875 79,432
California.................................................... 199,945 522,646 591,243 653,681 736,855 811,493 857,282 1,034,409
Colorado...................................................... 4,020 39,601 46,997 58,030 67,723 80,288 91,870 108,259
Connecticut................................................... 23,033 66,724 75,778 84,190 93,454 98,448 117,723 125,234
Delaware...................................................... 5,814 20,161 22,692 25,926 26,663 29,663 31,551 35,395
District of Columbia.......................................... 1,086 13,598 16,578 19,733 21,798 24,079 26,040 27,791
Florida....................................................... 10,524 176,603 214,153 252,473 289,976 327,296 374,015 411,799
Georgia....................................................... 5,554 113,095 143,014 174,467 205,566 229,822 244,367 268,599
Guam.......................................................... 160 1,440 3,162 4,697 5,003 7,079 6,037 6,736
Hawaii........................................................ 5,150 27,638 30,096 34,404 37,327 45,107 48,751 52,182
Idaho......................................................... 2,501 22,909 23,442 27,846 32,127 36,942 40,747 44,003
Illinois...................................................... 10,740 136,019 150,134 183,308 183,889 202,191 219,340 249,834
Indiana....................................................... 9,073 96,145 110,117 124,614 141,164 151,626 174,450 196,935
Iowa.......................................................... 13,017 70,982 80,693 96,046 109,278 122,705 136,138 151,907
Kansas........................................................ 3,975 44,958 54,832 66,053 59,601 86,744 97,571 107,579
Kentucky...................................................... 4,881 59,998 73,928 93,902 103,587 121,427 130,640 144,901
Louisiana..................................................... 12,678 60,527 67,988 84,373 103,054 118,008 129,609 143,644
Maine......................................................... 4,574 35,741 36,554 38,005 44,963 51,184 57,361 62,585
Maryland...................................................... 20,856 151,352 163,626 194,009 219,085 244,645 265,344 287,923
Massachusetts................................................. 36,338 176,915 169,545 185,086 195,374 203,986 223,560 247,948
Michigan...................................................... 248,414 644,734 697,634 782,804 874,483 898,372 859,629 948,558
Minnesota..................................................... 21,370 139,345 160,363 189,495 214,480 246,252 283,538 318,773
Mississippi................................................... 1,662 30,532 40,277 48,289 53,505 62,379 68,205 84,551
Missouri...................................................... 5,829 129,851 141,372 166,339 189,161 214,362 238,700 279,225
Montana....................................................... 1,213 8,822 12,968 17,436 20,150 21,363 25,532 29,356
Nebraska...................................................... 2,468 52,378 57,055 66,177 71,708 81,082 90,055 95,373
Nevada........................................................ 3,487 16,210 23,346 32,080 37,641 43,722 50,066 56,620
New Hampshire................................................. 2,089 20,604 22,659 27,360 31,497 36,538 42,570 48,242
New Jersey.................................................... 94,005 281,923 326,879 372,506 407,849 439,748 480,327 500,157
New Mexico.................................................... 1,680 14,416 16,792 19,088 27,117 30,082 26,938 30,114
New York...................................................... 136,361 373,718 437,371 487,738 536,374 569,682 619,489 701,885
North Carolina................................................ 9,168 120,344 140,222 167,894 197,254 226,632 233,145 261,672
North Dakota.................................................. 1,723 10,414 12,309 15,599 18,693 21,878 25,522 28,470
Ohio.......................................................... 22,832 489,515 552,649 665,999 714,132 789,319 886,843 981,342
Oklahoma...................................................... 1,826 32,169 39,922 46,540 52,170 57,578 63,908 73,455
Oregon........................................................ 88,502 78,374 91,252 107,435 124,929 142,227 156,829 178,428
Pennsylvania.................................................. 186,718 614,222 699,676 775,782 814,480 861,653 895,720 958,281
Puerto Rico................................................... 1,916 74,535 77,252 84,329 97,357 98,628 107,397 126,711
Rhode Island.................................................. 3,575 20,044 21,609 24,880 26,671 29,900 32,634 35,524
South Carolina................................................ 3,545 52,320 58,857 68,798 79,280 90,628 102,912 118,147
South Dakota.................................................. 1,407 11,024 13,119 15,881 18,112 21,357 24,838 28,018
Tennessee..................................................... 8,976 71,502 77,032 84,818 116,152 141,388 156,904 159,804
Texas......................................................... 8,207 132,318 192,797 251,157 309,502 367,171 448,463 538,253
Utah.......................................................... 6,624 38,071 43,895 52,610 56,199 61,135 63,426 77,600
Vermont....................................................... 1,449 9,353 11,023 13,518 15,831 17,950 21,234 25,370
Virgin Islands................................................ 260 3,131 3,338 4,049 4,992 5,562 5,399 5,438
Virginia...................................................... 9,197 110,560 129,919 145,114 151,919 182,787 226,682 257,180
Washington.................................................... 27,018 175,750 222,409 267,455 307,251 340,488 375,257 407,002
West Virginia................................................. 1,592 21,658 23,527 35,561 49,016 54,402 72,796 84,233
Wisconsin..................................................... 34,267 241,272 276,712 293,460 332,814 380,584 427,487 440,239
Wyoming....................................................... 520 7,155 9,079 11,220 13,810 16,184 17,350 25,021
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nationwide total.......................................... 1,332,847 6,010,125 6,885,619 7,964,522 8,909,166 9,850,159 10,752,824 12,018,767
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
TABLE 8-13.--TOTAL AFDC COLLECTIONS BY STATE, SELECTED FISCAL YEARS 1979-96
[In thousands of dollars]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State 1979 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama......................................................... $6,830 $19,484 $22,788 $23,001 $22,539 $21,148 $21,115 $23,464
Alaska.......................................................... 334 8,160 9,940 11,145 11,722 13,645 16,138 18,464
Arizona......................................................... 642 6,102 7,401 12,693 18,616 21,175 24,217 23,764
Arkansas........................................................ 2,428 11,799 13,800 15,766 16,249 15,662 16,831 19,746
California...................................................... 117,532 248,440 286,261 314,232 335,235 374,548 401,573 496,185
Colorado........................................................ 3,525 16,765 19,281 23,287 26,197 29,415 31,192 35,572
Connecticut..................................................... 11,416 27,405 33,816 37,744 41,292 41,465 54,100 54,323
Delaware........................................................ 1,386 5,826 6,661 7,306 7,798 7,855 8,029 8,315
District of Columbia............................................ 907 4,118 4,407 4,927 5,197 5,614 5,923 6,032
Florida......................................................... 8,598 48,364 57,071 69,765 78,081 80,368 85,244 80,685
Georgia......................................................... 4,772 45,937 57,765 74,546 84,627 84,820 84,932 102,399
Guam............................................................ 159 520 1,635 2,524 2,344 1,948 1,723 2,003
Hawaii.......................................................... 2,544 8,343 7,699 8,161 9,058 9,951 11,367 12,241
Idaho........................................................... 2,047 6,952 7,482 8,543 8,746 10,086 10,912 11,109
Illinois........................................................ 9,916 44,149 48,968 58,842 55,749 61,112 65,091 72,391
Indiana......................................................... 8,116 38,124 45,030 49,247 52,040 51,945 50,962 44,994
Iowa............................................................ 10,654 28,552 30,585 35,401 36,775 40,105 41,007 40,100
Kansas.......................................................... 3,454 15,209 17,454 20,869 22,402 24,732 27,567 28,779
Kentucky........................................................ 4,615 22,286 27,502 34,702 36,565 37,979 39,299 39,445
Louisiana....................................................... 5,244 20,861 23,089 25,975 26,827 26,714 28,133 31,228
Maine........................................................... 4,133 21,089 21,063 21,477 25,683 27,783 28,435 29,542
Maryland........................................................ 10,929 42,318 37,162 46,348 51,313 48,031 47,419 46,709
Massachusetts................................................... 29,145 68,968 66,969 71,784 77,292 76,899 77,085 71,421
Michigan........................................................ 76,375 145,251 153,690 168,317 169,581 176,100 167,673 170,955
Minnesota....................................................... 14,510 43,950 47,802 53,305 55,961 61,418 64,406 64,872
Mississippi..................................................... 1,556 14,530 19,494 21,523 21,641 22,962 22,067 24,450
Missouri........................................................ 4,165 38,056 37,021 49,653 51,153 55,959 57,788 66,610
Montana......................................................... 685 4,394 5,251 6,413 6,464 6,118 7,452 8,170
Nebraska........................................................ 2,083 6,990 7,431 9,195 9,797 10,158 11,337 12,437
Nevada.......................................................... 517 3,311 4,465 6,807 7,021 7,271 7,643 8,441
New Hampshire................................................... 2,089 3,606 4,385 6,337 7,638 9,446 10,776 10,532
New Jersey...................................................... 28,622 61,473 76,644 83,509 84,020 86,357 88,932 90,644
New Mexico...................................................... 1,160 5,573 6,421 7,850 12,922 13,389 9,257 6,253
New York........................................................ 56,588 134,040 157,582 174,587 184,583 183,707 187,205 205,855
North Carolina.................................................. 7,714 46,176 54,712 64,004 70,304 76,808 75,209 75,017
North Dakota.................................................... 1,379 5,103 5,600 6,016 6,098 6,148 6,334 6,108
Ohio............................................................ 21,974 76,888 84,304 100,833 105,719 113,425 120,127 124,814
Oklahoma........................................................ 1,260 11,875 14,894 17,682 18,784 20,817 22,287 24,345
Oregon.......................................................... 12,977 18,877 21,989 25,637 28,357 30,119 30,586 31,152
Pennsylvania.................................................... 33,190 96,328 113,735 123,784 124,490 26,932 134,995 138,685
Puerto Rico..................................................... 439 1,707 1,600 1,428 1,344 1,445 2,418 2,821
Rhode Island.................................................... 3,438 10,168 10,550 13,486 14,954 16,539 17,704 18,351
South Carolina.................................................. 3,065 15,933 17,779 21,066 24,588 27,063 27,933 29,614
South Dakota.................................................... 1,137 3,717 4,213 4,888 5,056 5,645 6,129 6,617
Tennessee....................................................... 3,871 22,926 27,865 22,777 33,422 34,852 47,576 34,740
Texas........................................................... 6,370 39,659 47,255 59,165 66,199 75,830 88,507 102,752
Utah............................................................ 5,442 14,999 16,261 18,939 19,488 20,691 20,948 21,555
Vermont......................................................... 1,201 5,578 6,380 6,649 7,638 7,424 8,312 8,912
Virgin Islands.................................................. 143 210 233 282 343 357 352 484
Virginia........................................................ 9,081 27,770 33,910 38,281 39,610 37,579 48,109 46,351
Washington...................................................... 18,319 65,291 77,402 91,083 100,337 104,063 109,763 112,819
West Virginia................................................... 1,430 4,085 6,859 9,500 16,867 12,377 13,846 15,307
Wisconsin....................................................... 26,044 59,303 61,179 63,813 65,439 81,437 94,558 80,986
Wyoming......................................................... 379 2,584 3,226 3,749 4,345 4,288 4,665 4,945
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nationwide total............................................ 596,532 1,750,125 1,983,962 2,258,844 2,416,511 2,549,723 2,693,186 2,854,502
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
TABLE 8-14.--TOTAL NON-AFDC COLLECTIONS BY STATE, SELECTED FISCAL YEARS 1979-96
[In thousands of dollars]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State 1979 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama.......................................................... $16 $46,691 $58,165 $75,140 $90,733 $106,760 $120,098 $134,423
Alaska........................................................... 3,510 18,628 20,781 24,468 27,426 32,207 35,596 39,245
Arizona.......................................................... 5,769 21,735 25,875 33,754 47,963 56,243 69,594 89,273
Arkansas......................................................... 1,494 14,211 18,984 26,299 32,899 39,553 47,045 59,686
California....................................................... 82,412 274,205 304,982 339,449 401,620 436,945 455,708 538,224
Colorado......................................................... 496 22,836 27,715 34,743 41,527 50,873 60,678 72,688
Connecticut...................................................... 11,617 39,319 41,960 46,445 52,161 56,983 63,623 70,911
Delaware......................................................... 4,428 14,335 16,032 18,620 18,865 21,809 23,522 27,080
District of Columbia............................................. 179 9,481 12,171 14,806 16,601 18,465 20,117 21,759
Florida.......................................................... 1,926 128,239 157,081 182,707 211,896 246,928 288,770 331,114
Georgia.......................................................... 783 67,158 85,249 99,921 120,939 145,002 159,435 166,200
Guam............................................................. (\1\) 920 1,527 2,172 2,659 5,131 4,314 4,733
Hawaii........................................................... 2,606 19,295 22,397 26,243 28,269 35,156 37,384 39,941
Idaho............................................................ 454 15,957 15,960 19,302 23,381 26,856 29,835 32,894
Illinois......................................................... 823 91,870 101,167 124,467 128,140 141,079 154,249 177,443
Indiana.......................................................... 957 58,021 65,087 75,368 89,125 99,680 123,488 151,941
Iowa............................................................. 2,363 42,430 50,109 60,645 72,503 82,599 95,131 111,807
Kansas........................................................... 520 29,749 37,379 45,183 37,199 62,012 70,003 78,799
Kentucky......................................................... 266 37,711 46,426 59,200 67,022 83,448 91,341 105,457
Louisiana........................................................ 7,434 39,665 44,898 58,398 76,227 91,293 101,476 112,416
Maine............................................................ 441 14,652 15,490 16,528 19,280 23,402 28,927 33,043
Maryland......................................................... 9,927 109,034 126,464 147,660 167,771 196,614 217,925 241,214
Massachusetts.................................................... 7,193 107,948 102,576 113,302 118,082 127,087 146,475 176,527
Michigan......................................................... 172,039 499,483 543,944 614,488 704,903 722,273 691,956 777,603
Minnesota........................................................ 6,861 95,395 112,561 136,190 158,519 184,834 219,131 253,900
Mississippi...................................................... 106 16,002 20,783 26,766 31,864 39,417 46,139 60,101
Missouri......................................................... 1,664 91,795 104,351 116,686 138,008 158,403 180,912 212,614
Montana.......................................................... 528 4,427 7,718 11,024 13,686 15,245 18,080 21,187
Nebraska......................................................... 385 45,387 49,624 56,983 61,911 70,925 78,718 82,936
Nevada........................................................... 2,970 12,899 18,881 25,273 30,620 36,451 42,423 48,179
New Hampshire.................................................... 0 16,999 18,274 21,023 23,859 27,092 31,793 37,710
New Jersey....................................................... 65,383 220,450 250,235 288,997 323,829 353,390 391,395 409,513
New Mexico....................................................... 520 8,843 10,371 11,239 14,195 16,693 17,681 23,860
New York......................................................... 79,773 239,678 279,289 313,151 351,791 385,974 432,284 496,030
North Carolina................................................... 1,454 74,167 85,510 103,890 126,951 149,824 157,936 186,655
North Dakota..................................................... 344 5,312 6,708 9,583 12,595 15,730 19,188 22,361
Ohio............................................................. 858 412,627 468,346 565,166 608,413 675,895 766,715 856,529
Oklahoma......................................................... 566 20,293 25,028 28,858 33,386 36,760 41,621 49,109
Oregon........................................................... 75,525 59,497 69,263 81,798 96,572 112,108 126,244 147,276
Pennsylvania..................................................... 153,528 517,893 517,893 651,998 689,990 734,721 760,725 819,596
Puerto Rico...................................................... 1,477 72,828 75,652 82,901 96,014 97,184 104,979 123,890
Rhode Island..................................................... 137 9,876 11,059 11,394 11,717 13,361 14,931 17,173
South Carolina................................................... 480 36,387 41,078 47,732 54,692 63,565 74,978 88,533
South Dakota..................................................... 270 7,307 8,906 10,993 13,056 15,711 18,709 21,401
Tennessee........................................................ 5,105 48,575 49,167 62,041 82,730 106,536 109,328 125,064
Texas............................................................ 1,837 92,659 145,543 191,993 243,303 291,341 359,956 435,501
Utah............................................................. 1,183 23,073 27,634 33,671 36,712 40,445 42,478 56,045
Vermont.......................................................... 249 3,775 4,643 6,869 8,193 10,526 12,922 16,458
Virgin Islands................................................... 116 2,920 3,105 3,767 4,649 5,205 5,047 4,955
Virginia......................................................... 116 82,789 96,008 106,833 112,309 145,207 178,572 210,828
Washington....................................................... 8,699 110,459 145,006 176,372 206,914 236,425 265,495 294,184
West Virginia.................................................... 162 17,574 16,668 26,061 32,149 42,025 58,951 68,926
Wisconsin........................................................ 8,224 181,969 215,533 229,647 267,374 299,147 332,929 359,253
Wyoming.......................................................... 141 4,571 5,853 7,471 9,465 11,896 12,685 20,076
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nationwide total........................................... 736,315 4,260,000 4,901,657 5,705,678 6,492,655 7,300,436 8,059,637 9,164,265
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Less than $500.
Source: Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
TABLE 8-15.--AVERAGE NUMBER OF AFDC CHILD SUPPORT CASES IN WHICH A COLLECTION WAS MADE, BY STATE FOR SELECTED FISCAL YEARS 1978-96
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State 1978 1985 1987 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1995 1996
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama............................................ 7,966 9,133 11,572 12,316 10,860 8,347 9,209 9,077 7,679 6,961
Alaska............................................. 246 1,120 1,038 1,213 1,387 1,718 1,949 2,168 2,415 2,620
Arizona............................................ 819 1,851 1,470 2,545 3,128 1,930 2,822 3,343 7,384 6,764
Arkansas........................................... 2,509 5,207 5,506 6,278 6,372 7,071 8,188 8,301 6,773 6,589
California......................................... 92,325 103,742 74,081 84,367 89,304 104,903 116,118 123,776 173,547 224,932
Colorado........................................... 3,177 5,687 4,092 4,771 4,437 4,581 5,126 5,210 4,418 4,202
Connecticut........................................ 8,002 15,565 13,337 7,470 6,578 7,128 8,445 9,437 10,792 11,574
Delaware........................................... 1,156 2,891 2,858 2,111 2,223 2,495 2,663 2,913 2,880 2,543
District of Columbia............................... 708 1,925 2,138 2,553 1,758 1,940 2,281 2,437 2,534 2,357
Florida............................................ 7,376 16,468 30,114 34,883 38,500 40,687 40,135 44,727 49,284 41,195
Georgia............................................ 6,350 6,657 10,710 14,833 19,310 23,280 24,729 26,676 28,639 25,136
Guam............................................... (\1\) 206 197 182 339 573 616 683 646 559
Hawaii............................................. 1,757 4,622 3,175 3,831 2,658 2,773 4,651 4,551 2,920 3,428
Idaho.............................................. 1,346 4,343 1,245 1,522 1,752 1,992 2,356 2,719 3,130 3,073
Illinois........................................... 9,624 18,299 14,352 14,986 16,968 23,511 23,639 26,028 28,430 29,586
Indiana............................................ 9,488 22,058 16,188 17,716 20,444 26,344 30,823 31,159 111,078 30,119
Iowa............................................... 8,396 11,871 7,015 7,241 7,289 7,153 7,681 7,365 7,057 5,604
Kansas............................................. 2,859 4,769 3,798 3,565 4,595 5,268 6,120 6,857 7,515 7,064
Kentucky........................................... 3,083 6,729 6,853 8,699 10,741 12,513 13,516 15,217 12,679 11,607
Louisiana.......................................... 5,204 7,836 9,916 11,582 11,842 12,198 12,510 12,164 11,887 11,957
Maine.............................................. 2,368 7,178 4,734 5,200 5,515 5,767 5,287 7,013 8,793 8,981
Maryland........................................... 14,002 15,861 9,073 5,250 9,237 18,330 19,366 18,684 18,119 16,574
Massachusetts...................................... 17,782 25,350 17,211 16,610 16,029 16,106 17,961 18,378 22,245 17,118
Michigan........................................... 61,985 59,049 58,364 47,388 51,747 46,647 45,112 45,211 39,332 36,496
Minnesota.......................................... 9,818 14,872 12,442 13,822 14,192 12,658 14,563 16,440 17,170 15,778
Mississippi........................................ 1,846 3,742 4,544 6,410 7,237 8,808 9,604 10,157 9,970 9,732
Missouri........................................... (\2\) 7,716 6,483 9,894 11,178 11,241 13,430 14,135 13,096 13,987
Montana............................................ 748 1,600 849 1,086 1,140 1,298 1,551 1,816 2,169 2,319
Nebraska........................................... 1,509 2,362 2,555 2,666 2,811 3,255 4,802 4,811 5,538 5,737
Nevada............................................. 494 2,370 1,645 1,917 2,269 2,404 3,096 3,506 3,518 4,792
New Hampshire...................................... 1,530 1,021 981 988 1,091 1,454 2,240 2,703 3,328 3,215
New Jersey......................................... 16,243 27,686 25,182 18,415 17,591 19,728 24,376 26,241 26,899 27,310
New Mexico......................................... 1,429 2,034 2,175 3,147 3,766 4,383 3,865 4,385 6,613 7,427
New York........................................... 36,287 48,979 30,993 36,695 40,219 46,382 51,290 51,407 51,943 52,741
North Carolina..................................... 11,232 14,216 17,089 19,157 20,381 24,699 28,028 29,649 28,027 25,276
North Dakota....................................... 759 1,656 1,130 1,338 1,647 1,665 1,597 1,579 943 1,006
Ohio............................................... 24,419 32,582 35,273 40,308 35,973 34,446 38,445 39,857 47,323 45994
Oklahoma........................................... 1,101 3,543 1,468 6,605 7,787 3,895 4,794 5,294 5,671 5,157
Oregon............................................. 6,761 6,687 5,935 5,829 6,437 7,437 8,321 9,495 9,390 8,899
Pennsylvania....................................... 15,172 42,088 49,100 45,772 47,039 52,269 59,514 61,998 58,646 60,952
Puerto Rico........................................ 413 3,736 3,588 3,991 3,696 3,103 3,026 2,811 3,454 1,351
Rhode Island....................................... 2,419 3,233 3,092 4,141 4,295 3,100 3,346 4,070 4,830 4,739
South Carolina..................................... 3,343 5,785 10,495 13,954 14,614 15,349 16,764 19,026 20,964 21,547
South Dakota....................................... 1,087 1,532 1,887 1,744 1,234 1,262 1,526 1,642 1,809 2,268
Tennessee.......................................... 4,705 8,336 9,430 13,114 16,659 11,625 12,179 11,391 10,344 8,892
Texas.............................................. 5,446 5,652 9,167 13,509 15,447 18,229 20,387 23,075 26,570 27,897
Utah............................................... 3,784 5,209 3,627 3,652 3,333 3,669 3,973 4,033 3,979 4,034
Vermont............................................ 953 2,329 1,984 2,462 2,596 2,826 3,556 4,114 2,594 2,856
Virgin Islands..................................... 232 199 220 184 133 135 165 193 214 158
Virginia........................................... 4,729 13,054 10,813 11,854 14,138 16,761 18,679 19,399 45,576 19,188
Washington......................................... 14,860 15,895 18,110 22,921 27,063 23,263 28,618 27,020 29,026 24,317
West Virginia...................................... 1,430 2,331 2,107 2,426 2,484 2,622 3,347 4,108 6,185 4,488
Wisconsin.......................................... 16,868 44,799 26,847 31,438 30,143 30,426 32,693 31,984 32,140 10,681
Wyoming............................................ 294 453 738 1,034 1,197 1,681 2,094 2,146 2,058 675
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total........................................ 458,439 684,114 608,986 657,585 700,803 755,328 831,172 872,579 1,050,163 940,452
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Data not reported for this item or insufficient data reported to perform indicated computation. \2\ Less than $500.
Source: Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
TABLE 8-16.--AVERAGE NUMBER OF NON-AFDC CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT CASES IN WHICH A COLLECTION WAS MADE BY STATE, SELECTED FISCAL YEARS 1978-96
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State 1978 1985 1987 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1995 1996
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama............................... 110 5,023 11,583 16,602 19,971 28,512 33,741 39,586 47,785 51,547
Alaska................................ 2,309 3,205 3,184 3,637 3,947 4,211 4,598 4,997 5,891 6,331
Arizona............................... (\1\) 4,770 4,668 6,740 7,333 9,144 11,107 10,283 21,881 25,800
Arkansas.............................. 764 3,613 5,074 7,241 8,473 11,232 15,088 18,449 23,243 27,015
California............................ 69,696 64,686 77,448 91,029 96,101 101,913 97,597 104,864 155,144 200,129
Colorado.............................. 1,017 3,976 4,537 6,054 7,281 9,008 10,492 11,360 14,524 16,883
Connecticut........................... (\1\) 9,392 9,884 10,606 11,289 13,289 14,441 15,721 17,950 20,071
Delaware.............................. 3,210 4,395 5,073 6,380 6,770 8,058 8,303 9,191 11,575 9,856
District of Columbia.................. 93 1,007 1,264 2,653 4,252 4,964 5,704 6,278 6,904 7,164
Florida............................... 1,200 7,593 25,573 50,995 56,329 66,748 67,948 77,734 96,394 102,045
Georgia............................... 1,207 5,487 14,883 24,992 30,217 34,545 35,419 40,698 50,178 55,749
Guam.................................. (\1\) 65 114 207 378 495 616 803 1,582 1,508
Hawaii................................ (\1\) 352 2,804 6,682 8,103 10,398 15,305 16,299 10,237 10,393
Idaho................................. 455 1,047 2,529 5,540 6,493 7,403 8,689 9,889 11,522 11,612
Illinois.............................. 196 10,030 14,479 21,781 26,184 36,363 36,246 40,744 48,174 54,714
Indiana............................... 450 2,881 12,759 17,990 25,586 27,111 34,855 36,865 39,155 45,017
Iowa.................................. 671 4,913 3,441 10,807 12,400 14,103 16,352 19,266 24,161 25,634
Kansas................................ 210 758 5,260 9,308 11,520 13,855 16,003 18,846 24,991 27,187
Kentucky.............................. 255 3,647 15,549 13,686 17,473 20,489 23,531 28,950 35,072 38,815
Louisiana............................. 6,866 10,636 11,695 14,883 16,739 20,001 24,194 28,146 37,396 42,588
Maine................................. 638 1,496 3,862 5,774 6,425 6,510 5,479 7,630 11,793 12,752
Maryland.............................. 130 26,154 12,685 15,969 27,339 49,380 52,024 54,989 61,259 65,038
Massachusetts......................... (\1\) 0 26,549 27,950 22,921 14,264 24,605 25,899 33,533 40,266
Michigan.............................. (\1\) 88,675 126,187 120,969 115,081 129,461 133,652 141,489 151,518 164,057
Minnesota............................. 2,766 12,615 16,137 23,502 26,712 27,174 35,791 43,272 56,720 64,251
Mississippi........................... 81 1,319 4,348 6,937 7,917 10,077 12,997 16,007 24,355 29,377
Missouri.............................. (\1\) 5,362 14,676 22,802 26,994 32,317 38,492 41,022 47,438 57,745
Montana............................... 444 344 800 1,012 1,448 2,208 2,748 3,750 6,148 7,488
Nebraska.............................. 176 7,874 10,540 13,464 14,748 14,883 15,185 17,771 18,399 19,113
Nevada................................ 4,026 5,360 3,212 4,085 4,451 5,327 6,676 7,819 9,387 10,072
New Hampshire......................... (\1\) 4,939 5,474 5,809 5,260 5,875 7,077 7,870 10,079 11,316
New Jersey............................ 20,000 45,868 51,706 65,947 66,885 68,753 78,789 84,267 89,409 97,360
New Mexico............................ 286 2,249 2,462 4,490 5,360 5,758 5,947 5,849 8,095 9,455
New York.............................. 39,623 63,829 67,460 78,638 83,651 94,031 103,924 108,419 152,556 136,975
North Carolina........................ 1,715 10,137 15,323 22,584 27,632 31,810 37,172 43,884 59,956 68,579
North Dakota.......................... 154 266 865 1,427 1,911 2,357 3,320 4,026 4,245 6,582
Ohio.................................. 1,430 10,853 39,114 100,069 101,553 107,806 135,535 149,104 191,748 158,967
Oklahoma.............................. (\1\) 1,968 4,867 8,635 10,509 8,558 8,479 10,707 13,730 15,347
Oregon................................ 17,957 19,331 20,620 23,747 25,657 19,754 21,810 25,063 31,968 35,821
Pennsylvania.......................... 49,621 108,498 123,248 140,750 147,885 171,525 182,098 190,671 195,144 209,436
Puerto Rico........................... 710 26,873 30,490 35,346 35,295 36,731 33,075 41,130 45,963 47,320
Rhode Island.......................... 57 1,969 2,750 3,559 3,705 3,017 3,060 3,291 4,271 4,670
South Carolina........................ 203 2,777 3,165 4,671 4,896 10,393 25,764 27,771 34,471 36,395
South Dakota.......................... 297 502 2,175 3,154 2,739 3,262 3,881 4,607 6,339 7,916
Tennessee............................. 6,360 12,156 14,957 21,649 28,174 31,554 35,358 40,003 53,498 55,076
Texas................................. 2,861 8,833 15,079 26,643 37,741 51,039 65,152 79,037 111,451 133,427
Utah.................................. 400 1,068 4,008 5,437 6,738 8,605 9,704 10,573 13,446 15,343
Vermont............................... 181 393 967 1,459 1,659 1,870 2,433 3,154 3,380 4,603
Virgin Islands........................ 1 1,288 1,252 1,499 1,247 1,301 1,348 1,538 1,655 1,410
Virginia.............................. 38 876 19,273 26,638 31,492 34,242 38,267 46,760 88,500 66,164
Washington............................ 4,822 9,802 13,656 24,331 34,791 46,930 55,788 64,929 74,479 69,233
West Virginia......................... 130 288 1,953 5,246 8,045 7,555 9,513 11,971 22,022 20,762
Wisconsin............................. 4,685 20,288 41,953 63,554 56,769 65,718 70,780 88,601 111,438 94,760
Wyoming............................... 89 77 563 1,669 2,352 2,853 3,275 1,738 3,564 6,582
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total........................... 248,590 653,803 934,177 1,247,228 1,362,821 1,554,740 1,749,427 1,953,580 2,404,716 2,563,716
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Data not reported for this item or insufficient data reported to perform indicated computation.
Source: Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
TABLE 8-17.--SUPPORT ORDERS ESTABLISHED, ENFORCED, AND MODIFIED TO INCLUDE HEALTH INSURANCE BY STATE, FISCAL
YEAR 1996
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Total Percent Total number Total number Percent
number of number with with of orders enforced or with
State orders health health enforced or modified with health
established insurance insurance modified health insurance insurance
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama..................... 11,932 2,525 21.16 436,090 5,047 1.16
Alaska...................... 3,264 3,182 97.49 3,934 3,707 94.23
Arizona..................... 10,918 10,918 100.00 233.943 20,583 8.80
Arkansas.................... 8,616 4,713 54.70 7,667 4,688 61.15
California.................. 196,585 162,782 82.80 922,802 764,840 82.88
Colorado.................... 8,906 7,570 85.00 54,576 26,501 48.56
Connecticut................. 25,478 15,028 58.98 114,459 55,855 48.80
Delaware.................... 3,022 2,172 71.87 13,039 9,598 73.61
District of Columbia........ 1,133 4 0.35 2,950 NA 0.00
Florida..................... 3,188 NA 0.00 13,224 NA 0.00
Georgia..................... 26,758 13,057 48.80 303,470 2,184 0.72
Guam........................ 644 370 57.45 891 466 52.30
Hawaii...................... 4,211 4,211 100.00 100,660 100,660 100.00
Idaho....................... 3,391 3,391 100.00 80,737 7,264 9.00
Illinois.................... 22,797 6,651 29.17 12,839 3,650 28.43
Indiana..................... 25,504 NA 0.00 NA NA 0.00
Iowa........................ 11,488 9,301 80.96 284,826 147,469 51.78
Kansas...................... 15,579 13,177 84.58 160,939 40,638 25.25
Kentucky.................... 29,328 6,294 21.46 111,247 19,834 17.83
Louisiana................... 14,357 13,290 92.57 136,946 97,558 71.24
Maine....................... 5,584 3,515 62.95 14,175 1,463 10.32
Maryland.................... 17,131 13,087 76.39 221,211 45,751 20.68
Massachusetts............... 13,824 9,121 65.98 8,235 3,951 47.98
Michigan.................... 35,067 32,674 93.18 1,072,008 69,033 6.44
Minnesota................... 20,182 11,447 56.72 52,386 40,050 76.45
Mississippi................. 18,518 5,374 29.02 6,396 1,549 24.22
Missouri.................... 30,397 22,844 75.15 111,592 66,890 59.94
Montana..................... 2,954 2,739 92.72 33,235 1,966 5.92
Nebraska.................... 5,227 2,885 55.19 2,674 736 27.52
Nevada...................... 5,208 4,045 77.67 44,875 1,916 4.27
New Hampshire............... 4,087 2,712 66.36 49,131 5,620 11.44
New Jersey.................. 25,416 22,053 86.77 22,104 20,586 93.13
New Mexico.................. 4,531 1,977 43.63 1,298 558 42.99
New York.................... 32,787 13,113 39.99 37,900 15,158 39.99
North Carolina.............. 40,127 26,926 67.10 253,396 4,257 1.68
North Dakota................ 2,005 1,938 96.66 6,817 182 2.67
Ohio........................ 55,203 26,956 48.83 459,054 141,145 30.75
Oklahoma.................... 8,357 6,109 73.10 30,709 2,538 8.26
Oregon...................... 15,542 13,364 85.99 60,286 23,712 39.33
Pennsylvania................ 134,067 91,532 68.27 395,227 248,263 62.82
Puerto Rico................. 480 18 3.75 75,776 NA 0.00
Rhode Island................ 3,103 2,086 67.23 12,975 8,392 64.68
South Carolina.............. 10,517 6,544 62.22 29,286 14,649 50.02
South Dakota................ 2,270 2,046 90.13 13,804 12,242 88.68
Tennessee................... 18,707 8,659 46.29 32,170 9,045 28.12
Texas....................... 40,480 40,480 100.00 112,062 29,954 26.73
Utah........................ 6,614 5,362 81.07 256,368 177,248 69.14
Vermont..................... 1,495 854 57.12 3,336 1,933 57.94
Virgin Islands.............. 555 3 0.54 1,110 NA 0.00
Virginia.................... 24,176 16,585 68.60 118,661 23,775 20.04
Washington.................. 32,776 27,922 85.19 657,158 335,479 51.05
West Virginia............... 6,509 3,324 51.07 642,413 55,174 8.59
Wisconsin................... 29,702 15,521 52.26 67,164 31,621 47.08
Wyoming..................... 2,367 390 16.48 2,836 433 15.27
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. total............ 1,083,064 722,841 66.74 7,903,067 2,705,811 34.24
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NA--Not available.
Source: Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
TABLE 8-18.--PERCENTAGE OF AFDC PAYMENTS RECOVERED THROUGH CHILD SUPPORT COLLECTIONS BY STATE, SELECTED FISCAL YEARS 1979-96
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State 1979 1985 1987 1989 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama................................... 8.5 23.2 30.8 31.7 33.7 27.0 23.8 23.1 25.6 31.2
Alaska.................................... 1.5 8.3 12.6 13.7 14.6 12.7 11.9 13.6 16.2 18.9
Arizona................................... 2.0 5.1 3.8 4.4 4.2 5.4 7.1 8.2 9.8 10.6
Arkansas.................................. 4.8 17.6 21.0 20.7 23.6 26.5 28.0 28.0 32.5 41.3
California................................ 6.5 6.1 6.0 5.9 6.3 6.5 7.1 7.8 8.3 10.6
Colorado.................................. 4.8 9.5 11.4 12.3 13.0 15.0 16.7 19.5 22.7 28.6
Connecticut............................... 6.5 12.2 12.7 9.5 10.2 10.5 11.2 11.0 15.0 18.0
Delaware.................................. 4.4 17.3 21.2 20.3 20.6 19.7 19.8 20.2 22.1 24.5
District of Columbia...................... 1.0 3.8 4.7 4.9 4.5 4.7 4.6 4.4 4.7 5.0
Florida................................... 5.5 11.5 11.9 11.6 11.1 9.9 9.6 10.2 11.3 12.1
Georgia................................... 4.3 10.4 12.4 14.3 15.4 18.2 20.1 20.3 20.9 27.2
Guam...................................... 5.3 9.1 11.9 10.8 32.7 34.6 28.7 18.6 14.5 16.0
Hawaii.................................... 2.9 8.9 7.3 8.8 7.4 6.9 6.7 6.6 7.2 7.8
Idaho..................................... 8.9 25.0 33.2 35.7 34.7 36.5 35.3 36.3 35.1 38.1
Illinois.................................. 1.5 4.8 5.0 5.6 5.7 7.0 6.6 7.1 7.8 9.1
Indiana................................... 7.2 21.5 23.0 22.4 23.8 24.0 24.5 24.2 26.8 30.4
Iowa...................................... 9.0 19.3 19.2 20.1 20.6 23.2 24.3 26.3 30.4 34.1
Kansas.................................... 5.0 14.1 13.4 15.9 17.8 19.4 19.7 21.8 25.9 30.8
Kentucky.................................. 3.8 8.5 12.0 12.4 15.0 18.8 20.0 21.0 22.9 21.6
Louisiana................................. 5.2 9.1 10.5 11.1 12.4 14.2 15.3 16.1 18.7 23.8
Maine..................................... 7.3 20.6 26.1 22.9 21.5 18.8 24.5 28.3 30.4 33.5
Maryland.................................. 6.1 11.2 13.0 14.5 11.4 14.2 16.9 15.8 15.3 16.5
Massachusetts............................. 6.6 10.7 12.0 11.8 10.4 10.5 11.4 11.6 12.8 13.6
Michigan.................................. 9.0 12.5 13.0 13.9 15.1 15.7 16.6 17.7 18.7 21.9
Minnesota................................. 7.8 12.7 14.2 14.4 14.6 16.3 17.3 19.2 23.0 21.5
Mississippi............................... 2.9 9.4 13.7 16.8 22.3 24.2 24.9 28.0 29.3 35.9
Missouri.................................. 2.8 12.0 15.0 17.8 15.6 19.0 18.9 20.1 21.0 26.0
Montana................................... 4.4 8.6 9.9 11.1 12.9 16.0 15.0 14.2 17.3 20.3
Nebraska.................................. 5.4 11.5 12.9 13.0 13.2 16.0 16.9 18.1 21.4 24.6
Nevada.................................... 6.3 16.4 12.4 12.2 14.1 17.1 16.6 15.7 15.3 17.9
New Hampshire............................. 9.4 15.2 12.4 11.3 10.1 12.3 14.4 16.0 19.4 21.5
New Jersey................................ 5.9 12.5 14.4 14.0 16.4 16.5 16.4 16.9 18.3 20.2
New Mexico................................ 3.4 7.4 9.4 9.2 7.8 8.0 11.6 9.7 6.0 4.2
New York.................................. 3.5 5.0 5.6 6.4 6.7 7.2 7.0 6.7 6.9 8.0
North Carolina............................ 5.6 17.4 18.9 18.8 18.4 19.6 20.5 22.4 23.1 25.7
North Dakota.............................. 9.6 16.8 17.4 21.0 23.4 24.0 24.1 25.4 28.9 29.7
Ohio...................................... 4.8 10.1 9.9 10.0 10.3 11.7 12.2 13.4 15.5 17.5
Oklahoma.................................. 1.6 6.4 8.0 9.0 9.9 10.7 11.1 12.8 14.9 20.1
Oregon.................................... 9.0 13.0 13.0 13.5 13.5 12.5 13.4 14.3 15.0 16.9
Pennsylvania.............................. 4.6 11.0 13.2 12.6 13.7 14.0 13.7 13.6 14.5 16.2
Puerto Rico............................... 0.7 2.7 2.3 2.4 2.1 1.8 1.7 1.9 3.5 4.4
Rhode Island.............................. 6.1 7.6 8.9 10.4 9.2 10.8 11.6 12.6 13.9 15.2
South Carolina............................ 5.4 13.1 15.9 16.8 16.8 17.9 21.1 23.6 26.1 29.5
South Dakota.............................. 6.5 14.4 17.9 17.1 18.1 18.8 19.5 23.2 27.4 31.2
Tennessee................................. 5.0 10.3 14.1 13.7 14.3 11.2 15.7 15.9 23.3 17.7
Texas..................................... 5.4 6.2 9.4 9.5 10.2 11.8 12.9 14.5 17.6 22.2
Utah...................................... 13.7 19.6 22.1 23.4 23.2 25.6 26.2 28.3 29.7 34.5
Vermont................................... 4.1 11.1 13.4 12.7 13.0 12.7 14.7 14.6 17.7 21.4
Virgin Islands............................ 8.5 8.3 7.9 7.3 7.1 8.5 10.2 10.6 8.7 11.0
Virginia.................................. 6.3 9.0 13.5 15.7 17.2 17.3 17.3 16.2 21.8 23.8
Washington................................ 12.5 10.9 14.4 17.1 18.1 20.0 20.8 21.1 22.4 23.5
West Virginia............................. 2.6 7.8 6.1 5.1 8.1 10.6 18.2 13.8 15.1 17.5
Wisconsin................................. 9.5 12.4 15.4 15.5 15.7 16.2 17.0 21.6 27.3 28.5
Wyoming................................... 5.6 8.2 10.0 13.5 13.3 14.3 17.0 20.7 25.1 30.1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total............................... 5.8 9.1 10.0 10.3 10.7 11.4 12.0 12.5 13.6 15.5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note.--Payments to AFDC Unemployed Parent (UP) families have been excluded from the payments totals in those States having AFDC-UP Programs.
Source: Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
TABLE 8-19.--FEDERAL INCOME TAX REFUND OFFSET COLLECTIONS BY STATE, FISCAL YEARS 1983-96
[In thousands of dollars]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State 1983 1987 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1995 1996
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama................................................... $1,555 $5,135 $7,450 $8,009 $8,827 $20,586 $17,818 $18,688 $25,958
Alaska.................................................... 212 891 995 1,208 1,387 1,711 1,464 2,156 2,946
Arizona................................................... 385 2,049 2,592 2,605 2,876 4,007 8,381 7,538 8,763
Arkansas.................................................. 1,104 3,770 4,490 4,669 5,575 7,106 6,862 7,515 11,391
California................................................ 35,034 46,287 50,472 57,624 57,098 67,569 62,460 86,508 129,209
Colorado.................................................. 3,016 3,020 4,947 5,604 6,179 7,614 7,851 9,283 13,973
Connecticut............................................... 4,455 6,140 12,132 9,907 9,250 10,190 9,315 10,823 13,699
Delaware.................................................. 166 1,319 1,812 1,966 2,467 2,683 2,313 2,626 3,291
District of Columbia...................................... 567 779 1,202 1,942 1,606 1,788 1,701 1,992 2,555
Florida................................................... 1,980 7,318 21,294 21,038 24,880 31,569 30,689 38,045 50,377
Georgia................................................... 1,526 7,258 11,566 13,032 15,693 22,016 22,441 30,103 36,429
Guam...................................................... 13 44 26 13 11 51 43 70 92
Hawaii.................................................... 817 1,122 1,511 1,573 1,976 2,328 3,704 3,589 4,519
Idaho..................................................... 1,183 1,594 1,959 2,173 2,270 2,690 2,595 3,205 4,061
Illinois.................................................. 4,525 15,415 13,887 19,307 18,876 26,631 20,891 28,836 33,620
Indiana................................................... 4,940 11,390 15,642 15,860 16,853 21,169 19,809 23,429 27,690
Iowa...................................................... 5,526 7,798 8,990 8,828 9,439 11,240 10,633 13,055 15,623
Kansas.................................................... 2,525 3,704 4,947 5,300 6,101 7,525 7,207 9,196 12,633
Kentucky.................................................. 1,165 3,262 6,812 6,680 7,891 12,919 11,994 14,121 17,324
Louisiana................................................. 1,536 4,722 5,797 6,582 6,519 8,438 9,356 13,934 18,899
Maine..................................................... 1,844 3,377 4,866 5,383 4,925 5,477 4,862 6,103 7,302
Maryland.................................................. 5,688 9,646 17,039 14,343 14,182 15,542 15,454 17,936 22,683
Massachusetts............................................. 3,325 5,269 10,101 11,899 10,936 13,077 11,465 9,997 12,049
Michigan.................................................. 18,250 25,893 30,246 29,854 32,776 44,968 45,314 49,346 58,232
Minnesota................................................. 5,576 6,762 7,936 8,096 8,831 9,904 9,217 10,575 13,263
Mississippi............................................... 1,019 2,252 4,147 4,958 6,392 8,270 8,532 10,765 20,156
Missouri.................................................. 4,289 8,482 12,438 14,205 10,189 17,711 16,367 19,546 25,036
Montana................................................... 431 1,209 1,366 1,301 1,374 1,636 1,679 1,794 2,317
Nebraska.................................................. 502 1,395 2,598 2,485 2,548 3,121 3,213 3,671 4,811
Nevada.................................................... 354 433 630 768 1,363 2,449 2,291 3,127 4,334
New Hampshire............................................. 757 1,284 1,137 1,177 1,350 2,028 1,997 2,869 3,658
New Jersey................................................ 9,458 14,268 16,201 16,171 18,266 20,132 17,990 21,309 26,164
New Mexico................................................ 533 2,278 2,279 2,585 2,863 3,259 3,041 3,907 5,052
New York.................................................. 9,945 27,991 23,472 24,763 31,307 33,734 31,084 35,960 43,854
North Carolina............................................ 4,235 7,229 11,359 11,270 12,718 16,410 17,403 21,154 28,671
North Dakota.............................................. 352 848 773 1,302 1,501 1,767 1,656 2,303 2,521
Ohio...................................................... 2,886 11,186 14,346 16,514 21,027 27,476 28,651 46,843 60,010
Oklahoma.................................................. 703 2,218 4,197 4,647 5,803 7,575 7,077 9,148 11,235
Oregon.................................................... 3,782 4,863 5,113 5,381 5,622 6,259 5,694 7,997 10,497
Pennsylvania.............................................. 6,112 17,123 21,332 24,354 27,946 32,560 29,012 36,956 45,742
Puerto Rico............................................... 2 13 47 6 63 231 218 287 3,181
Rhode Island.............................................. 838 880 1,401 1,548 1,522 1,799 1,424 1,857 2,307
South Carolina............................................ 368 1,789 2,788 3,233 3,449 4,678 5,198 6,296 8,751
South Dakota.............................................. 374 998 1,465 1,498 1,648 2,110 2,018 2,465 3,066
Tennessee................................................. 642 3,025 7,110 7,539 8,341 16,033 12,577 16,865 20,874
Texas..................................................... 3,906 11,316 17,934 19,926 24,133 34,346 36,561 54,142 71,026
Utah...................................................... 2,540 2,991 3,730 4,066 4,297 5,604 5,431 6,270 6,206
Vermont................................................... 611 887 1,154 1,017 1,074 1,294 1,073 1,633 1,952
Virgin Islands............................................ ........ 37 34 7 25 44 68 81 68
Virginia.................................................. 1,674 6,840 8,913 9,761 10,298 12,594 12,601 16,898 19,507
Washington................................................ 4,278 10,510 12,537 13,732 13,957 17,417 17,236 19,506 23,801
West Virginia............................................. 1,038 2,013 2,944 3,066 3,265 3,705 3,551 7,221 7,863
Wisconsin................................................. 6,266 10,029 12,902 13,290 14,384 17,486 18,055 22,800 32,765
Wyoming................................................... 222 503 534 684 1,131 1,190 932 1,977 3,441
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nationwide total.................................... 175,021 338,853 443,594 474,748 515,279 661,711 636,466 803,952 1,045,450
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
TABLE 8-20.--TOTAL CHILD SUPPORT COLLECTIONS PER DOLLAR OF TOTAL ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENDITURES BY STATE, SELECTED FISCAL YEARS 1978-96
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State 1978 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1995 1996
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama.............................................. 0.75 2.45 2.69 2.50 2.46 2.78 2.68 3.11 3.27 2.24 3.41
Alaska............................................... 3.19 2.61 3.05 3.46 4.06 4.14 3.64 3.92 3.71 2.93 3.31
Arizona.............................................. 0.88 1.46 2.21 2.11 1.84 1.49 1.54 1.57 1.79 1.48 2.41
Arkansas............................................. 1.00 2.62 2.94 2.94 3.38 2.80 3.00 3.15 3.20 2.75 2.77
California........................................... 2.15 2.37 2.52 2.75 2.66 2.59 2.63 2.59 2.54 2.17 2.36
Colorado............................................. 1.78 1.89 1.90 1.99 2.21 2.82 3.22 2.70 2.47 2.54 2.82
Connecticut.......................................... 4.20 3.49 2.91 2.73 2.76 2.46 2.73 2.97 3.19 2.88 2.91
Delaware............................................. 7.14 2.46 3.07 2.62 3.01 3.13 2.87 2.88 2.39 2.04 2.50
District of Columbia................................. 0.73 0.92 0.97 1.21 1.33 1.78 1.88 2.33 2.51 2.03 2.38
Florida.............................................. 1.20 2.12 1.98 2.28 2.58 2.66 2.86 3.03 3.78 3.53 3.13
Georgia.............................................. 2.22 2.59 3.16 2.88 3.06 3.06 3.61 4.26 4.47 3.50 3.92
Guam................................................. NA 1.39 1.53 1.62 1.28 1.24 1.98 1.87 1.89 1.33 2.57
Hawaii............................................... 1.71 2.26 3.10 3.62 3.62 3.64 4.06 3.94 3.79 2.36 2.18
Idaho................................................ 2.10 3.58 4.06 3.79 3.95 4.02 3.21 3.62 3.43 2.39 2.32
Illinois............................................. 2.10 2.40 2.51 2.68 2.77 2.61 2.63 2.90 2.36 2.23 2.41
Indiana.............................................. 2.42 4.82 5.22 5.49 5.34 6.15 7.27 6.56 6.45 5.18 6.54
Iowa................................................. 3.49 6.77 6.12 6.36 5.66 4.99 5.02 5.79 5.14 4.72 5.23
Kansas............................................... 3.01 2.15 2.58 2.51 2.00 2.76 3.43 3.73 2.57 1.69 5.82
Kentucky............................................. 1.14 2.52 2.59 2.44 2.63 2.55 2.33 2.97 3.05 3.21 3.43
Louisiana............................................ 1.82 1.99 2.28 2.60 2.85 3.12 2.51 2.74 3.19 3.37 4.16
Maine................................................ 3.40 3.74 3.75 4.01 4.14 3.82 3.06 2.84 3.39 4.28 4.05
Maryland............................................. 2.14 3.77 3.02 3.31 3.36 3.80 3.80 4.49 4.56 4.07 4.36
Massachusetts........................................ 5.12 3.50 3.46 4.09 3.24 3.80 3.41 4.18 4.30 3.54 4.05
Michigan............................................. 9.50 8.33 9.52 8.80 8.58 7.83 8.07 8.20 8.43 7.20 6.63
Minnesota............................................ 2.15 3.02 3.51 3.59 3.65 3.58 3.74 4.27 4.20 3.96 4.36
Mississippi.......................................... 0.87 2.29 3.36 3.06 2.23 1.56 1.76 2.22 2.20 2.16 2.87
Missouri............................................. 0.89 3.89 4.55 4.22 4.45 4.71 4.75 4.88 4.30 3.41 3.75
Montana.............................................. 1.58 2.59 3.16 2.97 4.21 2.74 2.78 2.38 2.76 2.87 2.42
Nebraska............................................. 2.10 5.44 5.20 5.02 4.69 4.48 3.83 3.54 4.17 3.44 3.16
Nevada............................................... 1.83 2.10 2.30 1.95 2.22 2.12 2.52 3.06 2.39 2.08 2.53
New Hampshire........................................ 4.05 4.39 5.33 4.93 3.18 3.71 2.86 3.26 2.87 2.50 3.42
New Jersey........................................... 4.16 4.64 4.47 4.12 3.85 3.66 3.49 4.02 4.02 6.13 4.52
New Mexico........................................... 1.17 2.27 1.99 1.76 1.96 2.00 2.00 2.30 3.08 1.54 1.43
New York............................................. 1.75 1.83 1.98 2.36 2.74 2.55 2.81 3.22 3.10 3.39 4.03
North Carolina....................................... 1.50 3.26 3.83 3.32 3.20 3.18 3.15 3.20 3.20 2.40 2.94
North Dakota......................................... 1.83 2.46 2.65 3.14 3.31 3.62 3.59 3.93 4.05 4.13 4.34
Ohio................................................. 2.50 4.41 5.65 10.83 6.07 7.21 6.01 5.35 5.48 5.63 6.07
Oklahoma............................................. 0.76 1.78 2.22 2.48 2.28 2.29 2.41 2.69 3.13 2.70 3.06
Oregon............................................... 9.48 4.47 4.03 4.27 4.45 4.49 4.48 5.10 4.95 4.81 5.60
Pennsylvania......................................... 9.14 7.78 7.56 8.52 8.97 8.71 8.03 9.27 9.09 8.15 7.74
Puerto Rico.......................................... 0.92 14.02 18.93 17.60 13.61 7.84 15.68 10.43 11.73 3.96 4.44
Rhode Island......................................... 3.51 3.90 3.31 3.65 3.67 2.52 2.22 2.31 4.35 3.45 4.31
South Carolina....................................... 2.38 2.37 3.01 3.23 3.01 2.60 3.01 3.59 3.88 2.84 3.37
South Dakota......................................... 0.99 2.74 2.96 3.50 3.99 3.96 4.43 4.82 4.90 5.27 5.87
Tennessee............................................ 2.49 3.31 3.07 4.09 3.57 4.28 4.27 3.87 5.42 3.75 4.06
Texas................................................ 0.74 2.01 2.60 2.81 2.41 1.93 2.50 2.53 2.31 3.01 3.71
Utah................................................. 1.99 2.21 2.39 2.86 2.92 3.09 2.80 3.08 2.86 1.96 2.66
Vermont.............................................. 2.24 2.34 2.95 3.31 2.93 3.61 3.77 2.82 3.06 2.69 3.79
Virgin Islands....................................... 0.40 2.14 4.13 4.16 3.11 4.18 2.07 4.10 4.50 0.86 2.25
Virginia............................................. 0.72 1.57 2.41 2.39 3.03 2.35 3.13 2.91 3.09 3.63 4.18
Washington........................................... 2.96 2.42 2.56 2.48 2.66 3.13 3.41 3.29 3.42 3.35 3.53
West Virginia........................................ 0.74 1.98 2.00 2.16 2.95 2.75 2.55 2.98 2.77 3.24 3.61
Wisconsin............................................ 3.80 4.78 6.20 6.01 6.18 5.76 6.68 6.83 7.15 6.09 5.94
Wyoming.............................................. 3.18 3.27 4.64 4.91 3.50 3.37 3.50 4.87 2.34 1.76 2.96
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. ratio..................................... 3.35 3.45 3.68 3.94 3.85 3.75 3.82 3.99 3.98 3.60 3.93
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NA--Not available.
Source: Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
TABLE 8-21.--NUMBER OF PATERNITIES ESTABLISHED BY STATE, SELECTED FISCAL YEARS 1979-96
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State 1979 1987 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1995 1996
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama....................................................... 6,161 6,998 7,839 6,517 6,612 7,942 10,779 7,816 7,103
Alaska........................................................ 3 364 797 767 673 906 1,070 1,576 929
Arizona....................................................... 154 1,009 1,327 1,237 2,674 3,056 5,007 11,608 10,389
Arkansas...................................................... 2,586 5,326 4,453 3,191 4,703 5,175 6,580 8,294 8,283
California.................................................... 19,364 28,570 35,193 41,065 56,912 65,062 77,324 129,593 183,424
Colorado...................................................... 1,046 1,291 1,939 1,864 2,887 4,135 5,258 6,201 5,908
Connecticut................................................... 3,029 3,908 3,888 4,499 5,309 6,196 5,368 7,578 8,318
Delaware...................................................... 205 1,867 1,641 801 728 1,573 1,395 2,292 3,522
District of Columbia.......................................... 386 1,021 2,079 2,791 3,895 2,792 2,884 1,683 1,482
Florida....................................................... 7,078 12,136 13,399 19,534 17,907 16,119 10,879 13,010 2,806
Georgia....................................................... 3,642 14,112 18,198 24,615 28,015 30,181 29,329 13,978 3,146
Guam.......................................................... NA 122 109 563 884 642 440 866 802
Hawaii........................................................ 854 1,061 1,295 1,843 1,672 1,419 1,746 1,493 1,785
Idaho......................................................... 287 384 1,100 1,310 1,551 1,722 1,509 2,079 2,533
Illinois...................................................... 3,025 20,848 29,926 25,496 21,157 18,900 19,017 22,236 26,483
Indiana....................................................... 1,644 3,570 4,943 5,309 6,291 5,631 4,950 4,202 4,484
Iowa.......................................................... 575 1,664 1,980 3,045 1,904 4,416 4,952 4,378 3,414
Kansas........................................................ 696 1,119 2,101 3,644 3,125 3,198 4,445 10,677 11,801
Kentucky...................................................... 784 3,881 4,498 6,092 6,816 7,951 7,979 8,950 9,994
Louisiana..................................................... 1,304 2,926 4,451 5,525 11,098 11,764 13,272 9,299 11,235
Maine......................................................... 382 951 1,609 1,381 1,376 3,189 1,370 1,704 2,129
Maryland...................................................... 13,307 6,671 9,995 7,538 12,081 11,259 9,993 9,052 10,931
Massachusetts................................................. 2,096 7,025 6,194 6,339 5,742 8,195 6,234 10,862 10,201
Michigan...................................................... 7,529 18,274 23,142 25,574 27,955 29,087 28,076 22,471 24,898
Minnesota..................................................... 1,786 3,856 6,098 5,661 7,695 5,348 3,749 8,936 9,696
Mississippi................................................... 932 1,824 7,929 10,740 11,950 8,978 8,588 12,734 14,246
Missouri...................................................... NA 14,308 11,146 16,242 21,976 23,982 24,292 24,679 24,800
Montana....................................................... 92 179 388 429 677 1,155 413 1,368 1,567
Nebraska...................................................... NA 710 759 885 1,280 1,628 2,019 4,329 4,299
Nevada........................................................ 233 531 664 1,033 1,655 1,702 1,602 1,797 2,252
New Hampshire................................................. 35 195 518 614 645 580 604 722 628
New Jersey.................................................... 8,242 13,938 13,182 12,243 10,595 10,314 7,453 13,239 14,768
New Mexico.................................................... 322 412 1,571 1,992 1,601 1,591 2,491 3,574 2,325
New York...................................................... 17,503 18,239 18,056 20,492 30,197 34,434 42,748 36,474 41,292
North Carolina................................................ 6,592 9,916 11,663 14,504 18,186 19,308 21,371 25,429 29,581
North Dakota.................................................. 293 1,134 820 784 935 1,446 1,386 906 1,427
Ohio.......................................................... 4,808 9,133 11,637 15,823 20,857 23,672 28,151 32,785 34,962
Oklahoma...................................................... 43 512 1,361 2,710 4,939 2,721 2,764 4,525 5,312
Oregon........................................................ 1,521 1,902 3,131 4,081 3,836 4,942 5,830 5,159 5,740
Pennsylvania.................................................. 4,450 15,277 18,921 20,231 23,063 24,239 23,246 27,642 29,592
Puerto Rico................................................... 22 6 144 216 264 198 206 204 11
Rhode Island.................................................. 347 601 673 868 764 1,425 2,001 3,971 5,489
South Carolina................................................ 1,378 3,994 5,243 5,273 6,066 6,996 8,331 8,038 8,925
South Dakota.................................................. 60 552 504 509 687 916 1,333 1,160 1,030
Tennessee..................................................... 5,003 7,666 9,647 8,976 10,309 10,902 11,463 14,358 11,524
Texas......................................................... 202 684 6,465 12,623 19,627 24,890 30,002 38,516 43,272
Utah.......................................................... 487 1,292 1,801 2,087 2,484 2,957 3,496 4,287 4,058
Vermont....................................................... 44 1,091 468 533 438 800 1,065 949 863
Virgin Islands................................................ 4 235 270 160 215 344 492 485 34
Virginia...................................................... 1,452 2,667 8,471 13,647 15,971 18,038 21,506 26,174 18,952
Washington.................................................... 656 4,066 5,762 6,985 8,601 10,540 12,539 13,608 16,963
West Virginia................................................. 156 288 820 997 1,324 2,373 2,790 7,077 4,219
Wisconsin..................................................... 4,803 8,750 8,695 10,808 12,931 15,435 17,678 20,982 21,689
Wyoming....................................................... 44 105 340 618 370 3,493 3,670 4,829 1,305
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total................................................... 137,645 269,161 339,243 393,304 472,105 515,857 553,135 660,834 716,821
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NA--Not available.
Source: Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
TABLE 8-22.--OUT-OF-WEDLOCK BIRTHS AND CHILD SUPPORT PATERNITIES ESTABLISHED BY STATE, SELECTED FISCAL YEARS 1987-94
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Births to unmarried women Paternities/births (percent)
State -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1987 1989 1990 1991 1993 1994 1987 1989 1990 1991 1993 1994
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama......................... 15,955 18,640 19,131 20,000 20,680 21,003 43.9 42.1 34.1 33.05 52.1 40.47
Alaska.......................... 2,564 2,869 3,113 3,148 3,101 3,125 14.2 27.8 24.6 21.3 34.5 48.19
Arizona......................... 17,227 20,708 22,532 23,899 26,151 27,162 5.9 6.4 5.5 11.19 19.2 33.18
Arkansas........................ 8,498 9,944 10,713 10,601 10,878 11,310 62.7 44.8 29.8 44.3 60.5 65.31
California...................... 136,785 171,189 193,559 204,229 206,376 202,803 20.9 20.6 21.2 27.8 37.4 45.11
Colorado........................ 10,171 10,787 11,374 12,684 13,373 13,510 12.7 18.0 16.4 22.7 39.3 41.56
Connecticut..................... 11,045 13,005 13,330 13,581 13,919 13,914 35.4 29.9 33.8 39.1 38.6 40.28
Delaware........................ 2,742 3,125 3,222 3,559 3,577 3,614 68.1 52.5 24.9 20.5 53.8 75.90
District of Columbia............ 6,094 7,580 7,692 7,806 7,211 6,831 16.8 27.4 36.3 49.9 40.0 36.39
Florida......................... 48,200 58,305 63,169 64,101 67,431 68,127 25.2 23.0 30.9 27.9 16.1 18.57
Georgia......................... 28,647 34,926 36,979 38,116 39,575 39,429 49.3 52.1 66.6 73.5 74.1 62.95
Hawaii.......................... 3,968 4,609 5,088 5,195 5,328 5,533 26.7 28.1 36.2 32.2 32.8 37.39
Idaho........................... 2,073 2,561 2,738 2,924 3,268 3,273 18.5 43.0 47.8 53.0 46.2 54.17
Illinois........................ 50,677 58,867 62,148 63,225 65,130 64,933 41.1 50.8 41.0 33.5 29.2 37.63
Indiana......................... 17,260 19,898 22,562 24,294 25,844 26,044 20.7 24.8 23.5 25.9 19.2 15.06
Iowa............................ 6,147 7,575 8,282 8,657 9,297 9,211 27.1 26.1 36.8 22.0 53.3 56.03
Kansas.......................... 6,633 7,577 8,397 8,746 9,696 9,709 16.9 27.7 43.4 35.7 45.8 89.20
Kentucky........................ 10,658 12,048 12,829 13,796 14,401 14,646 36.4 37.3 47.5 49.4 55.4 51.12
Louisiana....................... 23,594 25,692 26,601 27,694 29,179 28,918 12.4 17.3 20.8 40.0 45.5 42.42
Maine........................... 3,338 3,806 3,931 4,180 4,061 4,067 28.5 42.3 35.1 32.9 33.7 41.14
Maryland........................ 22,866 22,607 23,789 24,292 24,335 24,943 29.2 44.2 31.7 49.7 41.1 42.46
Massachusetts................... 17,616 21,798 22,886 22,873 22,380 22,291 39.9 28.4 27.7 25.1 23.9 40.96
Michigan........................ 28,724 36,441 40,289 40,941 36,326 48,339 63.6 63.5 63.5 68.3 77.3 55.57
Minnesota....................... 11,114 13,142 14,192 14,984 15,099 15,430 34.7 46.4 39.9 51.4 24.8 47.23
Mississippi..................... 14,499 16,958 17,627 18,317 18,718 19,067 12.6 46.8 60.9 65.2 45.9 51.92
Missouri........................ 17,823 21,123 22,643 23,736 24,353 23,913 80.3 52.8 71.7 92.6 99.8 96.09
Montana......................... 2,379 2,539 2,757 2,898 3,104 2,822 7.5 15.3 15.6 23.4 13.3 25.27
Nebraska........................ 4,006 4,662 5,056 5,181 5,449 5,739 17.7 16.3 17.5 24.7 38.2 41.51
Nevada.......................... 2,740 4,607 5,480 7,016 7,614 8,359 19.4 18.4 14.4 18.9 21.0 15.61
New Hampshire................... 2,511 2,797 2,967 2,996 3,179 3,338 7.8 18.5 20.7 21.5 19.0 21.93
New Jersey...................... 26,647 29,364 29,756 31,972 31,949 33,043 52.3 45.6 44.9 41.1 23.3 27.80
New Mexico...................... 8,067 9,447 9,704 10,445 11,526 11,496 5.1 16.6 20.5 15.3 21.6 25.66
New York........................ 80,939 92,996 98,110 99,738 105,101 104,732 22.5 19.4 20.9 30.3 41.1 36.55
North Carolina.................. 23,262 28,315 30,718 32,340 32,586 32,321 42.6 41.2 47.2 56.2 65.6 70.24
North Dakota.................... 1,429 1,615 1,699 1,952 1,999 1,971 79.4 50.8 46.1 47.9 69.3 70.47
Ohio............................ 39,237 45,921 48,289 50,826 52,385 51,363 23.3 19.7 25.3 32.8 55.6 63.41
Oklahoma........................ 9,892 11,258 11,998 12,973 13,441 13,616 5.2 12.1 22.6 38.1 20.6 26.53
Oregon.......................... 8,672 10,436 11,041 11,324 11,730 12,012 21.9 30.0 37.0 33.9 49.7 48.52
Pennsylvania.................... 41,143 47,093 49,258 51,360 51,783 51,518 37.1 40.2 41.1 44.9 44.9 44.17
Rhode Island.................... 3,064 3,684 3,997 4,073 4,436 4,327 19.6 18.3 21.7 18.8 45.1 61.45
South Carolina.................. 15,333 18,116 19,148 20,000 19,359 19,172 26.1 28.9 27.5 30.3 43.0 40.35
South Dakota.................... 2,225 2,415 2,515 2,720 2,968 2,914 24.8 20.9 20.2 25.3 44.9 45.92
Tennessee....................... 17,897 21,281 22,662 24,026 24,556 24,480 42.8 45.3 39.6 42.9 46.7 59.21
Texas........................... 57,464 60,303 55,435 56,528 54,670 92,721 1.2 10.7 22.8 34.7 54.9 35.88
Utah............................ 3,929 4,504 4,910 5,196 5,744 6,005 32.9 40.0 42.5 47.8 60.9 67.13
Vermont......................... 1,459 1,685 1,666 1,811 1,805 1,864 74.8 27.8 32.0 24.2 59.0 43.78
Virginia........................ 20,562 24,410 25,874 27,125 27,532 27,760 1.3 34.7 52.7 58.9 78.1 79.57
Washington...................... 14,629 17,638 18,746 19,861 20,670 20,090 27.8 32.7 37.3 43.3 60.7 66.70
West Virginia................... 4,722 5,212 5,743 6,040 6,328 6,454 6.1 15.7 17.4 21.9 44.1 30.68
Wisconsin....................... 14,698 16,815 17,656 18,235 18,882 18,565 59.5 51.7 61.2 70.9 93.6 92.51
Wyoming......................... 1,189 1,276 1,383 1,546 1,689 1,765 8.8 26.7 44.7 23.9 217.3 59.43
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. total................ 933,013 1,094,169 1,165,384 1,213,769 1,240,172 1,289,592 28.8 31.0 33.7 38.8 44.6 45.78
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sources: Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and National Center for Health Statistics (1995 and previous
years).
TABLE 8-23.--STATE SHARE OF PROGRAM SAVINGS BY STATE, FISCAL YEARS 1989-96
[In thousands of dollars]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama......................................................... $380 -$518 -$1,982 -$3,053 -$2,529 -$6,319 -$8,672 -$6,250
Alaska.......................................................... 2,264 2,469 2,982 3,431 3,797 4,278 4,201 5,091
Arizona......................................................... -1,219 -2,899 -3,125 -3,320 -4,242 -4,761 -6,804 -5,252
Arkansas........................................................ 1,574 1,013 1,830 1,009 530 -283 -135 -2,595
California...................................................... 79,779 76,552 88,584 98,465 101,406 115,539 110,774 139,416
Colorado........................................................ 4,552 4,991 5,954 5,661 6,064 7,107 7,490 7,237
Connecticut..................................................... 11,330 7,310 10,332 11,711 13,396 12,523 5,671 6,770
Delaware........................................................ 797 812 923 902 455 312 -644 435
District of Columbia............................................ -3,145 -89 -574 144 757 -272 -585 -390
Florida......................................................... 5,601 2,932 7,179 11,482 14,368 14,863 11,797 1,471
Georgia......................................................... 2,861 1,299 3,930 7,937 12,856 13,099 10,801 10,379
Guam............................................................ -87 -227 -293 -450 -305 -375 -919 -591
Hawaii.......................................................... 1,648 1,622 1,502 1,655 1,873 1,618 539 -670
Idaho........................................................... 1,029 895 751 955 922 720 665 -1,317
Illinois........................................................ 10,935 5,159 5,785 9,767 3,716 3,711 3,965 4,304
Indiana......................................................... 14,027 11,731 16,134 20,359 20,257 22,131 18,262 18,475
Iowa............................................................ 11,767 11,631 10,840 11,765 11,000 12,048 12,560 9,599
Kansas.......................................................... 1,170 2,229 3,694 4,041 3,711 3,142 -3,222 8,701
Kentucky........................................................ 207 207 -475 1,958 3,467 5,104 3,696 1,449
Louisiana....................................................... 696 150 -1,049 -1,845 -1,241 -1,270 -2,098 -1,251
Maine........................................................... 5,236 4,229 3,852 3,890 5,877 5,509 6,359 9,590
Maryland........................................................ 6,860 8,631 6,120 10,366 12,037 8,926 4,819 3,844
Massachusetts................................................... 23,373 23,391 21,789 25,917 29,957 22,670 25,468 20,782
Michigan........................................................ 57,413 54,088 58,032 53,107 52,078 53,216 49,500 30,837
Minnesota....................................................... 13,969 12,083 11,468 12,377 12,274 11,880 11,950 9,009
Mississippi..................................................... -232 -2,987 -2,549 -1,243 -1,065 -2,843 -3,336 -2,599
Missouri........................................................ 8,046 9,002 7,846 11,772 10,303 10,566 7,695 8,598
Montana......................................................... 1,093 769 454 532 618 37,868 37,431 -850
Nebraska........................................................ -252 -572 -582 -2,093 -1,054 -574 -1,270 -4,617
Nevada.......................................................... -32 -417 -334 608 -172 604 -902 -1,774
New Hampshire................................................... 362 185 271 826 443 1,165 1,157 1,010
New Jersey...................................................... 15,081 6,836 9,100 13,551 11,876 13,809 24,571 14,092
New Mexico...................................................... 305 -148 -361 -224 1,278 456 -1,083 -1,917
New York........................................................ 24,201 22,865 30,313 41,091 41,790 46,036 43,880 45,673
North Carolina.................................................. 5,857 3,598 4,257 6,343 6,962 8,504 2,853 1,898
North Dakota.................................................... 955 1,074 1,231 973 989 888 788 441
Ohio............................................................ 21,558 12,040 6,054 445 3,453 6,800 5,761 4,422
Oklahoma........................................................ 705 69 380 1,110 2,457 2,412 2,241 3,205
Oregon.......................................................... 3,703 2,658 3,358 4,863 5,935 8,029 5,548 6,200
Pennsylvania.................................................... 22,018 19,846 21,226 27,102 29,234 33,738 30,971 27,231
Puerto Rico..................................................... -1,075 -3,121 -2,165 -2,008 -2,171 -3,073 -5,161 -8,179
Rhode Island.................................................... 2,999 3,439 3,940 4,375 5,427 5,466 6,142 7,013
South Carolina.................................................. 490 -1,639 91 437 1,309 1,049 191 -1,159
South Dakota.................................................... 969 1,254 820 672 1,048 967 1,338 1,629
Tennessee....................................................... 1,278 3,432 5,989 1,578 5,915 5,408 7,519 2,340
Texas........................................................... 2,163 -4,832 -4,774 -6,111 13,969 -12,335 -6,212 -1,274
Utah............................................................ 1,362 1,111 892 980 343 181 -1,526 -1,326
Vermont......................................................... 1,440 1,957 1,918 1,621 2,066 1,175 1,741 1,602
Virgin Islands.................................................. -223 -184 -459 -227 -256 -305 -885 -656
Virginia........................................................ 2,567 -1,113 4,292 4,324 6,347 5,109 7,348 4,889
Washington...................................................... 15,386 14,053 22,038 19,695 24,875 29,978 25,869 26,794
West Virginia................................................... -59 -1,214 -722 -1,047 16 -2,038 -2,484 -2,494
Wisconsin....................................................... 21,306 18,451 16,740 15,553 15,386 15,757 12,695 8,280
Wyoming......................................................... 574 363 340 589 226 159 86 -200
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. total................................................ 403,400 338,469 384,691 433,317 462,092 482,243 431,013 407,314
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note.--Numbers may not sum to total due to rounding.
Source: Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
TABLE 8-24.--STATES USING THE INCOME SHARES AND PERCENTAGE OF INCOME
APPROACHES TO ESTABLISHING CHILD SUPPORT GUIDELINES
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Income shares
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama Maine Oklahoma
Arizona Maryland Oregon
California Michigan Pennsylvania
Colorado Missouri Rhode Island
Florida Montana South Carolina
Idaho Nebraska South Dakota
Indiana New Jersey Utah
Iowa New Mexico Vermont
Kansas North Carolina Virginia
Kentucky Ohio Washington
Louisiana
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Percentage of income
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alaska New Hampshire Georgia
Arkansas North Dakota Mississippi
Connecticut Tennessee Nevada
Illinois Texas New York
Minnesota Wyoming Wisconsin
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Garfinkel, McLanahan, & Robins (1994).
REFERENCES
Bumpass, L. (1984). Children and marital disruption: A
replication and update. Demography, 21, pp. 71-82.
Cooper, P., & Johnson, A. (1993, April). Employment-related
health insurance in 1987 (AMCPR Pub. No. 93-0044).
Rockville, MD: Public Health Service.
Federal Register. (1992, December 28). Regulations for updating
child support orders. 57(249).
Garfinkel, I., McLanahan, S., & Robins, P.K. (1994). Child
support and child well-being, pp. 98-99. Washington,
DC: Urban Institute Press.
Garfinkel, I., Melli, M.S., & Robertson, J.G. (1994, Spring).
Child support orders: A perspective on reform. In R.E.
Behrman (Ed.), The future of children: Children and
divorce, 4(1), pp. 88-93. Los Altos, California: David
and Lucille Packard Foundation.
Georgeson, L.M. (1989, May). DNA in paternity cases. Paper
prepared for American Bar Association Third National
Child Support Conference, Arlington, VA.
Gordon, A.R. (1994). Implementation of the income withholding
and medical support provisions of the 1984 child
support enforcement amendments (pp. 86-87). In I.
Garfinkel, S. McLanahan, & P. Robins (Eds.), Child
support and child well-being. Washington, DC: Urban
Institute.
Hill, M.S. (1988, May). The role of economic resources and
dual-family status in child support payments. Ann
Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research, University of
Michigan.
Malone, T.P. (1989, May). Modification lives: Guidelines don't
mean an end to changing circumstances. Paper prepared
for American Bar Association Third National Child
Support Conference, Washington, DC.
McKillop, L.T. (1981). Benefits of establishing paternity.
Washington, DC: Office of Child Support Enforcement,
Department of Health and Human Services.
National Center for Health Statistics. (1995, September).
Advance report of final natality statistics: 1993.
Monthly Vital Statistics Report, 44 (3, Supplement).
Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services. (1985). Paternity establishment (2d
ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services. (1986). Employer fees for wage
withholding. Child Support Report, 8(10), p. 7.
Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services. (1987, September). Development of
guidelines for child support orders: Advisory panel
recommendations and final report. Washington, DC:
Author.
Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services. (1990). Paternity establishment (3d
ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services. (1991, June). Child support
enforcement in the military. Washington, DC: Author.
Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services. (1992). Uniform Interstate Family
Support Act proposed to replace URESA. Child Support
Report, 14 (8), pp. 4-5.
Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services. (1996 and various years). Annual
Report to Congress (21 annual reports for the years
1976-96). Washington, DC: Author.
Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services. (1995a). Fiscal year I-Census
report: Single parent growth rate stabilizes. Child
Support Report, 17 (11), p. 5.
Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services. (1995b). President Clinton signs
executive order: Federal agencies to facilitate support
order establishment and enforcement. Child Support
Report, 17(3), pp. 1-2.
Office of Child Support Enforcement, U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services. (1995c). DOD consolidates
garnishment operation. Child Support Report, 17 (3), p.
3.
Pirog, M.A., Klotz, M., & Buyers, K.V. (1997). Interstate
comparisons of child support awards using State
guidelines, 1997. Bloomington, IN: Institute for Family
and Social Responsibility, Indiana University.
Shulman, G.A. (1994). Qualified medical child support order
handbook. New York: Wiley Law Publications.
Sorensen, E. (1994, January). Noncustodial fathers: Can they
afford to pay more child support? Washington, DC: Urban
Institute.
Sorensen, E. (1995, April). The benefits of increased child
support enforcement (Welfare Reform Briefs, No. 2).
Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. (1981). Child support and alimony:
1978. Current Population Reports, Series P-60-112.
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. (1983). Child support and alimony:
1981. Current Population Reports, Series P-60-124.
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. (1985). Child support and alimony:
1983. Current Population Reports, Series P-60-141.
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. (1987). Child support and alimony:
1985. Current Population Reports, Series P-60-152.
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. (1990). Child support and alimony:
1987. Current Population Reports, Series P-60-167.
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. (1991). Child support and alimony:
1989. Current Population Reports, Series P-60-173.
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. (1994). Household and family
characteristics: March 1994. Washington, DC: U.S.
Government Printing Office.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. (1995). Child support for custodial
mothers and fathers: 1991. Current Population Reports,
Series P60-187. Washington, DC: U.S. Government
Printing Office.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. (1997). Child support for custodial
mothers and fathers: 1993. Current Population Reports.
(advance copy of preliminary data furnished to the
Congressional Research Service.)
U.S. Commission on Interstate Child Support. (1992). Supporting
our children: A blueprint for reform. Washington, DC:
U.S. Government Printing Office.
U.S. General Accounting Office. (1987). Child support: Need to
improve efforts to identify fathers and obtain support
orders (GAO/HRD-87-37). Washington, DC: Author.
U.S. General Accounting Office. (1992a). Interstate child
support: Wage withholding not fulfilling expectations
(GAO/HRD-92-65BR). Washington, DC: Author.
U.S. General Accounting Office. (1992b). Child support
enforcement--timely action needed to correct system
development problems (GAO/IMTEC-92-46). Washington, DC:
Author.
U.S. House of Representatives. (1983). Child support
enforcement amendments of 1983 (House Report No. 98-
527). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Weaver, R.L., & Williams, R.G. (1989, May). Problems with
URESA: Interstate child support enforcement isn't
working but could. Paper prepared for American Bar
Association Third National Child Support Conference,
Washington, DC.
Williams, R.G. (1994). Implementation of the child support
provisions of the Family Support Act: Child support
guidelines, updating of awards, and routine income
withholding (pp. 93-132). In I. Garfinkel, S.
McLanahan, & P. Robins (Eds.), Child support and child
well-being. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
Go to the Green Book Table of Contents.