The goal of the Child Support Enforcement (CSE) Program, which was established in 1975 under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, is to ensure that children are financially supported by both their parents. Welfare reform legislation that President Clinton signed in 1996 provided strong measures for ensuring that children receive the support due them:

• States were required to enact uniform interstate laws by January 1, 1998.
  
  
• State and Federal CSE programs provide registries of newly hired employees.
  
  
• Paternity establishment has been streamlined.
  
  
• States will have computerized state-wide support collection and disbursement centers by October 1998.
  
  
• Tough new penalties, such as license revocation and seizure of assets, will be available when child support obligations are not met.

The 1996 legislation also recognizes the importance to children of access to their noncustodial parent: the new law includes grants to help States establish programs that support and facilitate noncustodial parents' visitation with and access to their children.

The CSE program is usually run by state and local human services departments, often with the help of prosecuting attorneys, other law enforcement agencies, and officials of family or domestic relations courts.

Child Support Enforcement services are available automatically for families receiving assistance under the new Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs. Any current child support collected reimburses the state and federal governments for TANF payments made to the family.

Child support services are also available to families not receiving TANF who apply for such services. Child support payments that are collected on behalf of non-TANF families are sent to the family. For these families, states must charge an application fee of up to $25, but may pay this fee from state funds. Some states may also charge for the cost of services rendered.

The most recent census data show that, in the Spring of 1992, 11.5 million families with children had a parent living elsewhere. Custodial parent families, 86 percent of which were headed by women and 14 percent headed by men, comprised one third of all families with their own, never married children under 21. Of the 11.5 million, only 6.2 million (54 percent) of the custodial parents had awards or agreements for child support. Of the total $17.7 billion owed for child support in 1991, $5.8 billion was not paid. Among those due support, about half received the full amount, about a quarter received partial payment and about a quarter received nothing.

During FY 1996, about $12 billion in child support payments was collected, and services were provided in over 19.3 million cases through the Program. Paternity was established for more than l million children that year through CSE Program and voluntary in-hospital acknowledgements, providing vital links between the children and their noncustodial parents. Almost 1.1 million new child support orders child support orders were established through the Program in FY 1996. The Federal government collected a record $1 billion in delinquent child support by intercepting income tax refunds of non-paying parents for tax year 1996.

The Child Support Enforcement Program provides four major services: locating noncustodial parents, establishing paternity, establishing child support obligations, and enforcing child support orders.

Locating Absent Parents — Child support enforcement officials use local information and resources of State and Federal Parent Locator services to locate parents for child support enforcement, or to find a parent in parental kidnapping/custody disputes. About four million cases are processed annually by the Federal Parent Locator Service.

Establishing Paternity — Establishing paternity (legally identifying a child's father) is a necessary first step for obtaining an order for child support when children are born out of wedlock. Establishing paternity also provides access to Social security, pension and retirement benefits; health insurance and information; and interaction with members of both parents' families.

Many fathers voluntarily acknowledge paternity. Otherwise, father, mother, and child can be required to submit to genetic tests. The results are highly accurate. States must have procedures which allow paternity to be established at least up to the child's eighteenth birthday.

Establishing Support Obligations — States must have guidelines to establish how much a parent should pay for child support. Support agency staff can take child support cases to court, or to an administrative hearing process to establish the order. Health insurance coverage can also be ordered.

Enforcing Child Support Orders — A parent can be required to pay child support by income withholding. The new welfare reform legislation establishes State and Federal registries of newly hired employees to speed the transfer of wage withholding orders. Overdue child support can be collected from federal and state income tax refunds. Liens can be put on property, and the property itself may even be sold with the proceeds used to pay child support arrearages. Unpaid child support should be reported automatically to credit reporting bureaus, and drivers, professional, occupational and recreational licenses can be suspended if the obligated parent is not paying support as required.