If you get TFA (welfare), the Child Support Enforcement System should help you:

Child support can be cash, medical insurance, and cash for child care costs that must be paid by the parent who does not have custody of the child.

There is a worker (different from your TFA worker) who is responsible to help you in getting child support. This worker is from the Child Support Enforcement System and should make sure that the needed steps are taken so that your child gets child support from the other parent.

What can the State do?

Find the Other Parent: The more information you can give, the easier it is for the State to help find the other parent. The State needs the Social Security number. If you don= t know the Social Security number, you can look for this number on other records (bank, insurance, income tax). If you can= t find the number, the State may still be able to help. With enough information from you, the State can check State and national computer location services to find the other parent. The State can also look at records from many different places such as: the motor vehicle department, unemployment records, the military, the Internal Revenue Service, credit reports, and other places. And, all employers must report newly hired employees to the Support Enforcement System.

Establish Paternity: The State will take all the steps legally necessary to establish paternity (determine who the father is). These steps include bringing a case into court. The State can get (and pay for) blood testing to establish, by DNA, the likelihood that he is the father of the child.

Establish or Modify Support: Once the father is determined and can be located, the court will order (establish) child support. There are guidelines which set the amount of child support. These Child Support Guidelines are a percentage of the combined income of the parents. The noncustodial parent (parent who does not have custody of the child) must pay according to the guidelines. There are certain cases where the guidelines do not have to be followed, but this does not happen often. The court must order that the support be paid by income withholding, unless there are special reasons for not doing so. Income withholding means the money is withheld directly from the other parent= s wages or other income. The State can also increase or lower an order that does not comply with the guidelines by bringing the case back into court.

Child Care Costs: The court may order the other parent to help pay child care costs. The other parent must help with child care costs if his income is above a certain amount and the costs are not paid by other programs.

Enforce Support: The State has a number of ways to collect support. Income withholding is the best way to enforce support (make sure the support is paid). Money collected through income with-holding is paid to the State and distributed to the families. But, if the noncustodial parent switches jobs, or becomes self-employed, payments can fall behind.

Other ways the State can enforce support include: getting any income tax refund before it goes to the non-paying parent (unfortunately, the money from this doesn= t get to families until the State= s child support debt is paid). The State can also report people to credit bureaus, place liens on bank accounts or other property, revoke driver= s, professional or hunting licenses. The non-paying parent can also be called into court on contempt and ordered to pay under threat of jail.

Bureau of

Child Support Enforcement

Department of Social Services