About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 1 (March 23, 2017)

handle is hein.crs/goveapx0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service The Child Support Enforcement (CSE) Program Introduction The Child Support Enforcement (CSE) program was enacted into law on January 4, 1975 (P.L. 93-647). When the program was first established, its goals were to reimburse the states and the federal government for the welfare payments they provided families, and to help other families remain self-sufficient and stay off welfare by obtaining consistent and ongoing child support payments from the noncustodial parent. Over time, the CSE program has evolved from a welfare cost-recovery program into a family-first program that seeks to enhance the well-being of families by making child support a more reliable source of income. This program has the potential to impact more children and for longer periods of time than most other federal programs. It may interact with mothers, fathers, and children for 18 years and in some cases up to 30 years if the noncustodial parent owes past-due child support. In FY2015, it served 15.9 million children (about 22% of children in the United States). Scope of CSE Program The CSE program is a federal-state program that provides services to both welfare and non-welfare families. (Today, this distinction is based on whether the family has received cash assistance from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant (TANF)). TANF families (and other families enrolled in certain assistance programs, such as Medicaid) are automatically enrolled free of charge. Families who have never received TANF must sign up and also pay a $25 annual user fee if the CSE agency collects at least $500 per year for them. The program is available in all 50 states; the District of Columbia; the territories of Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands; and 62 tribal nations. It is generally operated at the county level of government. The CSE program is administered at the federal level by the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The OCSE helps CSE agencies develop, manage, and operate their programs effectively and according to federal law. Specifically, OCSE administers federal matching funds and awards grants to states, provides policy guidance and technical assistance, conducts program audits, and supports research through demonstration grants. OCSE also operates the Federal Parent Locator Service and the National Directory of New Hires. Program Components The CSE program increases the reliability of child support paid by noncustodial parents by Updated March 23, 2017 locating noncustodial parents, establishing paternity, establishing child support orders, reviewing and modifying child support orders, collecting child support payments from noncustodial parents, establishing and enforcing medical child support, and distributing child support payments to custodial parents. CSE Collections and Methods In FY2015, the CSE program collected and distributed $28.6 billion on behalf of families. Two-thirds of CSE collections were for families that had never received cash payments from the TANF program. Table I .CSE Collections by Family Type, FY20 1 5 TANF Families $0.8 Former TANF $9.0 31% Never TANF $18.8 66% Total $28.6 100% Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS), based on data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The majority of the collected payments (93%) went to families and the remainder went to the states and federal government as reimbursement for public assistance dollars that went to families. Most child support payments are collected from noncustodial parents through income withholding. In FY2015, approximately three-quarters of collections were obtained through income withholding. Other methods of enforcement include intercepting federal and state income tax refunds; intercepting unemployment compensation; filing liens against property; sending insurance settlement information to CSE agencies; intercepting lottery winnings, judgments, or settlements; ittps://crsreport 3%

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most