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HHS ANNOUNCES NEW RECORD CHILD SUPPORT COLLECTIONS
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HHS ANNOUNCES NEW RECORD CHILD SUPPORT COLLECTIONS
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| HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala announced today that the federal and state
child support enforcement program broke new records in nationwide collections
in fiscal year 2000, reaching $18 billion, a 123 percent increase over the $8
billion collected in 1992. This dramatic $10 billion increase is due in large
part to the legislation to strengthen and improve the child support program
that President Clinton proposed and Congress passed in 1996.
The federal government collected a record $1.4 billion in overdue child
support from federal income tax refunds for tax year 2000, representing a 100
percent increase since 1992. More than 1.42 million families benefited from
these collections. In addition, a program to match delinquent parents with
financial records found more than one million accounts belonging to more than
690,000 delinquent non-custodial parents nationwide with a value in excess of
$3 billion.
"The Clinton administration has worked hard to ensure that children receive
the support they deserve," said Secretary Shalala. "By committing to
strengthen the nation's child support program, we're helping to make sure that
children receive both financial and emotional support from both parents."
Under the federal tax offset program, state child support agencies report
names of parents who owe child support payments and the overdue amount to the
HHS Administration for Children and Families. These individuals are first
notified by the state in a pre-offset letter of their overdue child support
obligation. This gives them the opportunity to have their case reviewed for
correctness before final submission to the U.S. Treasury Department for
action. These individuals are then notified in writing by the U.S. Treasury
Department, Financial Management Services, of the amount to be withheld to
cover their child support debt. That amount is then deducted from their
income tax refund. The delinquency may also be reported to credit reporting
agencies.
The 1996 welfare reform law included President Clinton's proposed Financial
Institution Data Match Program, which matches records of delinquent parents
with financial institutions. The program requires states to identify accounts
of delinquent parents and use existing state laws to "freeze and seize" the
dollars. In 1998, Congress made it easier for multistate institutions to
match records by using the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement. When
successful matches are made, the information is sent to the states within 48
hours for placement of a lien on and seizure of all or part of the accounts
identified.
The 1996 law's provisions also included: computerized statewide collection,
uniform interstate child support forms and tough new penalties for non-payment
of support such as driver's license revocation, among other provisions.
"With the 1996 welfare reform law, the child support enforcement program has
some of the best tools to accomplish its goals. Now, children are better
served by the child support program than ever before," said Olivia Golden,
assistant secretary for children and families. "And, research has shown that
a child's well-being and life chances are improved with regular, adequate
child support, both financial and emotional."
In other child support enforcement measures, parents whose children receive
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and whose unpaid child support
totals $150 or more may have their federal income tax refunds withheld. For
tax year 2000, refunds were withheld on behalf of more than 881,000 families
with children receiving TANF. Parents of children who do not receive TANF
must owe at least $500 to have their refunds withheld. More than 540,000
non-TANF families benefited from the program.
Since taking office, the Clinton administration has made child support a
priority. During fiscal year 2000 more than 642 million records were posted
to the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH), which matches child support
orders to employment records. The Federal Case Registry (FCR) maintained
records involving more than 30 million individuals. The NDNH information is
compared with the FCR to locate individuals who are involved in child support
cases and live in a different state than their children. Last year, 3.5
million non-custodial parents and putative fathers were located through the
NDNH. In addition, paternity establishment rose to nearly 1.5 million in
1999, a more than three-fold increase from 516,000 in 1992. The Passport
Denial Program has collected more than $6.5 million in lump sum child support
payments and is currently denying about 60 passports to delinquent parents per
day.
"Children must come first in our efforts to leave no child behind," said David
Gray Ross, commissioner, office of child support enforcement. "For those
trying to evade their responsibility to their children, new laws and continued
vigorous enforcement efforts have made walking away from a child a much more
difficult thing to do."
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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are
available at www.hhs.gov/news.
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Source:
HHS Agencies
www.hhs.gov
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