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Facts - Books - News U.S. Facts Of Law: |
Child Support and Welfare
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Since enactment in 1996 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act
(PRWORA), a major impetus to collection of child support in the United States is the Welfare law. A
custodial parent receiving public assistance (Temporary Aid to Needy Families or TANF) is required to assign his or her right to child support to the Department of Welfare before cash assistance is received. Another requirement is that the custodial parent must pursue child support from the non-custodial parent . Where successful, the child support is then diverted to the welfare program instead of the custodial parent as partial reimbursement of the cash assistance being paid. If the amount of child support paid equals or exceeds the assistance grant, the family is moved off the cash assistance portion of the program (they may still be eligible for food stamps and medical assistance). Other provisions of PRWORA require the custodial parent to find employment and will assist that parent in finding and maintaining such employment (such as buying new work clothes or repairing a vehicle to get them to work). If the custodial parent becomes employed, their cash assistance will be reduced based on the amount of income received. If child support is also being paid, the chances are that it will then be greater than the assistance grant and the family will move off the welfare rolls (at least as far as cash assistance is concerned) . The child support enforcement programs in all 50 states are primarily funded by the federal government through each state’s Department of Welfare. Should a state's handling of child-support enforcement not comply with PRWORA standards, that state's program funding can be reduced by 5% as a penalty.
Despite the claims of some that PRWORA and it's welfare connection are generating government income through
child support collections, the US Department of Health and Human Services
reports that in fiscal year 2003, 90% of child support collections went directly to families. In fact, the percent of payments going to families was 86% or more in 47 states and in seven states exceeded 95%. Only the remaining 5-14% reimburses taxpayers for the cost of welfare expenses. Nevertheless, half of current unpaid child support debt is owed to the government and not to families. Sherri Z. Heller, Ed.D, Commissioner of U.S. Office of Child Support Enforcement stated, "We need to be more aggressive about leveraging older debt owed to the government as an incentive to obtain more reliable payments of current support to families." Towards this end, the United States federal government, through the Social Security Administration, provides up to $4.1 billion in financial incentives to states that create support and arrearage orders, and then collect (cf. 6B, 6C, & 6D).
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Child Support and
Welfare News
• Enforcing Child Support To Shift Memphis Commercial Appeal
The top criminal prosecutor took control this week of enforcing child support in Tipton, Fayette, Lauderdale, Hardeman and McNairy counties.
• Holyfields Ex Presses For Child Support Atlanta JournalConstitution
The lawyer for the mother of one of Evander Holyfields children claimed his client could lose her house to foreclosure if the former heavyweight boxing champion does not make good on 9,000 in missed child support payments. In a letter, Randall Kessler wrote that Toi Irvin needs 5,800 to prevent losing her home in Clayton County a home she shares with her and Holyfields 10 year old son.
• ExHeavyweight Champ Holyfield In Court For Back ChildSupport FOX 5 News Atlanta
CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. MyFox Atlanta A woman wants thousands of dollars in back child support from former heavyweight champion, Evander Holyfield or else.
• Up To Date On Changes To Child Support Scheme Inverell Times
SEPARATED parents in Inverell had the opportunity to find out more about the changes to the Child Support Scheme, which came into effect on Tuesday.
• Child Support Collections Up In Clark County The Evening News And The Tribune
From 2006 to 2007, collections in Clark County increased from 6,021,425 to 6,030,972 a 0.16 percent increase.While Steele said he enjoys seeing a child walk in with a new pair of shoes because his father started paying support, he also thinks about the economic benefit.
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The information provided by FactsOfLaw.com does not
constitute legal advice or any other type of advice and is
provided for educational purposes only without
warranty of any kind. FactsOfLaw.com has not
reviewed the information on this page for accuracy
and is not responsible for any errors, omissions or
inaccuracies. For legal advice you should
consult a licensed attorney. Source: wikipedia.org
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