Child Support Enforcement

Opportunity To Defray Burgeoning Federal and State Non-AFDC Costs Gao ID: HRD-92-91 June 5, 1992

Despite rising caseloads and new program requirements that could lead to administrative costs topping $1 billion by 1995, states have done little to help defray the costs of providing child support services to nonwelfare clients. These services include locating noncustodial parents, establishing paternity, obtaining child support orders, and collecting delinquent child support through wage withholding and other means. Most states have imposed only minimal fees even though many nonwelfare clients probably have incomes higher than those envisioned by Congress; data for 1989 show that more than half the individuals asking for non-Aid for Families With Dependent Children (AFDC) child support enforcement services had family incomes more than three times the federal poverty level. GAO recommends that, to recover more of the burgeoning costs for child support enforcement services, Congress amend legislation governing the fees charged to nonwelfare clients for such assistance.

GAO found that: (1) the federal government and states share 66 percent and 34 percent of program costs and cost recoveries, respectively; (2) the non-AFDC child support program collected $4.3 billion in 1990, but recovered only about 3.5 percent of the total administrative cost of $644 million; (3) individual state recovery rates ranged from 0 to 48 percent; (4) most states charge minimal application fees, and few states charge optional fees for federal and state tax offsets to collect delinquent child support; (5) four states with higher recovery rates adopted programs to either recover costs from the support collected, charge a monthly service fee, or charge fees for specific enforcement-related services; (6) states with minimal fee policies cited maximization of non-AFDC clients' access to services and the lack of incentive for recovery; (7) between fiscal year (FY) 1984 and FY 1990, non-AFDC case loads rose 160 percent and administrative expenses increased 305 percent; (8) legislation increasing program services is likely to result in increased non-AFDC case loads and service costs; and (9) 1989 census data indicate that many non-AFDC child support clients are not in jeopardy of welfare dependency. GAO believes that: (1) alternatives for increasing cost recoveries for non-AFDC child support services include application, annual service, and income tax offset fees, but such fees should not be legally mandated; and (2) charging a percentage service fee for all collections and eliminating mandatory fees and optional offset fees could be the most appropriate alternative for financing non-AFDC child support services.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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