Many children today are born into families that do not follow the established pattern of a male and female married couple. Child Support Services (CSS) has four main responsibilities which are to locate absent parents, to determine the parentage of the children, to establish a support order and to enforce the child support order.
Locate Absent Parents
Before an order for child support can be established or enforced CSS may need to locate the non-custodial parent. A non-custodial parent is an individual who is absent from the home and is legally responsible for providing financial support for a dependent child. To assist in this CSS has many tools that can be used to locate non-custodial parents.
- Nationwide Databases
- New Hire and Employment reporting
- Tax Records
Determine Parentage
When a child is born out of wedlock their parentage must be determined before an order for child support can be done. This can be accomplished by:
- An Acknowledge of Paternity – this is a legal document that establishes a child’s legal father. This form is available at hospitals when the child is born. It may also be obtained at any Oklahoma Human Services office
- A genetic test may be ordered to determine the parentage of a child
- Determined through court proceedings
Establish Child Support Orders
Before child support can be collect for a child there must be a court order establishing the support. These orders are done by The Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) or in District Court. The orders contain provisions for:
- The amount of child support owed by the non-custodial parent
- Guidelines are used to determine the amount of monthly child support – these guidelines take into consideration the income of both parties, number of overnights, previous children, and other factors
- The order also determines who is to provide health care coverage and how those cost will be divided between the parties
- If childcare is needed the order will also address the cost of childcare and how the cost will be divided between the parties
- May contain a payment plan for any past due child support
These orders may be modified as circumstances change.
Enforce Obligations
CSS has many tools that it can use to enforce an order for child support. Some of the most common tools used to enforce child support obligations include:
- Income Withholding Order – this is both federal and state mandated, it goes to the employer and child support is withheld from the non-custodial parent’s income and remitted to CSS for distribution to the family
- Child support may also be withheld from Unemployment Benefits
- A lien can be placed on Workers’ Compensation claims, Personal Injury claims, and a lien can be placed on Personal Property if there are arrearages on a case
- Federal and State Income Tax Refunds can be intercepted if there are arrearages on a case
- Oklahoma law allows interest in the amount of 2 per cent per year on delinquent child support payments
Child Support impacts us all. As families receive financial support in the form of child support, they are less likely to need to qualify for assistance from benefit programs. For low-income families the receipt of child support can be a significant portion of their income. When received child support puts money into the hands of families who in return spend the money in their local communities. Research also shows that receiving child support can help alleviate the kinds of stress that can lead to domestic violence and child abuse.