This database contains information on child support enforcement program caseloads and collections.  Data are reported for Fiscal Years ending Sept. 30 and reflect that reported by state agencies.  2010 figures are preliminary.  Negative figures indicate net outlays.  Figures include Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands.

The Enforcement Program locates absent parents, establishes paternity of children born out of wedlock, and establishes and enforces support orders. By law, these services are available to all families that need them. The program is operated at the state and local government level, but approximately two-thirds of administrative costs are paid by the Federal government. Child support collected for families not receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) goes to the family to help it remain self-sufficient. Most of the child support collected on behalf of TANF families goes to Federal and state governments to offset TANF payments. Some states pass-through a portion of the Child Support collections to help families become self-sufficient.

• Total cases reflect passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of (PRWORA) in 1996, which mandated new categories in 1999.  This eliminated double counting and resulted an approximate 2 million case reduction.
• Total paternities establisheddoesnot include in-hospital paternities.
• Total support orders establishedthrough 1990 includes modifications to orders.
• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)/Foster Care (FC) collections reflects current assistance cases where the children are: (1) recipients of TANF under Title IV-A of the Social Security Act or (2) entitled to Foster Care (FC) maintenance under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act plus collections distributed as assistance reimbursements. This category includes assistance reimbursements, which are collections that will be divided between the State and Federal governments to reimburse their respective shares of either Title IV-A assistance payments or Title IV-E Foster Care maintenance payments.
• Federal share, TANF/FC collectionsprior to fiscal year 2002 incentives were paid out of the Federal share of collections and the net Federal share was reported.