Child Support Assurance

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California's history of problems with child support collections has received national attention. However, this past year the state has embarked on a road to rehabilitating that very fragmented system. Today, there is a newly created state department dedicated to improving child support collections. The department is charged with spearheading efforts aimed at solving the many problems that have plagued California child support collections and getting them to the families that depend on these payments.

The new department will undertake many projects. While the department is still in its infancy there is one pilot project that is about to get underway - Child Support Assurance. To The Contrary travelled to San Francisco, California to closely examine how CSA will work. Our concern is how something like child support assurance can affect, and ultimately change the lives of women and children.

The child support assurance program was developed in Europe and has been working successfully there for more than fifty years. In California that model is being used with slight variations. In San Francisco the pilot project will include families reliant on public assistance.

Under the present system, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), recipients who also get child support receive only $50 of the support payment owed to them. The rest of the money is used to pay back the state for the welfare payment. But, child support assurance programs guarantee a monthly stipend and 50 percent of the child support payment. Women who opt for CSA still receive childcare and medical benefits.

There are certain criteria for eligibility for child support assurance programs. The two principle criteria are that a recipient already be a beneficiary of TANF, and that a recipient be employed and receiving a steady flow of income.

The most important component of the child support assurance program is that children are the direct beneficiaries of this money. Under the present child support laws in the state of California, the majority of a child support payment is sucked up by the state, and the children do not benefit from money paid on their behalf. Proponents of CSA stress that this is not a welfare program - women in CSA come off the welfare program. In fact, it is structured so that women get one CSA check - unlike welfare where they receive a welfare check in addition to a $50 child support benefit. Additionally, CSA allows women to make thousands of dollars more than welfare does without negatively impacting their CSA payments.

LINKS AND RESOURCES
(ACES)

California Department of Child Support Services - Office of Child Support

Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement

Deadbeat Dads & Moms of America