Child Support Enforcement Program--Caseload and Collections statistics

[For years ending Sept. 30 (5,432 represents 5,432,000). Includes Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. The child support 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 68 percent of administrative costs are paid by the federal government. Child support collected for families not receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) goes to the family to help it remain self-sufficient. Most of the child support collected on behalf of AFDC families goes to federal and state governments to offset AFDC payments. Based on data reported by state agencies. Minus sign (-)indicates net outlay]


ITEM	Unit	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998

Total cases	1,000	5,432	6,266	7,028	7,516	7,999	8,401	9,724	10,635	11,078	11,876	12,796	13,423	15,158	17,125	18,610	19,162	19,319	19,057	19,419
AFDC and AFDC arrears only caseload	1,000	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	7,220	7,655	7,501	7,610	7,953	8,034	8,717	9,638	10,420	10,379	9,971	9,109	8,506
AFDC cases	1,000	4,583	5,112	5,547	5,828	6,136	6,242	5,749	5,776	5,703	5,709	5,872	6,166	6,752	7,472	7,986	7,880	7,380	6,462	5,658
AFDC arrears only cases ¹	1,000	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	1,472	1,879	1,798	1,901	2,082	1,868	1,965	2,166	2,434	2,499	2,591	2,648	2,847
Non-AFDC cases	1,000	849	1,155	1,481	1,688	1,863	2,159	2,503	2,981	3,577	4,266	4,843	5,389	6,441	7,487	8,190	8,783	9,348	9,947	10,914
Cases for which a collection was made:
AFDC cases	1,000	503	548	597	595	647	684	582	609	621	658	701	755	837	879	926	976	940	865	789
AFDC arrears only cases ¹	1,000	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	158	196	181	202	224	278	255	289	308	343	402	493	608
Non-AFDC cases	1,000	243	325	448	507	547	654	786	934	1,083	1,247	1,363	1,555	1,749	1,958	2,169	2,408	2,612	2,850	3,070
Percentage of cases with collections:
AFDC cases	Percent	11.0	10.7	10.8	10.2	10.5	11.0	10.1	10.5	10.9	11.5	11.9	12.2	12.4	11.8	11.6	12.4	12.7	13.4	13.9
AFDC arrears only cases ¹	Percent	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	10.8	10.5	10.1	10.6	10.8	14.9	13.0	13.4	12.7	13.7	15.5	18.6	21.4
Non-AFDC cases	Percent	28.7	28.2	30.3	30.0	29.4	30.3	31.4	31.3	30.3	29.2	28.1	28.9	27.2	26.1	26.5	27.4	27.9	28.7	28.1
Absent parents located, total	1,000	643	696	779	831	875	878	1,046	1,145	1,388	1,628	2,062	2,387	3,152	3,777	4,204	4,950	5,808	6,441	6,585
Paternities established, total	1,000	144	164	173	208	219	232	245	269	307	339	393	472	512	554	592	659	734	814	848
Support orders established, total ²	1,000	374	414	462	496	573	669	731	812	870	938	1,022	821	879	1,026	1,025	1,051	1,093	1,260	1,148

FINANCES
Collections, total	Mil. dol	1,478	1,629	1,770	2,024	2,378	2,694	3,249	3,917	4,605	5,241	6,010	6,885	7,964	8,907	9,850	10,827	12,020	13,364	14,348
AFDC collections ³	Mil. dol	603	671	786	880	1,000	1,090	1,225	1,348	1,486	1,593	1,750	1,984	2,259	2,416	2,550	2,689	2,855	2,843	2,650
State share	Mil. dol	274	302	354	396	448	415	424	473	525	563	620	700	787	847	891	939	1,014	1,159	1,089
Incentive payments to states	Mil. dol	72	90	107	121	134	145	158	185	222	266	264	278	299	339	407	400	409	410	396
Federal share	Mil. dol	246	266	311	349	402	341	369	413	449	458	533	626	738	777	762	822	888	1,046	961
Payments to AFDC families ⁴	Mil. dol	10	12	15	15	17	189	275	278	289	307	334	381	435	446	457	474	480	157	152
Medical support payments	Mil. dol															32	55	64	71	(NA)
Non-AFDC collections	Mil. dol	874	958	984	1,144	1,378	1,604	2,023	2,569	3,119	3,648	4,260	4,902	5,705	6,491	7,300	8,138	9,165	10,521	11,698
Administrative expenditures, total	Mil. dol	466	526	612	691	723	814	941	1,066	1,171	1,363	1,606	1,804	1,995	2,241	2,556	3,012	3,049	3,428	3,585
State share	Mil. dol	117	132	153	204	216	243	308	316	366	426	545	593	652	724	816	918	1,014	1,100	1,200
Federal share	Mil. dol	349	395	459	487	507	571	633	750	804	938	1,061	1,212	1,343	1,517	1,741	2,095	2,035	2,328	2,385
Program savings, total	Mil. dol	127	133	160	174	260	86	9	5	26	-77	-190	-201	-170	-278	-496	-852	-738	-813	-1,139
State share	Mil. dol	230	261	307	312	366	317	274	342	381	403	338	385	434	462	482	421	409	469	286
Federal share	Mil. dol	-103	-128	-148	-138	-105	-231	-264	-337	-355	-480	-528	-586	-605	-740	-978	-1,273	-1,147	-1,282	-1,424
Total fees and costs recovered for non-AFDC cases	Mil. dol	5	5	3	3	3	3	6	7	7	7	22	34	29	31	33	33	37	41	49
Percentage of AFDC payments recovered	Percent	5.2	5.2	6.8	6.6	7.0	7.3	8.6	9.1	9.8	10.0	10.3	10.7	11.4	12.0	12.5	13.6	15.5	(NA)	(NA)

NA Not available.
1 Reflects cases that are no longer receiving AFDC but still have outstanding child support due.
2 Through 1990 includes modifications to orders.
3 Beginning 1993 includes medical support payments not shown separately.
4 Beginning 1985, states were required to pass along to the family the first $50 of any current child support collected each month. Beginning 1997 excludes payments to families that are no longer required since the passage of the welfare reform laws.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Child Support Enforcement, Annual Report to Congress.

http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cse/

http://www.allcountries.org/uscensus/632_child_support_enforcement_program_caseload_and.html

These tables are based on figures supplied by the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce and are subject to revision by the Census Bureau.

Copyright © 2006 Photius Coutsoukis and Information Technology Associates, all rights reserved.