On May 7, 2024, the American Bar Association’s Center on Children and the Law published a review of state implementation of Federal guidance on the collection of child support from families involved in Title IV-E foster care.
On July 29th, 2022, the Children’s Bureau released a Dear Colleague letter highlighting a new question and answer in the Child Welfare Policy Manual that encourages child welfare agencies to implement across-the-board policies that require an assignment of the rights to child support for children who receive title IV-E FCMPs only in very rare circumstances. This guidance seeks to ensure that only cases that have been thoroughly reviewed, and will not disrupt the reunification process, are referred to the state IV-D agency for the establishment of paternity or a support order, allowing the IV-D agency to continue their current practices of processing appropriate cases, and will result in both state agencies being less intrusive in the lives of the families.
The ABA’s new summary gives an overview of the policy change and includes a list of national and state resources. It notes that although some states have made strides to address their practices in this area, many are not yet making changes.
