Child Support Enforcement Division Study

I. The IV-D System: an Overview

In 1975, Congress mandated in Title IV, Part D, of the Social Security Act that each state participating in the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program must create an agency responsible for establishing paternity and enforcing child-support orders. The rationale behind the creation of "IV-D Agencies" was that the state should recoup AFDC benefits paid to custodial parents and children from the non-custodial parent who should be responsible for their support. Under the IV-D system, when a custodial parent begins to receive AFDC benefits, the custodial parent assigns his or her right to collect child support to the state to the extent of AFDC benefits received; this assignment terminates when the family no longer receives AFDC. In 1984, Congress amended Title IV-D to require that the child-support services be made available to custodial parents, whether or not they receive AFDC benefits. The rationale for this amendment was that, in many cases, enforcement of child-support orders would allow custodial parents to remain independent of AFDC. In 1988, Congress further amended Title IV-D to require states to provide more vigorous enforcement of child-support orders, to review child-support orders every three years, and to modify them, when appropriate.

The IV-D agency in Illinois is the Illinois Department of Public Aid ("IDPA"), Division of Child Support Enforcement. IDPA does not itself perform all of its IV-D responsibilities. To fulfill some of its IV-D obligations, IDPA contracts with other agencies. In Cook County, IDPA contracts with the Sheriff's Office to provide service of process, with the Circuit Court Clerk's Office to provide collection and recordkeeping services, and with the Cook County State's Attorney's Office to provide legal representation.

These agencies must provide their services within the strictures of both the Federal Social Security Act and Illinois law and regulations. Federal law provides only the broad outline of the IV-D program. State law and administrative regulations provide most of the substantive law governing parentage and child-support proceedings.

Under Illinois law, if the mother was not married at the time of her child's birth, the father's legal status must be adjudicated by a court in a proceeding called "an action to establish parentage," before he can be ordered to pay child-support. If the mother was married at the time of the child's birth, her husband is presumed to be the child's father; he can be ordered to pay support in proceedings for a divorce or legal separation. If the mother was married but living separately and there is no pending divorce or separation proceeding, Illinois law allows IDPA to establish a support order through an administrative proceeding. In Cook County, approximately 80% of IV-D cases involve actions to establish parentage.

In Cook County, approximately 55% of IV-D clients are AFDC recipients. When a custodial parent receives AFDC benefits, the custodial parent assigns his/her right to receive child support to IDPA. Notwithstanding this assignment, if the amount of the child-support order is less than the AFDC grant, the IV-D statute mandates that the AFDC recipient receive the first $50 of support paid each month, in addition to her AFDC grant. This $50 "pass-through" of support payments is intended to give non-custodial parents more incentive to pay their child support and also to give AFDC households a financial stake in collecting support even though they have assigned the support to the state. IDPA is entitled to retain the amount of child support received in excess of the $50 pass-through (up to the amount of AFDC benefits received by the custodial parent), creating a financial incentive for IDPA to seek enforcement of child-support awards.

If the amount of the child-support order is more than the AFDC grant, or if the child support plus other income of the custodial parent exceeds the AFDC grant, the family's AFDC benefits are terminated, the custodial parent receives the current child support directly, and the assignment of child-support to IDPA terminates. When the AFDC grant terminates, the state is still entitled to child-support arrearages from the non-custodial parent that accrued during the period the family received AFDC benefits.