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DCFS Debuts Online Delinquent Child Support Payment Search
Feature allows public to see what deadbeat dads and moms owe
The Child Support Delinquent Payors Search allows users to search nearly 53,000 delinquent payors by first or last name, city, amount owed and parish where the court order was established. Previously, this information was only available via Adobe Acrobat documents linked on the DCFS website.
"The new database allows the public to search more easily for people they may know and to help DCFS locate these non-payors so that we may hold them accountable for the support their children so rightly deserve," said DCFS Secretary Ruth Johnson. "This new search feature is one more avenue to help us track down these men and women who have evaded our efforts to collect court-ordered child support obligations."
Amounts owed by delinquent payors range from hundreds of dollars to more than $100,000. In total, Louisiana's unpaid child support claims are about $1.2 billion, with approximately half of that total considered delinquent.
You can search the Child Support Delinquent Payor Search on DCFS' website at www.dcfs.la.gov/delinquent.
Child support payments are used by the custodial parent to offset costs for raising the child, including providing food and shelter, medical costs, child care, school fees and uniforms.
A substantial body of research shows that child support collections significantly reduce the number of families receiving public assistance like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF, also called welfare).
"We know that regular child support payments help families become stronger and more self-sufficient," said Johnson. "It reduces a family's dependence on public assistance and improves outcomes for children."
Families that receive regular child support payments also are less likely to become involved in the child welfare system.
Failure to pay court-ordered child support can result in liens against the non-payor's property, seizure of assets, suspension of driver's, business, professional, hunting or fishing licenses, interception of state and federal tax returns, passport denial and contempt of court charges, among other enforcement actions.
Legislation introduced by former Senator Nick Gautreaux and passed during the 2010 Legislative Session requires casinos to cross-reference winners of more than $1,200 with a database of individuals owing past due child support debt.
In Federal Fiscal Year 2011, DCFS collected more than $320 million in child support payments to date. Of that total, $5.5 million was seized from Gulf Coast Claims Facility payments to 9,400 people with unpaid child support debts.
DCFS Child Support Services offers custodial parents several resources, including parent locator services, paternity establishment, establishment of child support orders, enforcement of orders, and collection and distribution of child support.
Any parent or person responsible for a child can receive services from DCFS' Child Support Enforcement program. Those currently receiving Family Independence Temporary Assistance (FITAP), the Kinship Care Subsidy (KCSP) or is referred to DCFS through Medicaid automatically receive child support enforcement services. Any one not in those programs may apply for Child Support Enforcement services.
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