BALTIMORE – The Child Support Administration collected and distributed over $512 million in child support payments to more than 248,000 cases during 2010. Each case represents at least one child who is benefiting from economic support from their non-custodial parent.
The Child Support Enforcement Administration, a unit of the Maryland Department of Human Resources (DHR), is responsible for locating parents, establishing paternity and support orders, collecting and distributing child support payments and assisting with employment services.
“Child support plays a vital role in providing economic security for our children,” said DHR’s Deputy Secretary of Programs, Stacy Rodgers. “We are using all the tools at our disposal to collect and distribute this resource to the children who deserve the financial and emotional support of both parents.”
Depending on how much a non-custodial parent owes, CSEA staff can use a wide range of enforcement tools including databases that cross-reference information with other agencies and other states; denial of a passport; interception of income tax refunds and lottery winnings as well as the suspension of driver’s licenses and professional licenses.
The state can deny the issuance of a passport to a person who owes more than $2,500 in child support.
When a person with a Maryland driver’s license has a past-due child support case that is 60 days or older, the state may suspend his or her driver’s license. The state may also report the delinquency to credit reporting bureaus.
Specifically, the state can intercept a federal income tax return or lottery winnings when a non-custodial parent owes $500 in past-due child support payments. The state income tax return can be intercepted when the non-custodial parent owes $150 in past-due child support.
