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Administration for Children and Families US Department of Health and Human Services
The Office of Child Support EnforcementGiving Hope and Support to America's Children

Program Charts & Graphs

Return to: FY 2002 Annual Statistical Report

List of Charts

Cases

Figure 1: Total Caseload for Four Fiscal Years

Figure 2: IV-D Cases With and Without Orders, FY 2002

Figure 3: Number of IV-D Cases for Which a Collection Was Made for Four Fiscal Years

Paternities Acknowledged and Orders Established

Figure 4: IV-D and Statewide Paternities Acknowledged for Four Fiscal Years

Figure 5: Support Orders Established for Four Fiscal Years

Collections

Figure 6: Total Distributed Collections by Current, Former, and Never Assistance, FY 2002

Figure 7: Total Distributed Collections by TANF/Foster Care and Non-TANF Collections for Five Fiscal Years

Figure 8: Distribution of Total Collections, FY 2002

Figure 9: TANF/Foster Care Collections for Five Fiscal Years

Figure 10: Non-TANF Collections for Five Fiscal Years

Figure 11: Total Collections by Method of Collections, FY 2002

Figure 12: Current Collections Due and Distributed and Cases Paying Toward an Arrears, FY 2002

Interstate

Figure 13: Interstate Collections for Five Fiscal Years

Figure 14: Interstate Cases - Cases Sent to and Received from Another State for Four Fiscal Years

Expenditures

Figure 15: Total Expenditures for Five Fiscal Years

Figure 16: Total ADP Expenditures for Five Fiscal Years

Number of Children

Figure 17: Number of Children in the IV-D Program for Four Fiscal Years

Federal Parent Locator Services

Figure 18: Number of Unique Persons for Four Fiscal Years

Figure 19: Federal Offset Collections for Five Processing Years

Figure 20: IV-D Tribal Program, FY 2002

Figure 1: Total Caseload for Four Fiscal Years

Figure 1: Total Caseload for Four Fiscal Years

The Child Support caseload dropped due to a decline in welfare cases.

Nationally, the Child Support Enforcement program had 16.1 million cases in FY 2002, a decrease of 7.3 percent from 17.3 million reported in FY 1999. In FY 2002, there was a 24.6 percent decrease in current assistance cases, while former assistance cases decreased by .4 percent and never assistance cases decreased by 5.2 percent since FY 1999.

Source: OCSE-157 lines 1+3

Figure 2: IV-D Cases With and Without Orders, FY 2002

Figure 2: IV-D Cases With and Without Orders, FY 2002

Cases with orders continue to rise.

States report the number of cases remaining open at the end of the fiscal year that have support orders established. Of the 16.1 million cases open in the child support caseload, 70.4 percent had support orders. That represents 50 percent of the current assistance cases and 70 percent of both the former and never assistance cases.

Source: Form OCSE-157 lines 1 and 2

Figure 3: Number of IV-D Cases for Which a Collection Was Made for Four Fiscal Years

Figure 3: Number of IV-D Cases for Which a Collection Was Made for Four Fiscal Years

The number of cases with a collection has increased gradually over the years.

The total number of IV-D cases for which a collection was made, commonly referred to as paying cases, has increased over the last several years. In FY 2002, there were 7.8 million cases with a collection in the child support enforcement program, an increase of 18 percent from FY 1999. The increase in paying cases has remained somewhat flat in recent years due to the decline in the child support caseload.

Source: OCSE-157 line 18

Figure 4: IV-D and Statewide Paternities Acknowledged[1] for Four Fiscal Years

IV-D and Statewide Paternities Acknowledged for Four Fiscal Years

There has been a substantial increase in paternities established due to the in-hospital paternity acknowledgement program.

There were 829,988 in-hospital paternities acknowledged and 697,115 paternities established or acknowledged by the IV-D program in FY 2002. This 1,527,103 total is almost a 3 percent decrease from FY 2001. This decrease in paternities established and acknowledged is related to the decrease in the child support enforcement caseload and the decline in out-of-wedlock births.

Source: Form OCSE-157 lines 10 and 16.

[1] Include in-hospital and other paternities acknowledged. State paternity acknowledgements include an unknown number of acknowledgements for children in the IV-D caseload.

Figure 5: Support Orders Established for Four Fiscal Years

Figure 5: Support Orders Established for Four Fiscal Years

The number of support orders established remained stable over the last four years.

In FY 2002, the Child Support Enforcement program established 1,220,034 orders for support, an increase of 3 percent from FY 2001.

Source: Form OCSE-157 line 17

Figure 6: Total Distributed Collections by Current, Former, and Never Assistance, FY 2002

Total Disturbed Collections by Current, Former, and Never Assistance, FY 2002

The largest portion of total collections go to families never on welfare.

In FY 2002, total child support collections reached a record high of $20.1 billion, a 6.2 percent increase from the previous fiscal year. About 51 percent of that amount was for never assistance, 41 percent was for former assistance, and 8 percent was for current assistance cases.

Source: Form OCSE-34A line 8E

Figure 7: Total Distributed Collections by TANF/Foster Care and Non-TANF Collections for Five Fiscal Years

Figure 7: Total Distributed Collections by TANF/Foster Care and Non-TANF Collections for Five Fiscal Years

Total collections continuously increased over the last several years.

Total distributed collections increased by 40 percent between FY 2002 and FY 1998. In fiscal year 2002, non-TANF collections were $17.2 billion, a 47 percent increase since FY 1998. TANF/FC collections increased by 9 percent during the same time period, a reflection of the decrease in the welfare caseload.

Source: Formerly form OCSE-34 line 14 (A+C), OCSE-34A line 8

Figure 8: Distribution of Total Collections, FY 2002

Figure 8: Distribution of Total Collections, FY 2002

Child support is no longer a recoupment program since the largest share of collections go to families.

Child support collections are distributed in several ways. They may be sent to the family (as with non-TANF collections), divided between the state and Federal governments (TANF collections) or used for medical support (and sent to Medicaid or the family). For fiscal year 2002, 89 percent of total collections were distributed to families, less than 1 percent to medical support, 5 percent to other states, and 6 percent to the Federal government.

Source: Form OCSE-34A

Figure 9: TANF/FC Collections for Five Fiscal Years

Figure 9: TANF/FC Collections for Five Fiscal Years

TANF/FC collections have remained stable over the last five years.

States reported $2.9 billion in TANF/Foster Care collections for FY 2002. Child support collections for TANF and Foster Care cases accounted for 14.4 percent of the total amount collected. There was a 9 percent increase in TANF/FC collections from FY 1998 to FY 2002.

Source: Form OCSE-34A lines 8A+B 7aC

Figure 10: Non-TANF Collections for Five Fiscal Years

Figure 10: Non-TANF Collections for Five Fiscal Years

Non-TANF collections continue to grow.

Child support payments made on behalf of and distributed to families who have applied for Child Support Enforcement services are non-TANF collections. In FY 2002, the $17.2 billion in non-TANF collections represented a 47 percent increase over FY 1998.

Source: OCSE-34A Lines 7b (C) +7c(C) + 8D

Figure 11: Total Collections by Method of Collections, FY 2002

Figure 11: Total Collections by Method of Collections, FY 2002

Wage withholding is the most effective way of collecting child support.

Child support payments are collected through various methods, such as: income withholding, withholding unemployment compensation, and state or Federal income tax refund offsets. Wage withholding is the most effective method of collecting child support with over 65 percent collected in fiscal year 2002 ($15.5 billion). Wage withholding includes amounts received from non-IV-D and IV-D child support cases for processing through the state disbursement unit. Federal income tax refund offsets contributed to over 6 percent of the total collections in fiscal year 2002 ($1.5 billion). State tax and unemployment offsets contributed a little over 3 percent. Payments sent from other states accounted for 5 percent. The remaining 20 percent of collections for fiscal year 2002 was obtained from parents who sent their child support payments directly to the state Child Support Enforcement agency and payments received through other enforcement techniques.

Source: Form OCSE-34A lines 2a thru 2 g

Wage withholding includes IV-D and non-IV-D collections. Approximately $3.5 billion were non-IV-D collections from wage withholding.

Figure 12: Current Collections Due and Distributed And Cases Paying Toward an Arrears, FY 2002

Figure 12: Current Collections Due and Distributed and Cases Paying Toward an Arrears, FY 2002
Figure 12: Current Collections Due and Distributed and Cases Paying Toward an Arrears, FY 2002

Over $26 billion in current support was due for fiscal year 2002. Of that amount, $15.1 billion was collected and distributed. Of the over 10.6 million cases with outstanding arrears, 6.3 million or about 60 percent made a payment in FY 2002.

Source: Form OCSE-157 lines 24 to 27.

1According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2001, an aggregate of $34.9 billion was due (current and past due support) and $21.9 billion was paid. The Census Bureau includes information on the families both in and not in the IV-D Child Support program.

2Represents current support not collected or not distributed.

Figure 13: Interstate Collections for Five Fiscal Years

Figure 13: Interstate Collections for Five Fiscal Years

Interstate collections account for almost 6 percent of the total collections.

Collections made on behalf of families in other states totaled $1.2 billion in FY 2002, an increase of 3 percent from fiscal year 2001. Interstate collections increased by 17 percent over a five year period. Interstate collections account for 6 percent of total child support collections.

Source: Form OCSE-34A line 5E

Figure 14: Interstate Cases – Cases Sent to And Received From Another State for Four Fiscal Years

Figure 14: Interstate Cases - Cases Sent To and Received from another state for Four Fiscal Years
Figure 14: Interstate Cases - Cases Sent To and Received from another state for Four Fiscal Years

The interstate caseload continues to rise.

There were 1,041,754 cases sent to another state in FY 2002. This is an increase of 4.3 percent since FY 1999. Total cases received from another state were 934,565 in FY 2002, almost a 2 percent increase over the last four years. Cases sent to another state represent 6 percent of the total child support caseload.

Source: Form OCSE-157 lines 1A and 1B

Figure 15: Total Expenditures for Five Fiscal Years

Figure 15: Total Expenditures for Five Fiscal Years

The Federal government pays about 66 percent of total expenditures.

Expenditures are the net amounts of combined Federal and state funds expended on the operation of the CSE program, considered administrative expenditures. The amounts reported are reduced by the amount of program income (fees and costs recovered in excess of fees, interest earned, and other program income received) received by the states. The $5.2 billion reported in FY 2002 is a 44 percent increase from the $3.6 billion reported in FY 1998. The Federal share of expenditures increased by 44 percent and the state share increased by 46 percent since 1998.

Source: Form OCSE-396A lines 9A+C

Figure 16: Total ADP Expenditures for Five Fiscal Years

Figure 16: Total ADP Expenditures for Five Fiscal Years

ADP expenditures have increased since FY 1998.

Automated Data Processing (ADP) expenditures are for the planning, development, and implementation of automated child support systems and the acquisition of operational hardware utilized in these systems. In FY 2002, ADP expenditures were $867 million. This was a 57 percent increase from the $553 million reported in FY 1998. ADP expenditures declined over the past year because 80 percent enhanced funding and systems development for most states ended in FY 2001.

Source: Form OCSE-396A line 4A+C

Figure 17: Number of Children in the IV-D Program for Four Fiscal Years*

Figure 17: Number of Children in the IV-D Program for Four Fiscal Years

The ratio of children per case has remained the same for the past two years.

State officials reported that the total number of children in the IV-D program for FY 2002 was 17,869,516. This number has declined in recent years due to a decrease in the child support caseload. Since the number of cases open was over 16.0 million, the average number of children per case is 1.12, unchanged from fiscal year 2001.

Source: Form OCSE-157 line 4

Fiscal year 1999 was the first year these data were reported.

*Includes children 18 years of age and under.

Figure 18: Federal Parent Locator Service - Number of Persons in the Federal Case Registry (FCR)

Figure 18: Federal Parent Locator Service - Number of Persons in the Federal Case Registry
Figure 18: Federal Parent Locator Service - Number of Persons in the Federal Case Registry

The total number of unique persons in the FCR for FY 2002 was 40.5 million. This is a five percent increase over the 38.5 million reported in FY 2001. A large portion of unique persons in the FCR by participant type come from children with over 19.1 million reported in FY 2002. The number of unique persons matched by data type in FY 2002 was 4.5 million, a 7 percent increase since FY 2001.

1The Number of Unique Persons Noncustodial Parents and Putative Fathers Matched is derived by unduplicating SSNs located across all data types (New Hire, Quarterly Wage, and Unemployment Insurance)

2The figures for the individual participant types are unduplicated within that category but not between them—i.e., an individual may appear in more than one category, but is only counted once within that category.

3The number of children in the FCR includes IV-D and non-IV-D children and children under and over the age of 18.

Note: NCP - Noncustodial Parents, PF - Putative Father, Custodial Parties - CP, Children - CH

Source: Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS)

Figure 19: Federal Offset Collections for Five Processing Years (PY)

Figure 19: Federal Offset Collections for Five Processing Years (PY)

Federal offset collections for PY 01 include $260 million collected from tax rebates effective for that year only. Excluding those rebates, the PY 02 collections were actually $70 million higher than PY 01.

Source: Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS) PY-Processing Year

Figure 20: IV-D Tribal Program, FY 2002

Tribes Caseload Paternities Established Support Orders Established Total Collections
MENOMINEE 1,258 56 52 $390,174
PUYALLUP NA 1 7 18,381
S’KLALLAM 78 0 34 10,929
SISSETON 86 9 18 66,552
FLAMBEAU 527 353 402 539,842
CHICKASAW 10,556 24 110 777,512
NAVAJO 9,215 2,682 71 1,653,038
LUMMI NA NA NA NA
Total 21,720 3,125 694 $3,456,428

The total tribal program caseload reported in FY 2002 was almost 22,000. Paternities established were a little over 3,000 and support orders established were 694. About $3.5 million was collected through the tribal program in FY 2002.

Source: Reports submitted by tribes.

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