A Guide to the National Directory of New Hires

Publication Date: January 13, 2023
Current as of:

The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) operates the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH), a database established by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) for the purposes of assisting state child support agencies in locating parents and enforcing child support orders. In addition, Congress authorized specific state and federal agencies to receive information from the NDNH for authorized purposes.

This guide provides a basic overview of data maintained in the NDNH and the limitations on its use by authorized federal and state agencies. This guide only applies to agencies with legislative authority to access NDNH data. It does not apply to individuals requesting information from the NDNH, such as, parents or commercial entities who do not have legal authority to access the NDNH.

This guide (PDF) addresses the following questions:

  1. What is the NDNH?
  2. Who may request NDNH information?
  3. What is required for agencies to receive NDNH information?
  4. What is the cost to obtain NDNH information?
  5. What are the next steps to obtain NDNH information?