[August 19, 2014]SPRINGFIELD
– The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services
announced that total fiscal year 2014 child support collections for
Illinois families have topped $1.4 billion for the first time in
history. This is the tenth straight year the department’s Division
of Child Support Services has collected more than $1 billion.
The record was announced as Illinois celebrates National Child
Support Awareness month.
Total child support collected in Illinois first surpassed the $1
billion mark in 2005. Child support collection has exceeded that
mark every year since then. In fiscal year 2014, which ended in
June, collections passed $1.4 billion after hovering near that mark
for the last three years.
“Child support collection is often a crucial tool that helps meet
the basic needs of thousands of Illinois children,” said HFS
Director Julie Hamos. “Without the program, many of the families who
depend on it would suffer.”
“We recognize that most parents provide economic and emotional
support to their children, even without the assistance of our
program,” said Pamela Lowry, administrator of the Division of Child
Support Services. “But for those families who need our help, we are
proud of our record of collections. Director Hamos and I are
committed to improving the economic status of children in Illinois.”
These collections reflect all support processed by HFS. The
Department is responsible for two kinds of child support cases –
those in which only payment-processing services are received through
the State Disbursement Unit (SDU) and those which require full
enforcement of support with the Division of Child Support Services (DCSS).
Historically, about 60% of collections are for full-enforcement
cases.
Parents who receive payment processing services from the SDU are
afforded the convenience of direct deposit or electronic payment
cards for child support collections, with the money nearly always
available for use on the same day it is received by the SDU. A
record of the payments is kept, and is easily available on-line at
https://www.ilsdu.com/. The SDU, which is managed by HFS, also
exchanges information about payments with Circuit Court Clerks in
counties across the Illinois.
Parents who enroll for full enforcement services from the child
support program through DCSS not only receive SDU services but also
receive a broad array of other free services. The child support
program establishes legal parentage for children and child support
obligations, enforces child support orders and provides referral and
order modification services for child support payors who are having
difficulty meeting their obligations due to unemployment or other
life-changing circumstances.
Most child support is collected through income withholding. The
employers of parents who are obligated to pay child support withhold
the ordered payments from the parent and submit the payments to the
SDU (for both SDU only and full enforcement cases). For parents who
enroll in full enforcement services, HFS tracks the employment of
parents who are ordered to pay support and automatically notifies
new employers of the obligation. This can significantly reduce gaps
in child support due to changes in employment.
The Division often collects support from parents who have the
ability to pay but who are avoiding their obligation. Many of
these parents do not hold traditional jobs and thus avoid income
withholding. During FY14, nearly $130 million was collected from
formerly non-paying parents through special enforcement
undertaken by DCSS.
These methods include “freezing and seizing” bank accounts,
notifying state professional and occupational licensing agencies
to suspend or revoke licenses until the parent complies with the
child support order, collaborating with the Department of
Natural Resources to deny hunting and fishing licenses to
non-compliant parents, notifying the U.S. Secretary of State to
deny requests for new or renewing passports, working with the
Illinois Secretary of State to suspend driver’s licenses,
reporting child support debt to credit reporting agencies, and
intercepting state and federal income tax refunds. Winnings from
Illinois lottery games are also intercepted for child support
debt.
In FY14, nearly $55 million in federal income tax refunds were
intercepted for child support debt, while $4.5 million was
intercepted from Illinois income tax refunds, lottery winnings
and other state payments. Parents who wanted hunting or fishing
licenses and were denied paid $340,000. Delinquent parents who
wanted to avoid driver’s license suspensions or have suspensions
lifted paid $48 million. Collections enforcement seized $19.4
million from bank accounts, lawsuit payments and other liens put
in place by the child support program.
