Washington, D.C.

Title IV-D

Title IV-D is the federal child-support program. Congress created it in Public Law 93-647, signed on January 4, 1975. The purpose written into the Social Security Act is to enforce support owed by a parent who does not live with the child, to locate that parent, to establish paternity, and to obtain child support and spousal support. The help is available whether or not the family receives cash assistance.

The main federal payment is open-ended. For every allowable dollar a state or county spends running the child-support program, the federal government reimburses 66 cents. There is no ceiling on that match. A larger program draws a larger federal payment.

Congress also pays a separate incentive, in 42 U.S.C. §658a. Each state gets a share of a national pool. The pool was $483 million in fiscal year 2008, and it grows with inflation. A state’s share depends on five scores: establishing paternity, establishing support orders, collecting support that is currently due, collecting arrears, and cost-effectiveness. The dollar base under those scores is the child support the state collects. A state that collects more has a larger base. The incentive has to be spent back on the child-support program.

States may sign agreements with courts and with law enforcement to do this work. Allowable court costs under those agreements are part of the spending the federal government matches at 66 percent. The program was built to produce orders and collections. Its federal funding rises with that work.

Title IV-E

Title IV-E is federal foster care and adoption assistance. Congress created it in the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, Public Law 96-272, approved on June 17, 1980. Foster-care funding had previously run through the old cash-assistance program. Title IV-E made it a separate federal payment to the states.

For an eligible child in foster care, the federal government reimburses maintenance payments at the state’s Medicaid matching rate. That rate is 50 percent in higher-income states and higher in lower-income states. Administrative costs of the program are matched at 50 percent. Training is matched at 75 percent.

The maintenance payment is for a child who is in paid out-of-home care and who meets the eligibility rules. Those rules include a judicial finding that staying in the home is contrary to the child’s welfare and, in general, a finding that the agency made reasonable efforts to keep the child at home. The federal payment is tied to the placement. It is not a payment for filing a divorce.

In 2018, the Family First Prevention Services Act, part of Public Law 115-123, opened some Title IV-E money to certain mental-health, substance-abuse, and parenting services while a child is still at home. It also limited federal payment for some group-care placements. Foster-care maintenance itself is still paid for eligible children who have been removed.

How the funding is built

Title IV-D pays states to establish support orders and to collect support, and the incentive base grows when collections grow. Courts can be paid, through a child-support agreement, for that support work, with 66 percent of the allowable cost coming from Washington. Title IV-E pays states for eligible children in foster care for as long as those children remain in paid care.

The result is a public funding structure built around cases, orders, collections, and removals. State custody bills matter. So do the federal statutes that pay for what happens after a family enters court.