Under a new rule released by the Biden administration, tribal nations within the U.S. will no longer need to share the cost of collecting child support from non-custodial parents.
Tribes and states have long split costs with the federal government when it comes to locating and tracking down parents in arrears. But, in a nod to history and the unique economic challenges tribes face, First Nations will not have to pay for locating parents, collecting payments and distributing funds to families.
“These changes will make it easier and less expensive for Tribal community-run child support programs to meet the needs of their communities,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra stated in a Friday press release. “It’s part of what it means to honor Tribal sovereignty and the trust relationship between the federal government and Tribal Nations — cutting red tape and eliminating barriers for Tribes governments to serve their people. Making federal resources more accessible helps Tribal economies grow and puts vital and innovative services within reach for everyone.”
Enforcement of a tribal child support order is similar to that of a state child support order, and both require income to be withheld when arrears are up to one month of support payments.
But tribes deploy collection methods unique to their populations — and better rooted in their traditions — that have had success. “Grandparent mediators,” garnishing per capita payments and Individual Indian Money Accounts managed by the Department of the Interior are among the methods. Some tribal governments work with states to offset federal tax refunds or to deny passports to parents who have not paid child support.
Tribal child support programs have grown from nine programs in 2004 collecting just $12 million, to 61 today, according to the Administration for Children and Families. The number of child support cases has also grown from 26,000 in 2004 to 53,000 in 2022. Three-fourths of cases that year involved a child support order.
To date, tribes — like states — have had to spend money to receive federal matching funds and that has hindered their costly efforts to collect. States are generally reimbursed about 66 cents for every dollar spent on child support enforcement expenses.
But beginning Oct. 1, the federal Office of Child Support Services will fully fund those costs for tribes, rather than just a portion. The “Elimination of the Tribal Non-Federal Share Requirement” will not result in any change to state funding formulas.
Angelique Day, Ho-Chunk descendant and an associate professor at the University of Washington School of Social Work pointed out the significance of the new rule, given how burdensome it can be for tribes to match federal funds for vital social programs.
“Tribes can’t be expected to be able to meet the same level of match requirements as states in order to draw down benefits in which they and their citizens are entitled,” she said, adding that the new rule “is a huge win for tribes in ensuring equitable access to resources and supports that are supposed to be guaranteed to them under longstanding treaty agreements.”
To date, only 61 of 574 tribes have been able to operate child support programs, according to the Administration for Children and Families. In 2022, they collected $51 million in payments, including $10 million collected on behalf of another country, state or tribe. The vast majority of payments, 97%, went to Indigenous families.
In researching the need for the new rule, tribal members revealed how difficult the collection task has been. The cost-sharing arrangement for collections has made their programs “less efficient and effective because they had no funds or time to spend on wraparound services, employment referrals for noncustodial parents, robust outreach, intensive case management, fatherhood programs, and parenting initiatives,” the new rule states.
Respondents to a 2022 survey by the National Association of Tribal Child Support Directors said if the cost-sharing rule was eliminated, 63% of tribal child support programs could focus on efforts to increase service quality. If funding weren’t limited, half aimed to establish a fatherhood program.
Tribal nations offer more culturally appropriate child support programs to their members, which can include non-cash support, parenting classes that reflect Indigenous traditions, and family-centered case management.
The end of cost-sharing is aimed at emboldening those programs, and creating more programs that are innovative, tribally specific and better match the specific economic challenges tribal members face. In a December executive order, President Joe Biden stated that his administration “is committed to protecting and supporting Tribal sovereignty and self-determination, and to honoring our trust and treaty obligations to Tribal Nations.”
In the rule change on child support announced Friday, Biden’s administration reiterated that theme.
“Tribes and tribal organizations are inherently invested in operating a child support program because they can exercise their Tribal sovereignty and incorporate their tribal traditions and customs,” the final rule read. “Most importantly, they are invested in the tribal members who staff their programs and the tribal families and children who benefit from child support services. They will continue to provide tribal resources, such as tribal buildings and courts, to ensure their programs are successful and efficient.”
In general, child support payments deliver cash from parents who do not live with their children and contribute to the costs of raising them, amounts typically determined following divorce, separations or when a custodial parent applies for child support benefits. Most child support payments are collected by withholding income or federal and state tax refunds, but can also include — among other things — intercepting unemployment benefits and lottery winnings, filing liens on property or restricting driver’s licenses or passports.
The cost of non-tribal child support collection has been a shared obligation between the federal government and states since 1975 covering a range of tasks: locating parents; confirming paternity; establishing, reviewing and modifying child support orders; collecting and distributing payments and ensuring that medical support is fulfilled.
Child support payments are vital to Indigenous families, often reducing the need for social services such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. According to recent federal data released with the child support rule change, more than half of Indigenous children in tribal areas with child support programs live in single-parent households and 40% lived below the poverty line in 2015.
Professor Day pointed to unnecessary burdens the federal government places on tribes in order to receive social services of many types, given that such support is “supposed to be guaranteed to them under long standing treaty agreements.”
Nonetheless, Day said she hopes the recent rule change will lead to the end of other cost-sharing agreements with the feds, such as funding for foster care services.
“I am hopeful that this program can be one of many that the federal government will waive match requirements on,” Day said. “That is something we are still striving to achieve.”
