Child Support Recovery

What services does CSRU provide?

CSRU is responsible for assisting families to achieve and maintain economic self-sufficiency by establishing and enforcing child and medical support orders and processing support payments.  Other services provided by CSRU include:

1.        Locating non-custodial parents and their sources of income (including employers)

2.        Establishing paternity

3.        Establishing and modifying support orders

4.        Registering other states’ orders for enforcement or modification

CSRU uses a variety of methods to enforce support orders, including:

1.        Directing employers to withhold a portion of wages

2.        Intercepting federal and state tax refunds

3.        Taking money from accounts or financial institutions

4.        Restricting the issuance of drivers, professional and recreational licenses, motor vehicle registrations, and passports

5.        Making referrals to credit agencies

6.        Obtaining contempt of court orders against delinquent payors

Structure of CSRU

The following units provide child support services:

1.        The Child Support Recovery Unit has 19 offices throughout the state, organized into 4 regions, which establish and enforce child support.

2.        The Foster Care Recovery Unit establishes and enforces child support in foster care related cases.

3.        The Employers Partnering in Child Support Unit is a “one-stop” service center for employers which handles contacts from employers, income withholding orders, medical support enforcement, and levies of accounts.

4.        The Customer Service Unit takes calls from case parties who have questions about their case and from callers who have questions about child support services.

5.        The Collection Services Center receives and distributes child support payments.  It operates as Iowa’s State Disbursement Unit (SDU).  Address for sending payments:  Collection Services Center, PO Box 9125, Des Moines, IA  50306.

Child Support Recovery Unit Background

The Department of Human Services’ (DHS) Child Support Recovery Unit (CSRU) assists families of Iowa and other states to achieve and maintain financial self-sufficiency by establishing and enforcing child and medical support orders, and by processing support payments. It is a national leader and ranks consistently among the top ten states in overall performance. The Child Support Recovery Unit is the “IV-D agency” in Iowa. Its activities are regulated by federal law. Title IV-D of the Social Security Act requires a state to designate a single organizational unit to administer the Title IV-D Child Support plan. Title IV-D, includes automated system requirements. It has a State Plan approved by the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE). Ongoing compliance with that State plan, including meeting regular federal program and financial reporting and audit requirements, entitles Iowa to federal funding. Of the approximately $41.0 million total dollar annual budget for FY 2002, $6.7 million is State general funds, approximately $6.5 million is earned performance incentive funds, and the remainder is federal matching funds

The Child Support Recovery Unit consists of a central office (policy, operations, and some centralized collection activities), computer system staff, 18 field offices (each office serves a cluster of counties and has contracts with groups of county boards), the Collections Service Center, a centralized employer/financial institution services unit (EPICS), and assistant attorney general and county staff linked by agreements with Child Support Recovery Unit.