North Dakota Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced the agency’s Child Support Section achieved a record high collection rate of 77.4% for the current federal fiscal year.
The collection rate reflects nearly $90 million that parents paid and received of the $116 million of current support that was due in the last year.
This record high excels in comparison to the national average in 2022, which was 64%. Historically, North Dakota has been a national leader in achieving high collection rates, consistently ranking within the top five states.
“Effective child support is not just about collecting from parents with an ability to earn, it is also about helping parents who owe child support to address any barriers to working and being able to pay, including reducing monthly obligations if necessary to reflect the parent’s true ability to earn,” HHS Child Support Director James Fleming said. “The high collection rate is attributed to parents in North Dakota being willing to support their children as a general rule and the balanced approach taken by the Child Support Section.”
The dedication to effectively collecting child support aligns with HHS’ goal of supporting the financial needs of families to ensure North Dakota residents of all ages and backgrounds have the ability to thrive.
“Reliably collecting child support in the month it is due is critical to families meeting their current needs and being self-sufficient,” Fleming said. “If the child support isn’t collected when due, the Child Support program will also work to collect the past-due support.”
In addition to the recent record collection rate, the statewide amount of unpaid support has been reduced to its lowest level since 2015.
Parents with questions about their case are encouraged to contact child support customer service at (701) 328-5440, toll-free at 800-231-4255, 711 (TTY) or childsupport@nd.gov
The Child Support Section serves about 67,000 children per year by helping disburse nearly $184 million in support payments to their families. The program also helps to establish paternity and child support orders, and takes enforcement action against those parents who are not supporting their children.