The Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee voted favorably on a bill that would remove provisions in the law that require the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to collect child support on behalf of children. The Equitable Outcomes in Child Support Collection Act, S2331 (Ruiz), attempts to align New Jersey with the revised policies issued in 2022 by the Children’s Bureau, an office of the federal Administration for Children and Families. The NJSBA signaled its support of this policy in a letter to the Administrative Office of the Courts supporting recommendations not to collect child support for children in the care of the Department of Child Protection & Permanency (DCPP).
The bill establishes new procedures for the collection of child support from legally responsible persons to offset costs of maintenance incurred by DCPP on behalf of children in DCPP’s care and custody. It stipulates that any current child support obligation or any unpaid outstanding arrears balance, unsatisfied civil judgments, all warrants, or any current outstanding liens entered on any property by the obligor – all obtained as a result of enforcing a child support obligation – would be deemed null and void and would be vacated and discharged.
In 2022, the Children’s Bureau revised its policy to allow and encourage state Title IV-E agencies – of which DCF is – to define more narrowly where it is appropriate to seek child support from legally responsible persons. In a joint statement by Aysha E. Schomburg, Associate Commissioner of the Children’s Bureau, and Tanguler Gray, Commissioner of the Office of Child Support Enforcement, the Administration for Children and Families highlighted the plight of parents who are hampered by foster care maintenance payments imposed by child welfare agencies while the child is in the agency’s care and custody.
“Many parent(s) of children who receive foster care maintenance payments are living in poverty and are too often required to pay child support to the state to offset the cost of their child placed in foster care,” said Schomburg and Gray. “This can negatively impact a family that is trying to develop and maintain familial and economic stability to reunify with their child. It is not in the best interest of any family to be pursued for child support when they have already been whipsawed by economic insecurity, family instability, and separation.”
The NJSBA is reviewing the bill. Just last month, it joined in the recommendations of Legal Services of New Jersey (LSNJ) advocating for policy and child support regulation changes. “We believe the measures proposed by LSNJ will help to ensure that parents who are working to reunify with their children will not be precluded from achieving the goals of reunification and stabilization due to state imposed child support obligations,” said NJSBA President Timothy F. McGoughran in a letter to the AOC. Specific recommendations include:
-Child support should not be ordered when collecting same would directly impede family reunification efforts or the parent’s ability to support the child after reunification;
-Support should not be ordered when the parent has been deemed financially eligible for appointment of legal representation, has been deemed eligible for Title IV-E funding, or has been deemed eligible for other means-tested public assistance;
-Where a parent is deemed of sufficient financial ability to meet or exceed the full costs of maintenance of the child incurred by DCPP, that parent may be ordered to pay support up to the full cost of maintenance of the child;
-Where a parent is not of sufficient financial ability to pay the full cost of maintenance for the child, the court may order the parent to pay their income shares of the sole-parenting award to that agency;
-Imputation of income for a parent whose child is in foster care should take into consideration limitations on the parent’s time and ability to work due to obligations required by DCPP or a court as a condition to achieve reunification, as well as a parent’s ability to work related to circumstances that caused the child to be placed in out-of-home care.
This is a status report provided by the New Jersey State Bar Association on recently passed and pending legislation, regulations, gubernatorial nominations and/or appointments of interest to lawyers, as well as the involvement of the NJSBA as amicus in appellate court matters. To learn more, visit njsba.com.