For Immediate Release
Dec. 30, 2003

Richmond - Governor Mark R. Warner announced today the Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS) has earned $11.2 million in incentives for its child support enforcement efforts.

"Virginia's efforts to ensure financial support for children continue to be among the best in the nation," said Governor Warner. "Child support is a legal obligation, but it also is a very basic moral and human responsibility that parents have to their children."

Each state's share of incentives is calculated on the quality of their performance with respect to five measures: paternity establishment, establishment of support orders, collections of current payments, collections of arrearages, and cost effectiveness.

"These incentives will help strengthen families in Virginia," said VDSS Commissioner Maurice A. Jones. "There's more work to be done and we remain committed to improving our collections on behalf of Virginia's children."

Virginia's performance indicator scores for federal fiscal years 2002 show the state had more than: 90 percent of paternities established; 80 percent of support orders established; 58 percent of current support collected; 56 percent of arrearage collections; and returned $6.34 for each dollar spent on the child support program.

Annually, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families releases performance indicators of each state's child support enforcement program. According to the FY2002 performance data, Virginia is ranked in the upper one-third of all states in earning these bonus funds for outstanding performance.

Congress passed the Child Support Performance and Incentive Act of 1998 that provided for incentive payments to states for a given fiscal year. The incentive pool that Congress established is $450 million for fiscal 2002 and rises incrementally to $483 million by fiscal year 2008. States compete for these funds on an annual basis and are required to spend incentive payments to carry out child support enforcement programs.

For Child support questions e-mail askdcse@dss.virginia.gov.
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