Any parent or custodian of a minor child who needs help in establishing a child support order, or help collecting current or past-due child support payments, is eligible for child support enforcement services. This includes parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, court-appointed guardians, or others who are caring for a child.

If you receive Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) or Title XIX Medicaid in Oklahoma, the Department of Human Services (DHS) Child Support Enforcement Division (CSED) will help you at no cost to you. If you are not receiving these services, CSED will help you for a non-refundable fee of $25.

Some of the services that CSED provides are:

• Locate - CSED can help locate the non-custodial parent who has a financial obligation to support his or her children and whose where-abouts are unknown. CSED staff use local, state and federal sources to find non-custodial parents.
• Paternity CSED can ask the court to establish paternity when the mother is not married at the time of the child's birth. Paternity must be established before the court can order child support.
• Establishment of Child Support - CSED can obtain an order for support after paternity is established, when the parties are married but separated, or the divorce decree has not provided for child support.
• Enforcement of Child Support - CSED can help enforce the child support order.
• Modification - CSED will review child support orders for compliance with Oklahoma's Child Support Guidelines. A request can be made when there is a substantial change of circumstance. CSED will request the court to modify the order if the order does not provide for medical coverage for dependent children.

When a parent refuses to pay court-ordered child support or does not pay the full amount, the child support enforcement office may do one or more of the following:

• Order immediate income withholding, including salary, unemployment, retirement, workers compensation, or other income.
• Refer the case for intercept of federal and state income tax refunds and other federal payments.
• File a lien on real property.
• Refer the past-due support debt to credit reporting agencies.
• Request the suspension or revocation of a professional, driver or recreational license.
• File a contempt of court action.
• Refer cases for criminal non-support charges.
• Have a passport denied.
• Levy on appropriate bank accounts.

For more information, call KIDS (Key Information Delivery System) at 1-800-522-2922 or go to any DHS or Child Support Office to request an application form for child support enforcement services.