Every child has the right to the support of both parents until the age of 18.  That's the law in Florida (some states do vary).  Florida now has greater enforcement power to make sure every child receives that support.

When one parent or guardian has custody of a child and the other parent does not provide financial support, the Child Support Enforcement Program with the State Attorney's Office (SAO) can help.

If you are the custodial parent (the child lives with you), you are not alone in your efforts to get money or medical benefits for your child.  We are here to help you and your child(ren).

WE WILL HELP BY:

• Locating missing parents for child support purposes
• Determining paternity when needed
• Establishing medical and financial support orders
• Enforcing support orders
• Modifying support orders
  

Below you will find some basic information to help educate you. For additional tips and terms link here to go to our Child Support Enforcement FAQ section.

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If you are a parent receiving public assistance, Medicaid and/or Food Stamps, you are automatically referred to the Child Support Enforcement Division. You must cooperate with our efforts to obtain support. Failure to respond to our requests for information or missing appointments and court hearings may result in sanctions being imposed causing your benefits to be reduced or canceled.

If you do not receive public assistance or Medicaid, you need to complete an application for our services. Your cooperation is required. A lack of cooperation could cause your child support case to be closed.

For an appointment, call 305-530-2600.

When a child is born to parents who are not married, fatherhood must be determined before we can proceed. If the alleged father does not voluntarily admit that he is the father of the child(ren), a court hearing and/or paternity tests will be scheduled. If a paternity test is necessary, the child's mother, the alleged father and the child will be tested.

Once the support order is established, it may be modified if there is a significant change to your financial situation or the NCP's. If you request the modification, we will recalculate the guidelines based on both parties current financial status. Normally, we will only file the modification petition with the court if the formula shows the support amount should change by 15% or $50 monthly, whichever is greater. If this is an interstate case (involving another state), there may be additional restrictions.

All child support payments must be sent to the State of Florida Disbursement Unit; PO Box 8500; Tallahassee, FL 32314-8500. Official court records of the payments and disbursements are created which enable the child support program to accurately enforce and monitor your child support case. You must not take payments directly from the NCP. If you do not receive public assistance, a check will be mailed from Tallahassee normally within two working days of receipt of the payment. If you do receive public assistance, support payments will be retained by the State of Florida as reimbursement for the public assistance money you are receiving from the state.

Please understand that we will use all available resources to resolve your case. You must allow us the necessary time to complete our research and case actions. Frequent calls to our office checking on the status of your case will only delay the processing of your case. However, if you have any new information about the non-custodial parent such as location, employment, social security number, etc, please let us know. To provide new information, or inquire on your case, contact our Call Center at 305-530-2600. We receive a high volume of calls daily. You may choose to wait for a trained case analyst to assist you, or leave a message with a daytime phone number at which we can call you back.