Voices on child support
Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement
Federal agency that runs the Title IV-D program (paper prepared by Elaine Sorensen)
The exact words were found in the primary source linked below (testimony, book page, report or article), at the page given.
"Less than 5 percent of these collections were retained by the government to recoup welfare costs."
Source
The Story Behind the Numbers: The Child Support Program is a Good Investment, Office of Child Support Enforcement, ACF, U.S. HHS, 2016-12, p. 5 (PDF page 5 of 21) (report). Checked 2026-10-13.
Context
"These collections" refers to FY 2015 program collections: $32.4 billion total, of which $28.6 billion was collected for children receiving IV-D services and over $3.8 billion was processed through income withholding for limited-service cases. The figure is a national share of current-year collections and does not describe arrears owed to the state.
The passage it comes from
In FY 2015, the child support program collected $32.4 billion. Three-fourths of these collections were attributable to income withholding, that is, support payments withheld from a noncustodial parent's paychecks. The program collected $28.6 billion for the 15.9 million children and their families receiving child support services through the program. In addition, it collected and distributed over $3.8 billion through income withholding orders for families who received limited payment processing services. Less than 5 percent of these collections were retained by the government to recoup welfare costs.
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