FY 2020 Preliminary Annual Report and Tables
DCL-21-05
DEAR COLLEAGUE LETTER
DCL-21-05
DATE: June 17, 2021
TO: State IV-D Directors
SUBJECT: FY 2020 Preliminary Data Report and Tables
ATTACHMENTS: FY 2020 Preliminary Data Report and Data Tables (Excel) (no longer available)
Dear Colleague:
The Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Preliminary Data Report is now available along with the Excel file of data tables for your convenience. The report includes data from all state child support programs on collections, expenditures, paternities, orders established, and other program statistics. Please note that tribal program data does not appear in this preliminary report, but it will be included in the FY 2020 Annual Report to Congress.
The COVID-19 pandemic created significant challenges for child support programs nationwide. While the social and economic effects of the pandemic have been widespread and cannot be captured in the child support data collected, this FY 2020 report offers a glimpse of its impact on program performance.
The results are mixed. For example, the data shows 41 states experienced decreases in their paternity establishment percentage (PEP), and the national statewide PEP rate dropped by 6 percentage points to 88% compared to the previous fiscal year. However, distributed collections increased by nearly 10%, with more than $31 billion distributed to child support families. This large increase was primarily due to offsets from increased unemployment insurance benefits and economic impact payments because of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
Here are a few national data highlights from the FY 2020 preliminary report:
- $31.4 billion in total IV-D collections was distributed
- $29.6 billion, or 94% of distributed collections went directly to families
- 13.8 million children were served by the program
- 87% of cases in the caseload had orders established
- 66% of current support due was collected
- 73% of cases with arrears had collections
- 101% was the IV-D PEP rate
- 88% was the statewide PEP rate
- $5.51 was the cost-effectiveness rate
The information in this report does not consider the 2020 data reliability audits.
State officials should carefully review the data to ensure that numbers in this report agree with timely submissions to the Office of Child Support Enforcement. Please contact regional offices with any concerns.
Sincerely,
Linda Boyer
Acting Commissioner
Office of Child Support Enforcement