The working of the Florida Child Support Enforcement Program

The Florida Department of Revenue has been administering the Florida Child Support Enforcement Program since the year 1994. All the members of the department are to provide support services for children in all regions with the exception of two Florida counties namely the Miami-Dade County and the Manatee County. In these counties, the office of the Public Prosecutor provides services in Miami-Dade County while the Manatee County Clerk of Court provides services in the Manatee County.

The federal government of the State of Florida, Florida courts, local law enforcement agencies, financial institutions, employers of Florida, and many state agencies plays an active role in the successful collection and enforcement of child support. The services provided by the Florida child support enforcement include:

-Proving paternity of a child

-Obtaining child support orders

-Enforcing child support orders effectively

-Changing child support orders whenever necessary

As a matter of fact whenever the issue of the education and development of the child is concerned, both the parents should be held responsible and should also play a role in the over all development and well being of the child. The parents should also be held responsible for the living standards and the development of the child and both the parents are duty bound for the child's upbringing. All these issues are not only the responsibility of both the parents, but it is also the fundamental human rights of the children as well.

In Florida child support enforcement has grown into a family law. Once the amount of child support has been decided and ordered by a court or agreed to by both the parents, it is not a smooth sailing all the time. There have been plenty of cases of "deadbeat parents" (this includes both the mother and the father also) but it is quite heartening to note that the majority of the parents willingly pay the support amount and take care of the child as mutually agreed, or as ordered by the court. But in some cases where there is default on the part of payment of child support, the child support enforcement is brought into use and the defaulters are booked for not complying with the orders.

In the US the child enforcement in one form or another is available in every state for taking action against deadbeat parents or defaulters. The remedies for child support enforcement includes attachment of the wages, intercepting tax refunds, suspending the drivers or commercial driver's license or other steps that may be decided.

In some cases when it has been proved that there is willful failure on the part of a parent to pay the child support, the Child Support Collection Services department may be obliged to seek imprisonment, payment of fine or other remedies in accordance to the Child Support Recovery Act of 1992.If there is any breach of the probationary period, this may entail additional prison sentence also.