Currently, most states do not have procedures in place to identify and track prisoners systematically with support orders, or to modify child support obligations during incarceration. Of those states that do provide for such modifications, one of the parents often must engage in a confusing and time-consuming process to request the court or child support enforcement agency to review and adjust the support order.

Currently, most states do not have procedures in place to identify and track prisoners systematically with support orders, or to modify child support obligations during incarceration. Of those states that do provide for such modifications, one of the parents often must engage in a confusing and time-consuming process to request the court or child support enforcement agency to review and adjust the support order.

To assist families in setting realistic payment expectations, corrections administrators should ascertain a parent’s child support obligations upon admission to a correctional facility and establish mechanisms for notifying child support enforcement officials when a noncustodial parent has been incarcerated.

Mechanisms for collecting this information include incorporating questions about children and child support obligations into intake procedures and instituting an automated data match or weekly population list exchange among corrections and child support agencies. As discussed in Policy Statement 2, it is important for judges and agencies responsible for collections to have access to information about all of an individual’s court-ordered debts where it is legally permissible, even if, as in the case of child support, those obligations cannot be consolidated with other debts.

Corrections administrators and child support enforcement officials should also collaborate to inform incarcerated parents of their child support obligations, consult with the custodial parent to determine appropriate modifications, and assist with modification orders, where appropriate. Modification should be contingent upon the income of the incarcerated parent remaining below a certain threshold, (e.g., $200 per month), and be subject to review upon release or as additional assets become available.

An appointed child support enforcement liaison or a specialized corrections caseworker may be the ideal person to perform the following functions:

• Interact with corrections personnel, custodial parents, and incarcerated parents.
• Distribute informational brochures on child support procedures.
• Make regular verbal and video presentations to explain child support responsibilities and procedures to parents, corrections staff, and other criminal justice personnel.
• Facilitate the modification process, when appropriate.

When a modified child support order is appropriate and authorized by statute, corrections administrators and child support enforcement officials should also institute policies to assist with the process, such as providing noncustodial parents with forms, addressed envelopes, and postage. Where called for, administrators may consider instituting policies to modify support orders automatically when a parent is admitted to prison or jail, unless the custodial parent objects when notified of a potential modification, and reinstate the order when the noncustodial parent is released from prison or jail or conditions change that warrant review.¹

¹ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Working with Incarcerated and Released Parents. Griswold, Pearson, and Davis, Testing a Modification Process for Incarcerated Parents.