BATON ROUGE — A new state audit puts Louisiana near the bottom of a national list for securing child support payments, despite collecting and distributing $2.2 billion in payments between 2020 and 2024.
The Louisiana Legislative Auditor looked at the Department of Family Services Child Support Enforcement Program. It found DCFS increased the percentage of child support collected from about 52% to almost 56% from 2020 to 2024.
Even with that increase, Louisiana ranked 52nd out of 54 states and territories in the collection of current child support in federal fiscal year 2024. Louisiana also ranked 47th in collection of past-due child support in 2024.
Poverty rate and income
The audit states that according to DCFS, it struggles more than other states to collect current child support because of Louisiana’s high poverty rate and low household income. According to federal estimates from 2019 to 2023, the individual poverty rate in Louisiana is almost 19%, compared to about 12% nationally. The state’s median household income is also low at about $60,000, while the national median income is roughly $78,500.
DCFS said the amount of support owed in Louisiana is higher than other states in part because of mandatory minimum child support amounts that were in place until 2024. Before then, Louisiana law set a mandatory minimum child support award of $100 per month, regardless of income. That law was repealed January 1, 2024, and courts now must base support orders on the noncustodial parent’s actual ability to pay.
According to the audit, DCFS states, “this change applies only to new orders after January 1, 2024, and existing orders must be modified through a formal process. As a result, many child support orders may still exceed a noncustodial parent’s ability to pay, which impacts Louisiana’s collection rate.”
Cases decreasing
Overall, the audit found the number of child support cases in Louisiana is down 14% from 2020 to 2024. In Federal fiscal year 2020, Louisiana had 258,357 cases, compared to 222,050 in 2024. DCFS says the decrease in cases is because of reduced participation in federal assistance programs, specifically Temporary Assistance for Needy Families as well as a decrease in Medicaid referrals.
The report states, “State law requires certain TANF cash assistance participants to participate in the child support program. Nationally, TANF cash assistance participation shrank by approximately 63.0% between 2010 and 2022. In Louisiana, the number of child support cases for individuals currently or formerly enrolled in TANF cash assistance programs decreased 26.1%, from 106,413 in federal fiscal year 2020 to 78,662 in 2024.”
Intercepted payments
DCSF intercepted an average of $8.3 million per year in insurance claims for delinquent noncustodial parents during fiscal year 2021 through 2025. When a noncustodial parent is delinquent and owes arrears, or money that should have been paid earlier, “state law authorizes DCFS to intercept payments made to the noncustodial parent by any person, private entity, or government, including payments for insurance claims.”
According to DCFS, the most common claims it intercepted were casualty and workers’ compensation. If Louisiana insurance companies were required to share claim data before paying claims, DCFS says it could potentially increase the amount of arrears collected.
Letter to lawmakers
In his recommendation letter to Louisiana lawmakers, legislative auditor Mike Waguespack said his team found that “while quarterly CSE case reviews are an important quality assurance mechanism, DCFS did not monitor its staff during state fiscal years 2022 through 2025 to ensure they conducted case reviews in accordance with policy and procedures.”
His team also found that “DCFS didn’t maintain complete or accurate case review data for reviews conducted by regional staff during state fiscal years 2022 through 2025. According to DCFS, 2,033 (25.5%) of 7,975 cases reviewed by regional staff during state fiscal year 2025 had errors.”
You can read the full letter and report here.
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