Understanding the Administrative Child Support Process in Illinois

Child Support ,

Illinois offers two parallel tracks for parents needing child support orders: the civil court, or judicial system, and the administrative system of the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (DHFS). The former is the process known to most people and thought of as typical. A variety of governmental, legal aid, and community organizations offer assistance in understanding how the judicial system works.

The DHFS Administrative System is less familiar to most people. With the help of pro bono attorneys at Skadden, Arps, Meagher & Flom, Chicago Appleseed and the Chicago Council of Lawyers created a Users’ Guide to the process, as well as an Attorneys’ Guide to the DHFS child support system.

The DHFS Administrative process provides a limited range of services to all parents, free of charge, including:

  • Establishment of paternity;
  • Assistance locating a missing parent;
  • Drafting and entering child support Orders, and some enforcement of the Orders;
  • Ensuring a child has medical insurance.

Parents receiving benefits through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or Medicaid programs are automatically enrolled in the services, but are not necessarily required to complete their child support needs through DHFS. Instead, they may request to be transferred to the judicial system, or they may be sent to the court if additional legal matters are present. Parents not receiving TANF may apply for DHFS services in order to use the Administrative System but may not necessarily receive assistance.

DHFS will not retain cases where family violence is indicated; where an Order for child support exists in the family, for any of the parent’s children; where income is complicated or a deviation from standard child support amounts is likely; or where one parent lives out of state.

Child support adjudication is complicated, messy, and stressful – especially for parents navigating the system without representation of an attorney. We hope these Guides are useful to attorneys with clients going through the process and for parents experiencing the DHFS process on their own.