Clarifying Information - WAC 388-422-0005

Child Support Requirements

A parent/caregiver assigns all rights to support, including child support, child care, and spousal maintenance for each person applying for or getting TANF/SFA.

Effective February 1, 2021, TANF households are eligible to receive child support pass-through up to $50 each month for households that include one child, and up to $100 for households with two or more children. The amount of pass-through will not be more than what Division of Child Support (DCS) collects during the month.

A parent/caregiver incurs a debt with DCS if they retain support payments, except for pass-through, received after the assignment to DCS.

DCS establishes and enforces child support and medical support on a case when a child receives TANF or SFA, unless the department grants good cause not to cooperate. A parent/caregiver whose child receives TANF or SFA doesn’t have the option to request DCS taking only partial action on their case.

Note : In some cases child support arrears “past due support” is not assigned to the state and is forwarded to the custodial parent while on TANF. Budget child support arrears income received by the custodial parent as unearned income “DP”.

Note : Effective February 1, 2021 Pass-through payments do not affect TANF/SFA grants. However, these payments must be budgeted for Basic Food. Workers must use SEMS for each active child support case to anticipate child support amounts. The SEMS Disbursement History (DH) screen shows the amount disbursed and passed through to the custodial parent/caregiver and the Case History (CH) screen shows how the payment is applied for current and arrears support. Using the CP valid value will budget this income correctly for Basic food and exempt it for TANF.