The Child Support Services Division (CSSD) performs all legal and programmatic functions associated with the District government's child support program. This Division provides services to assist District families to establish parentage, locate parents, receive child and medical support orders, review and modify child support orders, and enforce delinquent child support orders. In addition, CSSD recoups Temporary Assistance for Needy Family (TANF) payments, Title IV-D foster care payments, and Medicaid payments.

In addition to providing the services indicated above, CSSD develops policies that are compliant with federal and District statutes, regulations, case law, and court rules. These policies guide CSSD in the delivery of services. This online Policy Manual contains modified policies regarding various child support functions.

Categories

The CSSD policies are organized by categories. Select the hyperlinked category name to reveal a list of policies in each area.

Intake and Parentage Establishment - Policies on initial case processing and parentage establishment

Enforcement and Medical Support - Policies on various administrative enforcement tools, such as driver's license suspension, and guidance regarding the parent's responsibility to obtain and/or maintain health insurance

Customer Service - Policies related to CSSD's customer service

Collections and Disbursement - Policies related to fee collections, support distribution through debit cards and direct deposit, and payment histories

Locate - Policies that address CSSD's efforts to locate parents in connection with child support cases

Interstate - Policies related to parentage and support cases in which one parent lives in the District of Columbia and the other parent lives in another state 

Wage Withholding - Policies related to the garnishment of income for the parent ordered to pay support

Legal - Policies that address the CSSD services associated with the court or administrative tribunal aspects of parentage and child support cases

Community Outreach - Policies related to various CSSD programs, such as the Fathering Court and outreach to the DC Jail

Miscellaneous - Other policies connected with CSSD work

 

Need help? Use the FIND function.

For help to locate a particular policy, use the "FIND" function to search by keyword. To access the FIND function, click the "CTRL" and "F" keys at the same time. Once the "FIND" box appears, type in a keyword.

Contact Information

CSSD's Policy Unit is responsible for drafting policies for the Division. For additional questions about CSSD policies, please contact (202) 724-2131 and ask to speak with the Policy Manager.