MI Collects Over $3 Billion In Child Support, Saves Taxpayers $81 Million

DETROIT (WWJ) - The Michigan Auditor General released a comprehensive report Tuesday with good news for more than 560,000 Michigan children: Michigan excelled in collecting and distributing about $3 billion in child support in the past two years.

"The mission of the Michigan Department of Human Services, first and foremost, is the welfare and protection of the state's most vulnerable people, particularly children," DHS Director Maura D. Corrigan said in a release. "This report clearly illustrates our unwavering commitment to holding parents accountable for the financial support of their children. No child should ever go without simply because a parent has reneged on their financial responsibilities."

The program already has received federal recognition, including about $27 million per year in performance incentives. Michigan's child support process provides taxpayers with an outstanding return on investment: For every $1 spent, the program collects $6.55 in child support.

About 70 percent of children entitled to receive child support get at least some payments, averaging about $250 per month.

The program's success is important because these are private dollars that have a significant positive impact on children's lives as well as on the state's well-being, said Marilyn Stephen, the DHS Office of Child Support director.

"Children receiving child support do better in school and experience less poverty," Stephen said in a release. "Research shows that families who receive child support are more likely to leave public assistance and less likely to return."

And because a person receiving public assistance must cooperate with child support efforts to collect from the non-custodial parent, it also helps the state's coffers. In fact, in fiscal year 2010, more than $81 million was collected as reimbursement to the state and federal government for public assistance.

For more information about DHS, please visit http://www.michigan.gov/dhs.