Non-payment of child support is a primary reason almost half a million children in Illinois receive public assistance. Parents who do not pay child support shift the cost of caring for their children to the taxpayers of Illinois. By collecting child support, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services lightens the taxpayers' burden.

Nationally, only 58 percent of all single-parent households have court orders for child support, and only half of those actually receive the support due to them.

Healthcare and Family Services' Child Support Enforcement Program serves Illinois residents regardless of income. Services include parent locating services, genetic testing to establish paternity, child support order establishment and order modification reviews, medical support, wages withholding, computerized accounting and billing, and interception of federal and state income tax refunds.

DNA testing has become the standard in Illinois, ensuring that state-of-the-art technology is used in paternity establishment.

The Illinois Child Support Enforcement program represents a unified effort among all Illinois child support enforcement partners: the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, the Circuit Courts, Illinois Attorney General, State's Attorneys, Circuit Court Clerks, Sheriffs, the Comptroller and the Illinois Supreme Court.

Since the program's inception in 1976, the Department has collected more than $3 billion for children in need.