April 7, 2026 | Washington, DC – On Wednesday, April 1st, current NCSEA President Connie Chesnik, and three past NCSEA presidents, Charles Smith, Erin Frisch and Jim Fleming returned to Washington D.C. at the invitation of the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees to provide a briefing on the child support program.
We have not seen significant legislation impacting the child support program since the enactment of welfare reform legislation in 1996. As a result, many Congressional staffers know very little about the program. This invitation afforded NCSEA a rare opportunity to provide them with background on the history of the child support program, how we’re funded, the services we provide, and the scope of the program’s impact on children and families across the country. Our NCSEA team impressed upon attendees the critical role that the child support program plays in the economic safety net, providing direct financial support for children, reinforcing parental responsibility and reducing reliance on public assistance.
This background information laid the groundwork for a discussion of the main goals of NCSEA’s legislative proposal:
-
-
- Increase self-sufficiency and streamline program operations by ending recovery of child support collections for TANF cases
- Strengthen Enforcement tools in response to changes in the economy and lessons learned from program experience to improve collections for families and intergovernmental case processing.
- Update and Strengthen Federal Performance Measures
- Make performance-based funding changes to strengthen the child support program’s role in the economic safety net.
-
We continue to be encouraged by the bipartisan support we have received in Congress for modernization of the child support program. Our legislative proposal reflects NCSEA’s commitment to advancing legislation that improves the services we provide to children and families.
