Child Support Services At A Glance
Child Support is one of the most cost-effective programs in government[1] PLUS it creates savings for other programs[2]. This work brings children the full advantage of parental support and involvement by helping families determine paternity, establish orders for child support and medical support, and collect regular and reliable payments.
CSS Statewide – SFY 2025 (Statistics ending June 30, 2025):
- Collected $300 million in child support
- Served 160,211 Oklahoma children
- Recorded 19,149 paternity establishments and acknowledgments
- Established child support orders in 82 percent of open cases
· Collected $4.44 for each dollar spent by the program
CSS helps families leave and avoid public assistance programs.
Families receiving more financial support from both parents are less likely to need assistance from taxpayer-funded benefit programs including Medicaid, TANF, SNAP, SSI, Housing Subsidies, Foster Care, School Lunch, Child Care, and WIC. In fact, families receiving child support are more likely to exit and remain off of public assistance than any other source of unearned income[3].
Investment in child support reduces other public spending2. CSS collections in SFY 2025 resulted in:
$49,837,106 Avoided by other programs
$11,622,147 Recovered for other programs
$61,459,253 Total Cost Avoidance and Recovery (total state & federal dollars)[4]
Families who receive child support are better able to remain self-sufficient, with decreased rates of re-entry into public assistance and a slower job loss rate than those without regular child support[5]. Child support benefits children’s educational outcomes, reduces the risk of child maltreatment, increases parental involvement among nonresident parents, and reduces non-marital births and divorce2.
A few more facts:
- Child Support is the third largest social services program in number of children served (after Medicaid and Food & Nutrition Services Programs (SNAP, School Lunches, etc.), serving six times as many children as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and three times as many as Social Security[6]
- The Oklahoma Child Support program services 1 in 6 children in the state[7]
- In 2024, 44 percent of Oklahoma births were to unmarried mothers[8]
[1] US Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Child Support Enforcement 2020 Annual Report to Congress https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/report/fy-2020-annual-report-congress
[2] Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), 2016: The Child Support Program is a Good Investment, The Story Behind the Numbers.
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/resource/sbtn-child-support-program-is-a-good-investment
[3] US Department of Health & Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, “Child Support and TANF Interaction:
Literature Review, April 2003. https://aspe.hhs.gov/basic-report/child-support-and-tanf-interaction-literature-review-april-2003
[4] Oklahoma Human Services, Child Support Services, Oklahoma SFY 2025 Cost Avoidance and Cost Recovery Calculations based on Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement-Urban Institute study
[5] Center for Law and Social Policy Research Fact Sheet, The Child Support Program: An Investment That Works https://www.clasp.org/publications/fact-sheet/child-support-program-investment-works
[6] Oklahoma Human Services, Child Support Services, Public Programs Comparison
[7] US Census Bureau Population Estimates by Age for Oklahoma and Oklahoma Human Services, Child Support Services OCSE-157 data report
[8] Oklahoma State Department of Health birth data file sent to Oklahoma Human Services, Child Support Services
