The Hague Convention - What it Means for Child Support

Nicole Darracq, CA DCSS

California Department of Child Support Services (CA DCSS) has always been a leader in international partnerships to enforce child support orders. For years the state has accepted requests from families for child support assistance when the person owing support was a California resident. Now, collecting support from parents who leave the country to avoid paying for their children in California just got a whole lot simpler, thanks to a formal international agreement to streamline child support arrangements from around the world.

The Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance concluded negotiations in 2007, with ratification by the United States Senate in 2010. Congress enacted implementing legislation in 2014, signed into law by President Obama as the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act. All 50 states had to pass legislation adopting the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act of 2008, after which time President Obama signed the instrument of ratification for the treaty on August 30, 2016. The Hague Convention entered into full force in the Unites States on January 1, 2017, with 33 countries agreeing to work together to establish and enforce child support orders across international boundaries – more countries are proceeding with the ratification process and will be joining the effort.

Since the Hague Convention went into force, California has received 18 new submissions to enforce or establish cases for children overseas, and has initiated 20 new cases that, when orders are established, could result in hundreds of thousands of dollars being collected every year for California families. Some of the new international partnerships include Spain, Ukraine and Romania.

CA DCSS Director Alisha Griffin played a key role in making this landmark agreement a reality – as a member of the delegation from the National Child Support Enforcement Association during the five years of negotiations, she testified before Congress in support of ratification, convincing lawmakers of the pressing need to extend the arm of enforcement across international borders. Now that the Hague Convention is in-force for the United States and more countries continue to ratify, CA DCSS has started working with these new international partners to ensure children and families with ties to California are able to obtain child support.

“It is a wonderful feeling to know that the network for international support of families continues to expand,” said Kristen Donadee, Assistant Chief Counsel for CA DCSS who specializes in international child support. “This support will go a long way toward helping families be self-sufficient, provide educational opportunities for the children, and provide peace of mind for families that may currently struggle and are unable to make ends meet.”

For a more in-depth look at the growing relationship between CA DCSS and the State of Baja California, Mexico’s child support department, read the story here: http://bit.ly/2uqya6C.