A Tribal Call for Re-Enforcement: Giving Teeth to Child Support Agreements in Native American Tribes
Enforcing child support agreements can be challenging on its own, but within the setting of Native American Tribes, it has proven to be a classic bark-without-bite scenario. Since only states can take certain garnishment actions such as intercepting tax refunds to pay child support commitments, tribal courts have not had alternate means of collection. State tribal support programs are authorized by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, which made far-reaching changes to the Child Support Enforcement Program.
Also on the table is the tribes’ access to state databases to locate custodial and non-custodial parents related to child support matters. While several of Oklahoma’s tribes have official access to state information, five tribes are using state computer bases under informal memorandums of agreement with the state, which lead to future complications.
These compounding issues of family law are on the federal child support enforcement commissioner’s radar and we may soon see significant changes not only in Oklahoman tribal child support cases but in states across the board as well.
Related Resources:
- Tribes Seek State Tools for Child Support (Tulsa World)
- Indian and Native Peoples Law Law and Government Documents (FindLaw)
- National Tribal Child Support Association
- Child Support Modifications (provided by Abbott & Abbott, P.C.)
- Custody and Visitation Dos and Don’ts (provided by The Burns Law Office )
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