Safeguarding tax dollars is our priority. Report suspicious activity.
Getting Child Support Safely
Minnesota’s child support program takes the safety of families applying for and receiving its services seriously and can provide safety measures to help address safety concerns.
Having safety concerns in the child support process is common. Fear and safety concerns may be about physical, sexual, emotional, psychological, or economic abuse and may be about the other parent or caregiver, or someone else.
This page includes answers to frequently asked questions about getting child support safely and about the child support program in general.
For free and confidential help, including emergency shelter, transportation, legal assistance, medical advocacy, and 24-hour helplines, please contact your local advocacy service provider or the 24/7 statewide Day One hotline below:
Website: https://dayoneservices.org
Text: 612-399-9995
Call: 1-866-223-1111
Email: safety@dayoneservices.org
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Access
As part of the child support process, county child support agencies often require both parents or caregivers to provide information about themselves, the children, and the other party. Information may be about finances, employer and wages, contact and location, and open programs such as public assistance or healthcare coverage. These agencies may share some information with the other party, and the courts. Every family’s circumstances are unique, and not every child support case follows the same process.
Some safety concerns may be about:
• The child support process, such as protecting location and managing communication and contact with the other parent, or both
• Issues addressed in the court order such as custody and parenting time, financial obligations or how the agency will enforce the order.
This page includes common and general information about the child support program to help you make decisions about your or your family’s safety. Your county child support worker can provide the most accurate information on your case, including how their county agency handles some processes and any available safety measures.
The child support process begins when one parent signs up for services or a public assistance program completes a mandatory referral to the child support agency as a condition of eligibility for the parent or caregiver. The full child support process, including lengths of time for different steps, vary and are dependent on your individual situation. In general, if you are receiving your first child support court order the process may take 9-12 months before your court order is received.
Caregivers or parents may sign up for child support services using DHS-1958-ENG (Application for Child Support Services). It's fee to enroll for services.
In Minnesota, the Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP), Childcare Assistance Program (CCAP), and Medical Assistance (MA) may require cooperation with child support services as a condition of eligibility for receiving benefits. Child support services and cooperation requirements are based on many individual factors.
In general, child support program services include the following:
- Gathering information about the other parent's employment or location
- Establishing paternity
- Establishing or modifying child support court orders
- Enforcing child support court orders
Child support cooperation requirements may include:
- Providing information about the other parent, such as their name, where they work, or where they live
- Helping tp determine who the legal father is through genetic testing or signing a Recognition of Parentage (ROP)
- Helping establish a court order for child support by providing information about yourself and the other parent
- Attending court hearings, responding to requests for information, and communicating with your worker about any changes.
Court orders for child support include monthly amounts one parent pays to the other parent or caregiver for their child’s financial support.
Courts determine the amount of child support using the guidelines in state law that include the income of both parents, the number of children, the amount of time the child spends with each parent, and the availability and cost of child care and medical support.
The county child support agency will look at any current or past employment, including self-employment and unemployment, and any income each parent may receive. In some circumstances, they will look at potential income based on education, availability of jobs, work history, and physical or mental abilities.
The Minnesota Child Support Guidelines calculator is publicly available for anyone to use.
Court ordered child support payments may include:
- Basic child support for the costs of a child's housing, food, clothing, transportation, education, and other expenses to care for the child
- Childcare support for child care (daycare) costs when parents go to work or school
- Medical support for the child’s health and dental insurance, or payments toward unreimbursed and uninsured medical and dental expenses
- Contribution amounts for public assistance programs open, such Medical Assistance and Child Care Assistance Program costs, which are paid to the state
- Some child support orders may also include custody and parenting time.
Before setting a child support amount, the county child support agency needs to decide who the legal father of your child is. The agency calls this process “establishing paternity” and genetic testing is often part of establishment.
Paternity can be established in the following ways:
- The parents are married to each other when the child is born
- Both parents sign a Recognition of Parentage (ROP)
- A child support magistrate or judicial officer names the legal father in the court order - called “paternity adjudication.”
If the county child support agency establishes paternity through the paternity adjudication process, the court also decides the following three other issues as part of the establishing paternity process:
- Parenting time, or the amount of time that children normally spend with each parent.
- Custody, which the law divides into two types:
- Physical custody or which parent or parents the child will normally live with and who will make day-to-day decisions for the child
- Legal custody, or which parent or parents will make major decisions for the child, such as where the child goes to school, their religion, and major health care decisions
- The child’s legal name, or what name is listed on the birth certificate.
Court orders for child support include monthly amounts one parent pays to the other parent or caregiver for their child’s financial support.
Courts determine the amount of child support using the guidelines in state law that include the income of both parents, the number of children, the amount of time the child spends with each parent, and the availability and cost of child care and medical support.
The county child support agency will look at any current or past employment, including self-employment and unemployment, and any income each parent may receive. In some circumstances, they will look at potential income based on education, availability of jobs, work history, and physical or mental abilities.
The Minnesota Child Support Guidelines calculator is publicly available for anyone to use.
Court ordered child support payments may include:
- Basic child support for the costs of a child's housing, food, clothing, transportation, education, and other expenses to care for the child
- Childcare support for child care (daycare) costs when parents go to work or school
- Medical support for the child’s health and dental insurance, or payments toward unreimbursed and uninsured medical and dental expenses
- Contribution amounts for public assistance programs open, such Medical Assistance and Child Care Assistance Program costs, which are paid to the state
- Some child support orders may also include custody and parenting time.
Before setting a child support amount, the county child support agency needs to decide who the legal father of your child is. The agency calls this process “establishing paternity” and genetic testing is often part of establishment.
Paternity can be established in the following ways:
- The parents are married to each other when the child is born
- Both parents sign a Recognition of Parentage (ROP)
- A child support magistrate or judicial officer names the legal father in the court order - called “paternity adjudication.”
If the county child support agency establishes paternity through the paternity adjudication process, the court also decides the following three other issues as part of the establishing paternity process:
- Parenting time, or the amount of time that children normally spend with each parent.
- Custody, which the law divides into two types:
- Physical custody or which parent or parents the child will normally live with and who will make day-to-day decisions for the child
- Legal custody, or which parent or parents will make major decisions for the child, such as where the child goes to school, their religion, and major health care decisions
- The child’s legal name, or what name is listed on the birth certificate.
Common safety concerns and available measures:
The child support program has safety measures available for common concerns. Measures we can apply are dependent on individual case factors, including how you got involved in the child support program, certain legal factors, and your relationship to the child. If your child support worker is aware of your concerns, they can discuss safety measures available.
- Safety measures for the child support process may include:
- Keeping your address and location protected from disclosure to the other party or the public – this can include protecting information about where you live, work, and a child’s day care location
- Using your preferred method of communication with your child support worker, such as phone, email or messages through Minnesota Child Support Online, an web-based portal for parents and caregivers to access case information anytime
- Scheduling appointments separately from the other parent so you don’t have to be in the same room as the other parent
- Requesting accommodations for court hearings, such as not having to appear in person or if the court requires you to be in person, providing extra security or precautions in court
- Creating alerts for certain actions on your case when they occur
- Providing a parenting decision affidavit for you to make requests to the court about custody and parenting time, where you can indicate safety requests
- Providing input into how the county child support agency enforces the court order.
For some families, the available measures may not be enough to participate in the child support process safely. If you feel this is your situation, talk to your child support worker about potential case closure options.
Protecting location information is a common safety measure county agencies can apply to child support cases. The agency can protect this information in court files by requesting a confidential address order:
- If the court grants a confidential address order request, location information the child support agency may be able to protect in the child support court fileincludes:
- Current home address, and any future addresses if you move
- Employer name and location
- Child care name and location
- Confidential address orders that are granted only apply to the child support court case file. If you have other court cases, such as family court or criminal court, a child support confidential address does not protect you in those court records.
- Providing an alternate address for your child support case court file
- Requesting a location protection indicator on your child support case to protect all of your case information from being released to the Federal Parent Locator Service, the national database of child support cases that conducts daily matching efforts to locate parents
- If you have a confidential address order, this location protection is automatically applied.
- Enrolling in the Minnesota Safe at Home address protection program. Minnesota Secretary Of State - About Safe at Home. Unlike the child support confidential address order, a Safe at Home address is your legal address and applies to other court files in addition to the child support court file.
County child support agencies enforce orders by collecting support amounts from the parent court-ordered to pay and distributing them to the receiving parent or caregiver. They also enforce any court-ordered requirement to maintain health or dental care coverage for the children.
- The child support program does not enforce any custody or parenting time courts address in the court order.
If the parent or caregiver who is required to pay child support is not paying, there are certain remedies, such as suspending the non-paying parent's or caregiver’s driver’s license, that your child support worker may apply on your case. These remedies are dependent on many factors, including how much past support the other parent or caregiver owes. Contact your county child support worker to discuss any concerns you may have about order enforcement.
- Now That I Have Child Support | LawHelp Minnesota
- Legal aid
- Legal advocacy
- Standpoint?
- Other CS website info
- Repeat contact info for CS and PA
- State courts
Domestic violence advocates
- Violence Free MN
Hotlines and other services available 24 hours a day, seven days a week
Safe at Home