§236.10. State case registry of child support orders
NOTE: Subsection A eff. until Oct. 1, 2027. See Acts 2025, No. 477.
A. The secretary of the Department of Children and Family Services shall create an
automated state case registry of child support orders within the office of children and family
services, child support enforcement section.
NOTE: Subsection A as amended by Acts 2025, No. 477, eff. Oct. 1, 2027.
A. The secretary of the Department of Children and Family Services shall create an
automated state case registry of child support orders within the office of child support.
B. The automated state case registry of child support orders, hereinafter referred to
as the "state case registry", shall contain records with respect to each case in which services
are being provided by the child support enforcement section and each support order
established or modified in the state on or after October 1, 1998.
C.(1) The state shall use the state case registry herein to extract information from,
to share and compare information with, and to receive information from other databases and
information comparison services. Such information comparison activities shall include the
federal case registry of child support orders, federal parent locator services, temporary family
assistance and Medicaid agencies, intrastate and interstate information comparisons, and any
other entities required by federal law.
(2) The department shall implement procedures to safeguard any confidential
information contained in the state case registry, including the following:
(a) Safeguards against the unauthorized use or disclosure of information relating to
paternity, child support, or child custody proceedings.
(b) Prohibitions against disclosure of the whereabouts of a party or child to a party
against whom a protective order was entered with respect to that party or child.
(c) Prohibitions against the release of information if the department has reason to
believe that such disclosure of the whereabouts of a party or child may result in physical or
emotional harm to that party or child.
(d)(i) If the department discloses information to a court, the department shall advise
the court if there is reasonable evidence of domestic violence or child abuse perpetrated
against a person or child who is the subject of the inquiry.
(ii) The court shall determine whether or not disclosure to the requesting party would
likely result in physical or emotional harm to the person or child who is the subject of the
inquiry. If the court determines that such disclosure would likely result in harm to that person
or child, the court shall not disclose the information.
D. Clerks of court in the state's judicial districts shall provide the required
information to the child support enforcement section for use in developing the state case
registry. The court shall require the parties, or the attorneys representing the parties, to
provide the required information to the clerks of court. The Department of Children and
Family Services shall enter into cooperative agreements with clerks of court to provide for
reimbursement of the actual costs of collecting and transmitting the information required by
this Section.
E. The Department of Children and Family Services shall develop and distribute the
forms which shall be used to obtain the information. Such forms shall contain, at a
minimum, the data elements identified by the secretary of the United States Department of
Health and Human Services.
F. Except as provided herein, information contained in the state case registry shall
be made available as public records in accordance with law.
Acts 1997, No. 391, §1; Acts 1999, No. 213, §1; Acts 2012, No. 255, §7; Acts 2025,
No. 477, §15, eff. Oct. 1, 2027.