Supporting a Child

How do I get or provide child support?

There are a lot of myths about child support. One goal of our campaign is to communicate the facts about child support and direct Native parents and caretakers in need of the services provided by the program to apply.

What is child support?
Child support is payments that one parent (paying parent) makes to either the child’s other parent or legal guardian to help with the costs of raising a child.

Where do I go to apply?
Start on the Colorado Division of Child Support Services website, where you can click on the APPLY button to submit an online application. You can also go to a local office in your county to fill out an application in person.

Who can apply?
Either parent can apply for child support, regardless of how much you see your child(ren) or how much money you make. Caretakers such as grandparents, aunts/uncles, custodial, and noncustodial parents can also apply (anyone who has the child in their physical care). Parents under the age of 18 may apply for child support, but the court may require a guardian to help them through the legal process.

Is there a fee to apply?
In Colorado, it is free to apply for child support.

What happens once I submit my application?
The child support program will gather information to establish how much each parent should contribute. Submitting a child support application may trigger a referral to other programs such as TANF. If you apply for TANF, you will be automatically referred to child support.

What’s TANF?
TANF is short for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. This is a government program that offers a cash benefit to low-income families. The amount of money you receive each month from TANF is based on your gross income before taxes are taken out. If you apply for TANF, you will also be asked to work with the child support program. Here in Colorado, you can receive your full TANF benefit and the child support paid by the other parent (this is known as a pass-through payment).

How much is a child support order?
Both parents, whether they have custody or not, have a financial responsibility for their child based on their education, skills, and work history. The parent’s income for a child support order is determined based on actual or potential earning ability.

The amount of a child support order depends on a lot of factors—other child support orders that may be in place, alimony / spousal support, other children in the home, education expenses, childcare expenses, health insurance, transportation, etc. Other expenses a parent might have, such as rent or car payments, are not considered.

Child support payments can be automatically withheld from a paycheck. If you are a full-time student, incarcerated, or mentally or physically disabled, that is also taken into consideration when a child support order is calculated.

What happens if I or my ex don’t pay child support? 
If a parent does not pay their child support order, they could lose their driver’s license, get a negative credit report, lose their tax refund, have their recreation license suspended, have their bank account seized, and many more up to being held in contempt and jailed (if the parent is choosing to not comply with the child support order).

The goal of child support is to get the payments to support the child. It’s not meant to punish you. The tools that are in place are there to help make sure parents comply with their child support order. If you are struggling to make child support payments, contact your child support caseworker to see what can be done. They want to help!

How do I pay my child support order?
You can pay your child support through Colorado’s Family Support Registry (FSR). Paying through the FSR means that your payment will be recorded.

Can a child support order be changed?
If you are the paying parent, you are responsible for paying your child support even if you don’t have parenting time (visitation) or if you are incarcerated. Life changes. If you can’t pay your order in full, lose your job, or become incarcerated, let your county case worker know as soon as possible. These changes may impact your child support order.

When a child support modification, or change, is put in place, it can result in a higher or lower child support order. The purpose of this is to have the order reflect the current circumstances of both parents or caregivers.

Is child support only about money?
Colorado is one of the first states to use what’s known as a 2Gen (multi-generation) approach for child support. This is a new way of working that helps the whole family—kids and both parents, whether they live together or not. In addition to working to collect financial support, parents and caretakers can receive education and job training, parenting and co-parenting support, health insurance enrollment guidance, and childcare resources.