Child Support

Any parent or person who has legal custody of a child can get help in locating the child's absent parent, establishing a child's parentage, establishing a child support order, modifying the order, obtaining health insurance for a child, collecting current child support, and any past due child support.

People who receive Family Assistance for a child in their care are automatically referred to child support services.

People not receiving Family Assistance or Medicaid can receive our services by simply applying for such services, without regard to income.

You may call 1-888-208-4485, write to the address below, or send an e-mail (CSEWEB) to request an enrollment form for services or you can stop in and pick one up at the following address:

Oneida County Support Collection Unit
800 Park Ave.
Utica, New York 13501

The Child Support Unit can assist you with obtaining a court order. A court can establish a child support order based on the filing of a petition requesting to do so. The person chargeable with support must be the child's parent through marriage, adoption, or through the establishment of parentage. Child support orders are generally payable until the child's twenty-first birthday.

The Child Support Unit can assist individuals to establish parentage. Parentage refers to the "Legal Parent(s)" of a child. The Legal Parent refers to a person recognized by law as the parent of a child. A person is considered the legal parent of a child if he/she/they were married to the child's birth mother at the time of the child's birth, or if parentage has been established through legal adoption, an Order of Filiation, or by signing an Acknowledgment of Parentage (AOP).

Yes! Once you establish parentage for the child. There are many excellent reasons for parents to legally establish the parentage of their child.

A child is entitled to financial support, including child support, social security benefits, veteran's benefits, military allowances, and inheritance once parentage has been established.

A child may be entitled to health insurance through their parent(s) once parentage has been established. This will also allow access to medical history records.

Yes! The Child Support Enforcement program uses computer searches against a large number of New York State, other states, and Federal data banks to locate noncustodial parents.

The most critical piece of information you can supply to help find an absent parent is their social security number.  If you do not have the social security number, you can check hospital records, bank records, insurance policies, credit card records, paystubs, or income tax returns.

You should first contact our payment information line at 1-800-846-0773, available 24 hours a day/7 days a week.  You will need to provide your Social Security Number and your PIN.  If you do not have a PIN, call 1-888-208-4485 to request one. For further questions on obtaining a PIN, please visit: https://www.childsupport.ny.gov/dcse/userID_faqs.html

If no payment has been reported on our information line, you should then contact your Investigator via fax, mail, e-mail, or in person. The Investigator will advise what action should be taken next. There are administrative and judicial remedies that can be used to collect all current and past-due child support. Some of the remedies are as follows:

• Income Withholding Order – all child support orders issued in New York State which are payable through the Support Collection Unit are required to provide for immediate wage withholding.
• Income Tax Refund Offset
• Lottery Prize Offset
• Driving Privilege Suspension
• Liens
• Referral to the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance
• Credit Bureau Reporting
• Violation petition filing with the court.

New York State law mandates that all orders of child support must require either parent to extend health insurance if available and affordable through an employer, at the time the order is issued or at any time in the future, to cover the child.  If the noncustodial parent has health insurance available but does not enroll the child, the Child Support Unit can help enforce this provision of the court order.

The Child Support Unit can help you increase the obligation amount of your child support order depending on the situation. Further questions can be answered by the Investigator at the local office.

Yes, please complete an enrollment form for Child Support Services and our unit can assist you.

NYS DCSS | Custodial Parent Services

All states are required to pursue all child support enforcement programs for out-of-state cases in the same way they do for in-state cases.  All states must cooperate with each other in these matters.

NYS DCSS | Noncustodial Parent Services

Access Child Support Services Safely

Either party can update their information, (phone number, address, employer) by utilizing any of our contact options listed above.

Contact the Child Support Unit to see if you qualify for an Administrative Review. An administrative review does not change the amount you own, just the amount collected towards arrears you owe. The only way to change the amount owed is through a court order. You can file a petition in court if you feel the amount you are paying should change.