DFPS is entitled to receive all child support paid for a child, as of the date that the child is placed in substitute care.

Texas Family Code §264.109External Link

If the child’s caregiver is already receiving court-ordered child support, the caseworker must ask the court to make the child support payable to DFPS when DFPS is appointed managing conservator.

If DFPS is appointed temporary managing conservator of a child who is ultimately placed with relatives or close family friends (a kinship placement) and the court orders that the child support be directly paid to the caregiver, the caseworker must:

  •   ask the court to make the child support payable to DFPS; and

  •   inform the court that DFPS will pass the support to the caregiver.

If child support is not made payable to DFPS during temporary conservatorship and the child needs to be moved to a different placement, the caseworker must obtain another court order to ensure that the child support is paid to DFPS or to the child’s new caregiver.

If the court orders the parents to pay child support to DFPS in a conservatorship case, DFPS eligibility staff forwards the court order and submits an automated referral through IMPACT to the Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG’s) Child Support Division for enforcement. The referral must include both legal parents, even if a parent is missing or living in another state. If a parent has more than one child in foster care, the parent must be included on each child’s referral.

DFPS Rules, 40 TAC §700.1109External Link

For the process followed by the eligibility specialist, see the Child Support and Foster Care Eligibility Specialists Resource GuidePDF Document.