[Code of Federal Regulations] [Title 45, Volume 2] [Revised as of October 1, 2004] From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access [CITE: 45CFR304.20] [Page 266-268] TITLE 45--PUBLIC WELFARE CHAPTER III--OFFICE OF CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT (CHILD SUPPORT PART 304_FEDERAL FINANCIAL PARTICIPATION--Table of Contents Sec. 304.20 Availability and rate of Federal financial participation. (a) Federal financial participation at the applicable matching rate is available for: (1) Necessary expenditures under the State title IV-D plan for the support enforcement services and activities specified in this section and Sec. 304.21 provided to individuals from whom an assignment of support rights as defined in Sec. 301.1 of this chapter has been obtained; (2) Parent locator services for individuals eligible pursuant to Sec. 302.33 of this title; (3) Paternity and support services under the State plan for individuals eligible pursuant to Sec. 302.33 of this chapter. (b) Services and activities for which Federal financial participation will be available shall be those made pursuant to the approved title IV-D State plan which are determined by the Secretary to be necessary expenditures properly attributable to the Child Support Enforcement program, except any expenditure incurred in providing location services to individuals listed in Sec. 302.35(c)(4) of this title, including the following: (1) The administration of the State Child Support Enforcement program, including but not limited to the following: (i) The establishment and administration of the State plan; (ii) Monitoring the progress of program development and operations and evaluating the quality, efficiency, effectiveness and scope of support enforcement services available in each political subdivision; (iii) The establishment of all necessary agreements with other State and local agencies or private providers for the provision of services in support of support enforcement in accordance with the Procurement Standards found in 45 CFR 74.40 et seq. These agreements may include: (A) Necessary administrative agreements for support services; (B) Utilization of State and local information resources; (C) Cooperation with courts and law enforcement officials, and Indian Tribes or Tribal organizations pursuant to Sec. 302.34 of this chapter; (iv) Securing compliance with the requirements of the State plan in operations under any agreements; (v) The development and maintenance of systems for fiscal and program records and reports required to be made to the Office based on these records; (vi) The development of a cost allocation system pursuant to Sec. 304.15 of this chapter; (vii) The financial control of the State plan including the administration of Federal grants pursuant to Sec. 301.15 of this chapter; (viii) The establishment of agreements with agencies administering the State's title IV-A and IV-E plans in order to establish criteria for: (A) Referral of cases to the IV-D agency; (B) Reporting on a timely basis information necessary to the determination and redetermination of eligibility and amount of assistance payments; (C) The procedures to be used to transfer collections from the IV-D agency to the IV-A or IV-E agency before or after the distribution described in Sec. 302.51 or Sec. 302.52, respectively, of this chapter. (ix) The establishment of agreements with Medicaid agencies necessary to carry out required IV-D activities and to establish criteria for: (A) Referring cases to the IV-D agency; [[Page 267]] (B) Reporting on a timely basis information necessary for the determination and redetermination of eligibility for Medicaid; (C) Transferring collections from the IV-D agency to the Medicaid agency in accordance with Sec. 302.51(c) of this chapter. (2) The establishment of paternity including: (i) Reasonable attempts to determine the identity of the child's father such as: (A) Investigation; (B) The development of evidence including the use of the polygraph and genetic tests; (C) Pre-trial discovery; (ii) Court or other actions to establish paternity pursuant to procedures established under State statutes or regulations having the effect of law; (iii) Identifying competent laboratories that perform genetic tests as described in Sec. 303.5(c) of this chapter and making a list of those laboratories available; (iv) Referral of cases to the IV-D agency of another State to establish paternity when appropriate; (v) Cooperation with other States in determining paternity; (vi) Payments up to $20 to hospitals, State birth record agencies, and other entities designated by the State and participating in the State's voluntary paternity establishment program, under Sec. 303.5(g) of this chapter, for each voluntary acknowledgment obtained pursuant to an agreement with the IV-D agency; (vii) Developing and providing to hospitals, State birth record agencies, and other entities designated by the State and participating in the State's voluntary paternity establishment program, under Sec. 303.5(g) of this chapter, written and audiovisual materials about paternity establishment and forms necessary to voluntarily acknowledge paternity; and (viii) Reasonable and essential short-term training associated with the State's program of voluntary paternity establishment services under Sec. 303.5(g). (3) The establishment and enforcement of support obligations including: (i) Investigation, the development of evidence and when appropriate, bringing court actions; (ii) Determination of the amount of the child support obligation including developing the information needed for a financial assessment; (iii) Referral of cases to the IV-D agency of another State to establish a child support obligation when appropriate; (iv) Enforcement of a support obligation including those activities associated with collections and the enforcement of court orders, such as contempt citations, issuance of warrants, investigation, income withholding and processing, and the obtaining and enforcing of court- ordered support through civil or criminal proceedings either in the State that granted the order or in another State; (v) Investigation and prosecution of fraud related to child and spousal support. (4) The collection and distribution of support payments including: (i) An effective system for making collections of established support obligations and identifying delinquent cases and attempting to collect support from these cases; (ii) Referral of cases to the IV-D agency of another State for collection when appropriate; (iii) Making collections for another State; (iv) The distribution of funds as required by this chapter; (v) Making the IV-A agency aware of the amounts collected and distributed to the family for the purposes of determining eligibility for, and amount of, assistance under the State title IV-A plan; (vi) Making the Medicaid agency aware of amounts collected and distributed to the family for the purposes of determining eligibility for assistance under the State XIX plan. (5) The establishment and operation of the State parent locator service including: (i) Utilization of appropriate State and local locate sources to locate noncustodial parents; (ii) Utilization of the Federal Parent Locator Service; [[Page 268]] (iii) Collection of the fee pursuant to Sec. 303.70(e) of this chapter; (iv) Referral of requests for location of a noncustodial parent to the IV-D agency of another State; (v) Cooperation with another State in locating an noncustodial parent; (6) Activities related to requests for certification of collection of support delinquencies by the Secretary of the Treasury pursuant to Sec. 303.71 of this chapter. (7) Activities related to requests for utilization of the United States district courts pursuant to Sec. 303.73 of this chapter. (8) Establishing and maintaining case records as required by Sec. 303.2 of this chapter. (9) The operation of systems that meet the conditions of Sec. 307.35(a) of this chapter; and (10) Systems approved in accordance with 45 CFR part 95, subpart F. (See Sec. 307.35(b) of this chapter.) (11) Required medical support activities as specified in Sec. Sec. 303.30 and 303.31 of this chapter. (c) Until September 30, 1997, Federal financial participation is available at the 90 percent rate for the planning design, development, installation and enhancement of computerized support enforcement systems that meet the requirements in Sec. 307.30(a) of this chapter. (d) Federal financial participation at the 90 percent rate is available for laboratory costs incurred in determining paternity on or after October 1, 1988, including the costs of obtaining and transporting blood and other samples of genetic material, repeated testing when necessary, analysis of test results, and the costs for expert witnesses in a paternity determination proceeding, but only if the expert witness costs are included as part of the genetic testing contract. [40 FR 27166, June 26, 1975, as amended at 46 FR 1276, Jan. 6, 1981; 47 FR 24719, June 8, 1982; 47 FR 57282, Dec. 23, 1982; 49 FR 33263, Aug. 22, 1984; 50 FR 19656, May 9, 1985; 50 FR 41894, Oct. 16, 1985; 54 FR 32313, Aug. 4, 1989; 56 FR 8005, Feb. 26, 1991; 56 FR 22355, May 15, 1991; 57 FR 47002, Oct. 14, 1992; 59 FR 66251, Dec. 23, 1994; 61 FR 67241, Dec. 20, 1996; 63 FR 44814, Aug. 21, 1998; 64 FR 6252, Feb. 9, 1999; 64 FR 11810, Mar. 10, 1999; 68 FR 25305, May 12, 2003]