Prosecutor’s Office

Any custodial parent who is receiving TANF benefits (formerly AFDC payments) from the State of Indiana has assigned their child support rights to the State of Indiana, and must cooperate in trying to establish, enforce or modify a child support order for their children. The child support payments in these cases reimburse the State for benefits received by the children. The parent will receive letters and notifications from the child support division concerning their case, and will have to make an appointment to discuss their case. When the custodial parent is no longer receiving TANF benefits, the child support amount for current child support will be directed to him/her by the State Child Support Bureau, and any payment on arrears will be kept by the State until the State’s arrears are reimbursed also.

If a custodial parent is not receiving TANF benefits from the State of Indiana, they can contact the prosecutor’s office by phone and request that an application for IV-D services be sent to them.  After the application is completed, an appointment may be made by calling our office. The application is to be brought in at the appointment time, along with any required application fee. Copies of existing court orders and any pertinent facts about the case should also be returned with the application.

There is no specific time frame within which the IV-D office will be successful in collecting child support for you. It depends on the circumstances of the non-custodial parent and the information that you are able to provide for the office. If you know of an employer, and there is an existing child support order, it can be a fairly quick process, even as quickly as 30 days. If you have very little information about the non-custodial parent, we may never be able to locate or enforce your order. We need as much information as possible, including address, social security number, and identifiers, such as height, weight, hair color, eye color, date of birth, and picture (if possible).

Also, if the non-custodian has other children, we need to know their approximate ages and whether or not there is a child support order for those children.

You can stop by the office and sign a document that will be sent to the State Child Support Bureau. The Prosecutor’s Office will discontinue enforcement of your case. If you need future enforcement of your child support order, you will have to use a private attorney, or reapply for IV-D services. Any payments of child support made through the Boone County Clerk will then come directly to you, but all IV-D services stop, including the tax intercept certification.

It is difficult to track down and enforce against such an irresponsible parent. However, it is not impossible. We use all means possible to get that person into court on a contempt citation. The courts can punish a payor for contempt in various ways, including incarceration. When punishments are ordered, we often see the payor change his attitude. They may even start taking a greater interest in their child(ren) when they accept the responsibility for assisting with their support.

Yes, visitation is an entirely different issue than child support. A non-custodial parent can file a contempt citation for refusal of the custodian to permit or arrange visitation, just like a custodial parent can file a contempt citation for non-payment of child support. If you have a good reason for not wanting visitation to occur, you should talk to a private attorney about filing a motion to modify the visitation order.