Child Support Services of Tennessee has seen a significant increase in money collected for children during the past 20 years.

According to long-time child support prosecutor Craig R. Thompson, the program collected $1 million a year in the late 1980s.  "Now, we collect $30 million to $35 million a year," he said.

Thompson said there are more ways to collect child support payments today than in the past.  Administrators can now take away the offending parent's driver's license, freeze his or her bank accounts or intercept his or her tax refunds, he said.
One of the increasing trends is that we are seeing more mothers paying child support. There are more women who don't have custody of their children. 

Another pattern is that there are now more third-party custodians such as grandparents involved in the cases.

The Case load has changed as well.  In 1987, only two prosecutors in Knox County handled cases before two child support judges known as "referees." Now, five prosecutors work in four referee courts.  

After the court hears a petition for nonpayment contempt, an offending parent can be jailed until he or she pays a reasonable cash amount to the court in order to purge the contempt.

However, much of the case load in Knox County involves enforcing existing child support orders.  

In addition to more cases, there was a complete overhaul of the program guidelines in January of 2005.

Senior Referee Stanley C. Briggs said the guidelines are more complicated now than ever.

Before 2005, child support payments were simply determined by a percentage of the paying parent's net income.  This changed drastically when the guidelines moved to an income shares approach.

"We determine both parents' income and compute what percentage of their combined earnings each one contributes," Briggs said.

With a few exceptions, the parent who has the child for less time each year pays support to the other, Briggs said.  Adjustments are made for situations involving visitation, day care and insurance.

Thompson said even though the new guidelines are harder to compute, the changes benefit both parties involved in the case.

"One good thing about the guidelines is that the payments include daycare and healthcare expenses.  It is also good that it considers both parents' incomes."   

Thompson noted, however, that regardless of the situation, the parties will not always agree.