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The Department of Social Services (DSS), Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) offers child support services to any individual requiring help obtaining support. Child Support services include locating parents, establishing paternity, obtaining child support and medical support orders and collection of support payments on pre-existing orders. Services do not include divorce, custody or visitation actions. Additional information about child support services can be found in “A Brief Guide to Child Support Services in Connecticut” .
To apply for child support services, you must contact the local DSS Child Support office for the city or town where you live to make an appointment. Local offices can be found by clicking the following link:
If you are interested in child support services you are required to complete the following forms:
• Application for IV-D Services
If you have a pre-existing support order, you also must complete the following form:
Printing all required forms and filling them out completely prior to going to your appointment will save time for all. Applications are also available in all of the local child support offices. DO NOT SIGN any of the forms as they must be done in front of a child support investigator. Families who receive Temporary Family Assistance (TFA) do not need to complete an application. This is because a child support case is automatically generated upon the granting of cash assistance.
There is no initial application fee; however, the Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) will deduct a $35 annual fee from payments sent to a custodial party who has never received TFA. The fee is collected if at least $550 child support is disbursed by the State of Connecticut to the custodial party during a state fiscal year (July 1 – June 30). This fee will be deducted for each noncustodial parent against whom child support is being enforced.