§ 19-11-1.Short title
Chapter 11. Enforcement of Duty of Support · Article 1. Child Support Recovery Act · Last amended 1973 · Last verified October 9, 2026
Full Text of § 19-11-1
Plain-English Summary
This one-line section names Article 1 of Chapter 11 the “Child Support Recovery Act.” The name matters because lawyers, agency notices and court orders often refer to the Act by that title rather than by section numbers, so knowing it helps you find the law that governs your case.
The Act is where Georgia sets up its side of the federal child support program, known as IV-D after the part of the Social Security Act that funds it. The sections that follow make the Department of Human Services responsible for locating absent parents, establishing paternity, setting and reviewing support amounts and collecting payments. They treat public assistance paid for a child as a debt the responsible parent owes the state (§ 19-11-5), let parents who never received assistance apply for the same services (§§ 19-11-6 and 19-11-8), require employers to report new hires (§ 19-11-9.2), allow suspension of driver’s and professional licenses for parents who fall behind (§ 19-11-9.3), and set the process for reviewing orders every 36 months (§ 19-11-12).
The Act’s stated purposes and the instruction to read it liberally appear in § 19-11-2, and its definitions in § 19-11-3. The section itself dates to the original 1973 law and has never been amended.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Georgia Child Support Recovery Act?
It’s the name of Article 1 of Chapter 11 of Title 19, the law that sets up Georgia’s child support enforcement program. Under it, the Department of Human Services locates absent parents, helps establish paternity, sets and reviews support amounts and collects payments, using powers that include new-hire reporting, information requests and license suspension. This section supplies only the name; the working rules are in the sections that follow it.
Who runs child support enforcement in Georgia?
The Department of Human Services. The Child Support Recovery Act gives the department, and the contractors it authorizes, the job of enforcing support duties. Section 19-11-3 defines the “child support enforcement agency” as that entity within the department. The department handles cases for families on public assistance and, on application, for families who have never received it.
What does IV-D mean in a Georgia child support case?
IV-D refers to Title IV-D of the federal Social Security Act, the federal program that funds state child support enforcement. Georgia’s Child Support Recovery Act carries out that program. A “IV-D case” or “IV-D order” is one the Department of Human Services is enforcing — for example, because a family received public assistance, because a parent applied for services, or because an out-of-state order was registered here. Section 19-11-3 explains when an order becomes a IV-D order.
When was Georgia’s Child Support Recovery Act passed?
The Act dates to 1973. The credits for this section cite the 1973 session laws, and the section has not been amended since. Many of the Act’s other sections have been revised many times since then, some as recently as 2024, so check each section’s own history for its current form.
Where do I find the rules for reviewing a child support order through the state?
In § 19-11-12, part of the Child Support Recovery Act. That section explains how the child support enforcement agency reviews IV-D orders under the guidelines in § 19-6-15, how often parties can ask for a review, and how a proposed change becomes an order. The Act’s other sections cover paternity, license suspension, information gathering and collection.
Amendment History
Laws 1973, p. 192, § 1.