§ 19-11-2.Purposes of article; construction
Chapter 11. Enforcement of Duty of Support · Article 1. Child Support Recovery Act · Last amended 1973 · Last verified October 9, 2026
Full Text of § 19-11-2
Plain-English Summary
This section explains why the Child Support Recovery Act exists. Subsection (a) lists three purposes. First, public assistance for needy children supplements what responsible parents contribute; it doesn’t replace a parent’s duty. Second, the Act provides a way to determine whether a responsible parent is able to support his or her children. Third, it provides for enforcing the obligation of a parent who is able to pay.
Subsection (b) adds a rule of interpretation: the article “shall be liberally construed” to promote those purposes. When a court or agency faces a close question about how far one of the Act’s powers reaches, this instruction tilts the answer toward the reading that better serves those purposes.
The purposes track the structure of the sections that follow. Section 19-11-5 makes public assistance a debt the responsible parent owes the state. Sections 19-11-10, 19-11-11 and 19-11-15 lay out how the Department of Human Services investigates a parent’s ability to pay and sets an amount. Later sections give the department tools to collect. The section is part of the original 1973 Act and has not been amended.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does public assistance replace child support in Georgia?
No. The first purpose listed in this section is that public assistance to needy children is a supplement to the contribution of the responsible parents. The state helps the child, but the parent’s duty stays in place. That idea is why § 19-11-5 treats assistance paid for a child as a debt the responsible parent owes the state.
What are the purposes of Georgia’s Child Support Recovery Act?
There are three. The Act provides that public assistance supplements, rather than replaces, parental support; it provides for determining whether a responsible parent is able to support his or her children; and it provides for enforcing the obligation of a parent who is able to pay. The section lists these in subsection (a).
How do Georgia courts interpret the Child Support Recovery Act?
Liberally. Subsection (b) says the article shall be liberally construed to promote its underlying purposes. In practice, that tells a judge or agency to read the Act’s provisions in the way that best advances those purposes, rather than reading them narrowly. Outcomes on particular questions still depend on the specific section and the facts.
Does the state check whether a parent can afford to pay support?
Yes, that’s one of the Act’s stated purposes. This section says the Act provides for a determination that a responsible parent is able to support his children. The mechanics appear elsewhere: § 19-11-10 lets the department investigate and request a sworn financial statement, and § 19-11-15 ties the support amount to the guidelines in § 19-6-15.
Is this section the same as when the law was first passed?
Yes. The credits cite only the 1973 session laws, so the statement of purposes has stayed the same since the Act was adopted. Other sections of the Act have been amended many times, some as recently as 2024, but this one has not. Its three purposes still frame how the rest of the Act is read.
Amendment History
Laws 1973, p. 192, § 2.