Illinois families who need help obtaining child support may be able to find assistance through the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS). Through their Child Support Program, a family can have access to a variety of services, including help finding the non-custodial parent, withholding income from the non-custodial parent’s job or unemployment benefits, enrolling dependents in a health insurance coverage plan, obtaining or adjusting a child support order and establishing paternity.
The HFS can also utilize various child support collection methods if it becomes necessary. Some methods include denying a passport request to the delinquent parent, suspending his or her driver’s license, putting a lien on the his or her finances or property, withholding tax refunds, suspending his or her professional license and reporting him or her to credit bureaus.
When cases that the HFS is involved in go to court, the department is represented by attorneys that are their own. This means the attorneys do not represent the family that is seeking child support. Any conversation the family may have with the attorneys will not be considered confidential because there is no attorney-client privilege between those seeking child support and the HFS lawyers.
A family may want to use their own private representation when seeking child support. In this case, the HFS could still be of assistance in the case. The family could still have access to and utilize HFS services, but during the case, they would have an attorney that represents them. Therefore, all interaction with the lawyer would be considered confidential and would be protected by attorney-client privilege.
Source: childsupportillinois.com, “Child Support Program Fact Sheet “, October 18, 2014
