Memorandum on the Child Support Initiative

Memorandum for the Secretary of Labor

Subject: Child Support Initiative

I hereby direct you to assist in the implementation of the plan I am announcing today to strengthen the child support system and promote parental responsibility.

I direct you to exercise your legal authority in a manner that will assist the implementation of the plan by encouraging those State employment security agencies that collect new-hire information for use in child support enforcement to report such information to the Department of Health and Human Service's pilot program for matching new-hire data with Federal Parent Locator Service data in order to better track parents owing child support who have taken a job in another State.

The plan I have outlined will help strengthen child support operations by toughening the paternity establishment requirements for applicants for welfare and by enabling States to locate, and withhold wages from, child support obligors who have taken a job in another State. Its prompt implementation is integral to achieving our goal of promoting the American value of parental responsibility.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON