North Carolina § 110-128 - Purposes.

§ 110-128. Purposes.

The purposes of this Article are to provide for the financial support of dependent children; to enforce spousal support when a child support order is being enforced; to provide that public assistance paid to dependent children is a supplement to the support required to be provided by the responsible parent; to provide that the payment of public assistance creates a debt to the State; to provide that the acceptance of public assistance operates as an assignment of the right to child support; to provide for the location of absent parents; to provide for a determination that a responsible parent is able to support his children; and to provide for enforcement of the responsible parent's obligation to furnish support and to provide for the establishment and administration of a program of child support enforcement in North Carolina. History (1975, c. 827, s. 1; 1977, 2nd Sess., c. 1186, s. 1; 1985, c. 506, s. 2.) Editor's Note. - Session Laws 2005-276, s. 10.43(a) provides: "The Department of Health and Human Services shall develop and implement performance standards for each of the State and county child support enforcement offices across the State. To develop these performance standards, the Department of Health and Human Services shall evaluate other private and public child support models and national standards as well as other successful collections models. These performance standards shall include the following: Cost per collections. Consumer satisfaction. Paternity establishments. Administrative costs. Orders established. Collections on arrearages. Location of absent parents. Other related performance measures. The Department of Health and Human Services shall monitor the performance of each office and shall implement a system of reporting that allows each local office to review its performance as well as the performance of other local offices. The Department of Health and Human Services shall publish an annual performance report that shall include the statewide and local office performance of each child support office." For similar provisions, see Session Laws 2003-284, s. 10.44(a)-(c). Session Laws 2009-126, s. 1(a) and (b), provides: "(a) The Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Oversight Committee shall include in the 2009-2010 Work Plan for the Program Evaluation Division of the General Assembly a study of existing programs that directly or indirectly benefit children and youth in this State. The Division shall identify the programs and their sources of funding and determine whether the programs have clear goals, indicators, or benchmarks by which to measure the programs' success. "(b) The Program Evaluation Division shall submit its findings and recommendations to the Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Oversight Committee, the Joint Legislative Study Commission on Children and Youth, and the Fiscal Research Division at a date to be determined by the Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Oversight Committee." Session Laws 2011-145, s. 31.23(g), as added by Session Laws 2011-391, s. 66.1, provides: "Notwithstanding any other provision of law, G.S. 7A-305(f) and G.S. 7A-308(a)(21) , as enacted by this section, shall not apply to actions commenced or prosecuted pursuant to Article 9 of Chapter 110 of the General Statutes." Session Laws 2013-225, s. 4(e), effective July 1, 2013, and applicable to pleadings filed on or after that date, repealed s. 66.1 of Session Laws 2011-391. Session Laws 2011-145, s. 1.1, provides: "This act shall be known as the 'Current Operations and Capital Improvements Appropriations Act of 2011."' Session Laws 2011-145, s. 32.2, provides: "Except for statutory changes or other provisions that clearly indicate an intention to have effects beyond the 2011-2013 fiscal biennium, the textual provisions of this act apply only to funds appropriated for, and activities occurring during, the 2011-2013 fiscal biennium." Session Laws 2011-145, s. 32.5, is a severability clause. Session Laws 2015-241, s. 12C.7(c), (d), provides: "(c) Reporting by County Child Support Services Programs. - NCCSS shall establish guidelines that identify appropriate uses for federal incentive funding. To ensure those guidelines are properly followed, NCCSS shall require county child support services programs to comply with each of the following: "(1) Submit an annual plan describing how federal incentive funding would improve program effectiveness and efficiency as a condition of receiving federal incentive funding. "(2) Report annually on: (i) how federal incentive funding has improved program effectiveness and efficiency and been reinvested into their programs, (ii) provide documentation that the funds were spent according to their annual plans, and (iii) explain any deviations from their plans. "(d) Plan/Report by NCCSS. - The NCCSS shall develop a plan to implement the requirements of this section. Prior to implementing the plan, NCCSS shall submit a progress report on the plan to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Health and Human Services and the Fiscal Research Division by February 1, 2016. "After implementing the plan, NCCSS shall submit a report on federal child support incentive funding to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Health and Human Services and the Fiscal Research Division by November 1 of each year. The report shall describe how federal incentive funds enhanced centralized child support services to benefit county child support services programs and improved the effectiveness and efficiency of county child support services programs. The report shall further include any changes to the State process the NCCSS used in calculating and distributing federal incentive funding to county child support services programs and any recommendations for further changes." Session Laws 2015-241, s. 1.1, provides: "This act shall be known as 'The Current Operations and Capital Improvements Appropriations Act of 2015.'" Session Laws 2015-241, s. 33.4, provides: "Except for statutory changes or other provisions that clearly indicate an intention to have effects beyond the 2015-2017 fiscal biennium, the textual provisions of this act apply only to funds appropriated for, and activities occurring during, the 2015-2017 fiscal biennium." Session Laws 2015-241, s. 33.6, is a severability clause. Legal Periodicals. - For survey of 1980 constitutional law, see 59 N.C.L. Rev. 1097 (1981). For note, "Family Law - Lovers' Triangle Turns Bermuda Triangle: The Natural Father's Right to Rebut the Marital Presumption - Michael H. v. Gerald D.," see 25 Wake Forest L. Rev. 617 (1990).