May 11, 2026
In 1975, the Child Support Program was enacted in the United States to reduce public spending by making sure noncustodial parents contributed financially to supporting their kids.
In 2023, the most recent year for which data is available, $25.7 billion in child support was collected from parents and transferred to those receiving support, according to a March 2025 Congressional Research Service report. (1)
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In total, 65% of all payments that were due were collected. Unfortunately, this means a substantial amount of child support payments aren't being made.
While there are many enforcement mechanisms to make parents pay, including programs that collect the money directly from employers before wages are sent to workers, there's now a new threat looming over parents who don't cover their kids. They could lose their passports.
Parents who don't pay can say goodbye to their U.S. passports
On Thursday, May 7, the U.S. State Department told the Associated Press that it would begin revoking passports for parents who owe at least $100,000 in unpaid child support — effective as of Friday, May 8. (2)
This initial enforcement effort will affect around 2,700 holders of U.S. passports. But it is just the beginning of the crackdown.
Soon, the revocation program will expand to any parents who owe $2,500 or more. According to the Associated Press, this threshold was set by a 1996 law that has not been really enforced up to this point.
There is no clear data on exactly how many parents have unpaid balances topping $2,500, but officials did indicate that "many more thousands" would likely be caught up in the crackdown and grounded by the government.
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What a passport revocation entails
The State Department is also making another big change.
While previously, passport renewal was typically denied to those who owed support, now the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is proactively reporting data on parents with past due balances to the State Department. Anyone with balances above the $2,500 threshold will have the documents revoked right away.
"We are expanding a commonsense practice that has been proven effective at getting those who owe child support to pay their debt," Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Mora Namdar told the Associated Press. "Once these parents resolve their debts, they can once again enjoy the privilege of a U.S. passport."
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Those who lose their passports will be notified of the change and told they can't use their documents for travel. They'll have to reapply for a passport after paying their outstanding balance.
And anyone who is abroad when their passport is revoked will have to get an emergency travel document from the U.S. Consulate to be allowed back home to the U.S.
What this means for parents
If you are a parent waiting for support, hopefully this program will help you get your money.
The Associated Press said the State Department had "seen data that hundreds of parents took action and resolved their arrears with state authorities since news broke that the State Department would start proactively revoking passports."
There are departments in each state tasked with collecting unpaid child support, and those departments will typically collect the past due payments and distribute them to you if you're waiting for support that the other parent pays. (3) You can contact your state's Child Support Program to find out your options for making sure you get your money if payments are made.
For parents who owe and who can't pay the full amount, it may be possible to request a payment agreement (4) but this won't change the terms of the support order and you won't get the passport back until you've paid what you owe and applied for a new one. (5)
You can pay outstanding child support to your state's child support enforcement agency (to all states where you owe it) online. (5)
Article Sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines.
Congressional Research Service (1); Associated Press (2); Florida Department of Revenue (3),(4); U.S. Department of State (5)
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Christy Bieber has 15 years of experience as a personal finance and legal writer. She has written for many publications including Forbes, Kilplinger, CNN, WSJ, Credit Karma, Insurify and more.
