Establishment of paternity, child support, and medical support orders is the first function. Enforcement of those orders is the other function. Spousal support orders are also enforced when done in conjunction with child support enforcement. CSE agencies are also able to locate missing parents and their assets, modify existing child support orders, initiate and respond to interstate cases in addition to enforcement of all applicable state and federal child support laws and procedures.

Any parent or caretaker can open a child support case. That means a noncustodial parent can too. Several good reasons for noncustodial parents to open a case would be for the noncustodial parent’s account to be handled by the CSE agency in order to ensure he or she is properly credited with the payments made, and to be protected from too frequent requests for modification.