Office of Child Support Services (OCSS)

Children need the support of their families to thrive and be healthy and successful. They have the right to count on their parents for the emotional, spiritual, medical and financial support they deserve. Parents have the moral and legal obligation to ensure the health, welfare and safety of their children is first priority. The children are our future!

The OCSS provides paternity establishment and child support services to families where the child, mother and/or father are enrolled members of the KBIC or other federally recognized Tribe when at least one of the parties reside on the L'Anse Reservation. The OCSS also processes income withholding orders for all Tribal employees.

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Paternity Establishment

Paternity establishment means the legal process to determine the parentage of a child born out of wedlock.

Your child has a right to a sense of belonging that comes from knowing who both parents are. This includes having the father's name on the birth certificate and establishing a tie to the Tribal community.

Both parents are morally responsible to emotionally and spiritually support their child while being legally obligated to financially support them.

Children who have the support of both parents do better as they journey through life. Your child has a right to know their complete medical history from both parents and they have a right to the various benefits that might be available through one or the other parent, including:

Tribal Identity and Enrollment

Tribal Benefits

Social Security Benefits

Insurance

Inheritance Rights

Veteran's Benefits

Paternity can be established in two ways:

Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity

Court Order

The OCSS provides paternity establishment services including genetic testing at a substantially reduced cost.

Child Support

Every child needs emotion, spiritual and financial support from both parents. Even when parents do not live together they still need to work together to ensure the health, safety and well-being of their children.

What is child support?
Child support is money that an absent parent pays to the custodial party (person the child lives with) to help meet the needs of the child. The amount and schedule of the payments are usually established through the Court.

An order for child support may be a part of a temporary, permanent or modified court order in a:

Divorce
Paternity Action
Child Custody Action
Family support Action
Inter-Jurisdictional Action
Other special type of order

Who can receive child support?

You may be eligible for services if you are the parent of a minor child, or have physical custody of a minor child and:

The child live in your home;
Is financially dependant on you;
One or both parents are absent from the home

What does a child support order include?
An order for child support may include provisions for:

A monetary amount to be paid to the family for the support of the child;
One or both parents to provide medical, dental and vision health care coverage;
Assistance with child care expenses;
Assistance with educational expenses;
Non-cash support;
Other provisions to meet the specific needs of the child.

A child support order can be established in two ways:

Stipulation and Order for Support
Court Order

The OCSS provides child support establishment services when the child, mother and/or father are members of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community or other federally recognized Tribe when at least one of the parties lives on the L'Anse Reservation.

Enforcement

One important function of the OCSS is enforcing child support orders.
Child support orders can be enforced in many ways. The easiest and most efficient method of collecting child support is through Income Withholding.

What is Income Withholding?

The Court orders income withholding when a child support order is established. The OCSS then sends a notice to the non-custodial party's employer. The notice contains information telling the employer how much money to withhold from the non-custodial party's pay and how often to withhold it. The employer sends the money directly to the OCSS. The OCSS credits the non-custodial party's account and issues a check to the custodial party.

Benefits of income withholding are:

Families receive their child support payments regularly;
Regular payments prevent arrears from accruing;
Convenience for the non-custodial party as they no longer have to send in a money order or go to the child support office to make a payment.

Where can payments be made if Income Withholding is not being done?

Some non-custodial parties choose to make child support payments themselves. Payments can be made in person at the Office of Child Support Services located at 427 N. Superior Avenue, Baraga, MI.
If you are mailing a payment, please send a money order or cashiers check to:

Office of Child Support Services
16429 Bear Town Road
Baraga, MI 49908-9210

Please do not send cash in the mail!
No personal checks please.

What happens when the non-custodial party fails to make a child support payment?
When a non-custodial party fails to meet his or her obligations as ordered by the court, other enforcement measures are taken. Enforcement may include:

Interception of state and/or federal tax refunds;
Suspension of driver's licenses, professional licenses, and/or state hunting and fishing licenses;
Passport denial;
Liens on property;
Freezing and/or seizing bank accounts;
JAIL

If you are a custodial party (the person who receives child support payments) and you are not receiving your child support payments, contact our office as soon as possible.

If you are a non-custodial party (the person who pays child support) and you are unable to make your payments as ordered, contact the OCSS immediately. We will work with you to help you find a way to meet your obligations.

Modification

If circumstances have changed that you believe could affect your child support order, you can contact the OCSS and request a review of your case for a possible modification.

You will be given a form and instructed to complete it and return it along with current financial documents or other documents that would support your claim.

Your case worker will conduct a review to determine if the change is substantial enough to warrant a modification.

A substantial change means a change in your circumstances that would affect your child support order by 10%, higher or lower.

Modifications allow orders to stay up-to-date with changes in circumstances by:

Increasing or decreasing the amount of child support being paid based on changes in either parents' income;
Preventing high arrears from accruing in situations where the original order is based on out-dated financial information;
Re-directing child support payments when the custody of a child changes.

If you want your order reviewed, you must submit a Request for Review in writing to the OCSS. Please be aware that if a modification of your order is required, it might increase or decrease the amount of support you receive or pay.

Inter-Jurisdiction

The OCSS extends the full range of available child support services in response to all requests from other Tribal and state IV-D agencies pursuant to 45 CFR 309.120(a).

Pursuant to Title Seven, Chapter 7, Section 7.428 of KBIC Tribal Codes to comply with 45 CFR 309.120(b) we operate under the Full Faith and Credit for Child Support Orders Act (FFCCSOA) 28 U.S.C. 1738 B.

In addition, Title Nine, Chapter 9, Section 9.104 of the KBIC Tribal Codes is our Tribal authority to give full faith and credit to foreign orders of a civil nature.

Child Support / Paternity: The OCSS provides paternity establishment and child support services to families where the child, mother and/or father are enrolled members of the KBIC or other federally recognized Tribe when at least one of the parties reside on the L'Anse Reservation.

Age of Emancipation: age 18; or age 19 years and 6 months if enrolled in and attending high school full time while residing with the Custodial Party; or a person who has become emancipated by order of the Court.
Statute of Limitations: None

Income Withholding Order/Notice: The OCSS also processes all income withholding orders for all Tribal employees. When a child support case involves a Non-Custodial Party who works for the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and the child support order originates in another jurisdiction, the other jurisdiction must request assistance from the OCSS to enforce their order.

The OCSS currently has a manual case management system. However, they accept all inter-governmental IV-D requests for assistance when submitted using the federal Inter-Governmental Transmittal Forms via US Postal Service, fax, or email.

All requests from an initiating jurisdiction for enforcement of foreign child support orders must include:

Child Support Enforcement Transmittal #1 - Initial Request
Registration Statement
General Testimony
Certified copies of most recent order
Certified copies of debt calculation/statement of arrears
Other documents as necessary or required.

All requests for child support establishment or paternity establishment must include:

Child Support Enforcement Transmittal #1 - Initial Request
Uniform Support Petition
Registration Statement
General Testimony
Affidavit in Support of Establishing Paternity (for paternity cases)
Other documents as necessary or required

TANF: If TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) reimbursement is being requested please include all the dates TANF was paid to the Custodial Party for the children in the case.

All requests for locate must include:

Locate Data Sheet

Mission Statement

The Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) is committed to improving the lives of children.
We strive to strengthen family responsibilities and values through quality service and cultural integrity.

We work to ensure that paternity is established when appropriate; financial disputes between separated parents are minimized; and parents are held accountable to support their children in accordance with their resources and abilities.

We are committed to maintaining an effective program that will meet the needs of families; improve the welfare of children; and strengthen tribal sovereignty.

Our goals are founded in our commitment to families while complying with Tribal Codes and Federal Regulations to:

Establish Paternity
Establish, Monitor, Modify and Enforce Child Support Orders;
Locate Custodial and Non-Custodial Parents
Provide Quality Customer Service; and
Provide Customer and Community Education