BATON ROUGE — A recently released audit of the Department of Children and Family Services' Child Support Enforcement program ranked Louisiana among the worst U.S. states and territories at collecting child support payments.

According to the Louisiana Legislative Auditor , Louisiana ranked No. 52 out of 54 states and territories in the collection of current child support and No. 47 in the collection of past-due child support in 2024. The findings come despite the department collecting and distributing nearly $2.2 billion in child support payments between 2020 and 2024.

In the audit, DCFS attributed its collection struggles to the state's high poverty rate and low median household income. It also blamed the amount of child support owed on recently changed laws about mandated child suppor

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