Nationally, $107 billion is owed to American children by their non-custodial parents. And that amount is growing at an alarming rate. Cases of past due child support have increased from 2 million in 1976 to 107 million in 2005.

The FIDM Alliance is a 21-state consortium, formed to enhance and collaborate on efforts of member states to collect the outstanding child support debt.

On August 22, 1996, Public Law 104-193, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), also known as the Welfare Reform Act, was signed into law.

The Financial Institutions Data Match (FIDM) is a provision of PRWORA designed to accelerate and increase collection of delinquent child support payments. It is designed to help move children and families off welfare.

FIDM requires all states to enter into agreements with financial institutions doing business in their state and conduct a quarterly data match. The data match will identify accounts belonging to parents delinquent in their child support obligation. When a match is made, state child support programs may issue liens or levies on the accounts of delinquent obligors to collect past-due child support.

This web site supports the FIDM Alliance states, which have contracted with Informatix, Inc. to administer data matches with financial institutions. Informatix's exclusive Data Match system ensures efficient, secure, web-based data exchange and matching.

The Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), working together with state and local child support programs, is implementing FIDM as a nationwide child support enforcement strategy aimed at dramatically improving children's lives.