A second provision of PRWORA requires that states  enact laws requiring procedures to suspend licenses of noncustodial  parents who owe past-due child support. CSE programs use SSNs to help locate noncustodial parents and enforce  support orders. Most MVAs Are Collecting SSNs from Driver’s License Applicants but OCSE Actions to Track and Promote Compliance Have Been Limited

Most MVAs (47 out of 53) collect SSNs from all applicants for driver’s  licenses, but OCSE has taken limited or no steps to promote such  collection in states not currently doing so. Few Privacy Concerns Expressed about MVAs Collecting SSNs, Yet Potential Weaknesses in Safeguarding SSNs May Compromise Privacy

State officials and privacy experts we spoke with generally did not express  privacy concerns regarding the policy that MVAs collect SSNs for child  support enforcement. Children’s advocacy groups echoed this belief,  and noted that SSNs are particularly important for facilitating the  collection of payments when noncustodial parents or their income and  assets are not in the same state as the child. Furthermore, although the Social Security Act  requires MVAs to collect SSNs for child support enforcement purposes  and restricts their use to those purposes, the law did not address computer  security at MVAs. When used, the driver’s license suspension process can result in  collecting child support payments in some cases. SSNs from MVAs are particularly valuable because they include  the SSNs of noncustodial parents that CSE programs may have had  difficulty obtaining from other sources. Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

	Objectives

The objectives of our review were to (1) determine the extent to which  states have implemented the federal requirement that MVAs collect SSNs  from all licensed drivers and what OCSE has done to promote compliance  in states not adhering to this requirement, (2) identify privacy concerns  associated with MVA efforts to collect and safeguard SSNs that are used  for child support enforcement purposes, and (3) determine the extent to  which state CSE programs use driver’s license suspension to collect past- due child support and whether this tool has resulted in collections.
What GAO Found

Congress established a national child support enforcement (CSE) program in 1965 to ensure that noncustodial parents financially support their children. In fiscal year 2000, the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) estimated that $84 billion in past-due child support was owed, but never collected. The Social Security Act contains provisions to help child support agencies collect support when noncustodial parents or their income and assets are hard to find. The Act mandates that states enact laws requiring social security numbers (SSNs) on applications for a driver's license. State CSE programs rely on SSNs to locate the addresses, income, and assets of noncustodial parents. Motor vehicle agencies can be a valuable source of SSNs that CSE programs have difficulty obtaining elsewhere. The Act also requires that states suspend, withhold, or restrict the driver's licenses of noncustodial parents delinquent in child support payments. Most motor vehicle agencies that GAO surveyed collect SSNs from all applicants for driver's licenses, but OCSE has taken few steps to promote such collection in states not currently doing so. Although state officials and privacy experts expressed few concerns about motor vehicle agencies collecting SSNs for child support enforcement, possible weaknesses in the policies and procedures in use to safeguard SSNs indicate the potential for compromising privacy. Child support enforcement officials in 35 states told GAO that their agencies use driver's license suspension extensively, which has led to the collection of some payments.