Q: I'm owed a lot of money for child support but my local child support office isn't doing anything to help me get it; what else can I do?

A: We don't have any expertise on this issue, i.e. which programs are federal which are state/local. and how much is state. The federal government's Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) programs are profiled at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/opa/fact_sheets/cse_factsheet.html.

The New York State Better Business Bureau has a lengthy article about collecting child support, including issues and risks involved in using private collection companies rather than going through the court system.

You should also look at a community website where others trying to collect child support go to post their problems and get advice... at a glance, one such site might be Divorcenet.com: Divorce Net: Family Law Information, Solutions, News and Community. [Note-- we have no experience with this site, and it appears to be for-profit, not usually our preferred first visit...] It has message boards and a variety of articles, including a state-by-state resources guidelines.

Hopefully others can add additional information and recommended sites... good luck!