In an effort to increase child support collections by tens of millions for Kansas children, the Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF) Friday began accepting proposals to privatize its system of collecting child support across the state.

“Child support payments can make an enormous difference in the financial well-being of a child, especially if that child is living in a household on the brink of poverty,” said DCF Secretary Phyllis Gilmore. “While we examine the root causes of childhood poverty and long-term solutions, we’re also working on steps that can be taken immediately to address this issue. One such step is in the area of child support.”

In Kansas, DCF’s Child Support Services division collects more than $200 million each year from non-custodial parents to support their children. The department projects that the state could increase these collections by about $52 million over the initial three years of the contracts under a privatized system