                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

CENTRAL UNIT FOR INFORMATION AND ADMINISTRATION; REQUEST AND RECEIPT OF
INFORMATION FROM OTHER ENTITIES AND AGENCIES; DISCLOSURE OF SUCH INFORMATION (§
63.2-1902)

The Department is authorized and directed to establish a central unit within the
Department to administer the Title IV D State Plan according to 45 C.F.R.
302.12. The central unit shall have the statewide jurisdiction and authority to:

1. Establish a registry for the receipt of information;

2. Answer interstate inquiries concerning noncustodial parents;

3. Coordinate and supervise departmental activities in relation to noncustodial
parents to ensure effective cooperation with law-enforcement agencies; and

4. Contract and enter into cooperative agreements with individuals and agencies
including law-enforcement agencies, in order that they may assist the Department
in its responsibilities.
			The central unit within the Department shall supervise offices whose primary
functions are:			a. Location of absent noncustodial parents;			b. Assessment of
the ability of parents to pay child or child and spousal support and to obtain
health care coverage or cash medical support, or both, for dependent
children;			c. Establishment, modification and enforcement of support
obligations including health care coverage for dependent children, through
administrative action;			d. Preparation of individual cases for court action
existing under all laws of the Commonwealth;			e. Ensuring on a consistent basis
that support continues in all cases in which support is assessed
administratively or ordered by the court; and			f. Provision of its services in
establishing paternity and establishing and enforcing support obligations
equally to public-assisted and nonpublic-assisted families.			To effectuate the
purposes of this section, the Commissioner may request and shall receive from
the records of state, county and local agencies within and without the
Commonwealth, including but not limited to such agencies and entities
responsible for vital records; tax and revenue; real and titled personal
property; authorizations to engage in a business, trade, profession or
occupation; employment security; motor vehicle licensing and registration;
public assistance programs and corrections, all information and assistance as
authorized by this chapter. The Commissioner may request from state and local
criminal justice agencies within the Commonwealth assistance in locating and
serving individuals who owe child support and have an outstanding civil show
cause summons or capias pursuant to &#xA7; 16.1-278.16. Solely for the purposes
of obtaining motor vehicle licensing and registration information from entities
within and without the Commonwealth, the Division of Child Support Enforcement
shall be deemed to be a criminal justice agency.			With respect to individuals
who owe child support or are alleged in a pending paternity proceeding to be a
putative father, the Commissioner may request and shall receive the names and
addresses of such individuals and the names and addresses of such
individuals&#8217; employers as appearing in the customer records of public
service corporations and companies as defined in &#xA7; 56-1, cable television
companies and financial institutions. All state, county and city departments,
boards, bureaus or other entities or agencies, officers and employees shall
cooperate in the location of noncustodial parents who have abandoned or
deserted, or are failing to support, children and their custodial parents and
shall on request supply the Department with all information on hand relative to
the location, income, benefits and property of such noncustodial parents,
notwithstanding any provision of law making such information confidential. These
entities are authorized to provide such information as is necessary for this
purpose. Only information directly bearing on the identity and whereabouts of a
person owing or asserted to be owing an obligation of support shall be requested
and used or transmitted by the Commissioner. The Commissioner may make such
information available only to public officials, agencies and political
subdivisions of this Commonwealth, and other states seeking to locate parents
who have deserted their children and other persons liable for support of
dependents for the purpose of enforcing their liability for support. A civil
penalty not to exceed $1,000 may be assessed by the Commissioner for a failure
to respond to a request for information made in accordance with this
section.			Any public or private person, partnership, firm, corporation or
association, any financial institution and any political subdivision, department
or other entity of the Commonwealth who in good faith and in the absence of
gross negligence, willful misconduct or breach of an ethical duty, provide
information requested pursuant to this section shall be immune from liability,
civil or criminal, that might otherwise result from the release of such
information to the Department.

HISTORY: 1988, c. 906, § 63.1-274.6; 1990, c. 836; 1991, cc. 545, 588; 1994, c.
665; 1997, cc. 796, 895; 2001, c. 573; 2002, c. 747; 2003, cc. 467, 929, 942;
2009, c. 713.