CHAPTER 250
AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 5, TITLE 31 AND CHAPTER 5, TITLE 13, DELAWARE CODE, RELATING TO THE PAYMENT TO THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WELFARE OF SUMS COLLECTED FOR SUPPORT UNDER COURT ORDER, AND TO. THE INITIATION OF ACTION BY THE FAMILY COURTS FOR BETTER JOB STATUS AND EMPLOYING THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WELFARE TO INSTITUTE SUPPORT PROCEEDINGS.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Delaware:
Section 1. Chapter 5, Title 31, Delaware Code, is amended by adding a new section thereto to read as follows:
§ 503 A. Collection and transfer of support payments; powers and duties of Family Courts
(a) The Department of Public Welfare shall provide to the Family Court in New Castle County and the Family Court of Kent and Sussex Counties, the names and addresses of all recipients of assistance under 31 Delaware Code, Section 503 (d) and the name and last known address of the fathers of any dependent child or children. It shall then be the legal responsibility of the aforesaid courts, notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, to pay directly to the Department of Public Welfare all sums collected pursuant to the orders of those courts from fathers whose children are receiving assistance under 31 Delaware Code, Section 503 (d). The Department of Public Welfare shall credit the sums received from those courts to the budget allotment under which payments are made pursuant to 31 Delaware Code, Section 503 (d).
(b) Wherever it appears to any of the said Courts that the father of any dependent child or children will not be able to meet all or part of the obligation of any support order, the Court shall initiate action to improve, the earning capabilities of the father by cooperating with the appropriate state agencies to provide the necessary training and/or job upgrading.
Section 2. Section .503, Chapter' 5, Title 13, Delaware Code, is amended by designating the present section as subsection (a) and by adding thereto a new subsection (b) to read as follows:
(b) The Department of Public Welfare may institute proceedings for nonsupport in the Family Court of the appropriate county where the Department has been designated as the attorney-in-fact by and on behalf of the mother, guardian or person standing in loco parentis to a dependent child.
Approved July 10, 1969.