Child Support

We offer these services:

  • Locating parents
  • Establishing parentage for children born outside of marriage
  • Establishing and enforcing court orders for Basic Support, Medical Support, and/or Child Care Support
  • Reviewing (and if necessary, modifying) court orders for support
  • Making changes to court orders based on the cost of living index (COLA)
  • Working in cooperation with other states and countries to establish and enforce support when one parent does not live in Minnesota
  • Collecting and distributing payments

We cannot offer these services:

  • Divorce action
  • Legal action for parenting time (visitation) or custody
  • Collection of:
      Marital or other non support related bills
      Attorney’s fees
      Property settlement award
  • Establishing or modifying spousal-maintenance-only orders
  • Any other items not related to support payments

If you need help with any of these services, you may wish to contact a private attorney.

How do I apply for services?

You may apply for Child Support services if a minor child lives in your household, if the child is financially dependent on you, or if a parent is absent from the home. 

If you are applying for or are receiving Public Assistance in Stearns County, your application for Child Support services will automatically be referred to us. If you would like to apply for our non public assistance Child Support services, you must complete an application and pay a one-time $25 application fee.  In addition, the applicant is also required to pay a cost recovery fee (1%) for full child support services. 

You may call us at 320.656.6086 to request an application or to receive more information.

If you prefer, you may download a copy of the application.

Note: To view and/or print this form, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed.  If you do not have Acrobat Reader loaded on your computer, click the Acrobat Reader button for instructions on how to get Reader free from Adobe's web site.

Mail the application and fee to:

Stearns County Human Services
Child Support Unit
P.O. Box 1107
St. Cloud, Minnesota 56302

You may also drop off the application and fee at our offices in downtown St. Cloud (Administration Center, 2nd floor).

More Information

For more child support information, visit the web site of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, Child Support Enforcement Division or the US Department of Health and Human Services Federal site at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse/.