Both parents of a child placed outside the home may be required to pay child support whether the parents live together or not and for the entire time the child was placed outside the home. Out-of-home placements include foster homes, group homes, and juvenile correctional facilities.
Social service agencies and juvenile courts work with the local child support agencies if child support services are appropriate when a child placed outside the home. In those cases, OCSE will receive a referral from the Arkansas Department of Human Services or may be requested to assist in cases in which the child was placed in foster care in another state.