“Child support card” in Delaware "controls what mothers can and cannot buy with child support money.”
Stand up for the facts!
Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.
I would like to contribute
No, Delaware doesn’t limit what parents can buy with child support payments
If Your Time is short
- Delaware issues child support payments using prepaid debit cards, but it doesn’t limit what child support recipients can buy.
An old post about Delaware limiting what mothers can buy with child support payments is again spreading on social media, but it wasn’t accurate then and it isn’t accurate now.
"New ‘child support card’ controls what mothers can and CANNOT buy with child support money," reads a screenshot of what looks like a headline that was posted on Facebook in June 2016.
Other screenshots in the post say that "it will not allow the parent to purchase alcohol, cigarettes or pay any other kind of bill" and that "if the programme is successful in the states of Delaware, the government might apply it nationwide thus controlling its usage."
This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
A spokesperson for the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, which includes the state’s child support services division, told PolitiFact "there is no validity to this claim."
Featured Fact-check
Delaware law requires parents to support their children up to age 18 or 19. If one parent fails to support their child, the other parent can seek a court order to pay. Court-ordered payments are made to the child support division, which distributes the money to child support recipients.
The division sends child support payments on prepaid debit cards that are issued by U.S. Bank. It’s called a ReliaCard, and neither the state nor U.S. Bank "controls, tracks or denies purchases" with it, according to the child support services division.
Before the state started sending payments using the prepaid debit card in February 2020, child support recipients received payments on what was called a First State Family Card. This was a prepaid Visa card that was credited whenever a child support payment was received, and the state didn’t limit purchases with this card, either.
We rate this post False.
Our Sources
Facebook post, June 2, 2016
Delaware press release, Feb. 14, 2020
Delaware, ReliaCard pre-paid debit card, visited July 26, 2021
Delaware Public Media, New payment method coming for Delaware child support recipients, Nov. 18, 2019
Facebook post, Jan. 22, 2018
Delaware Courts, Child support overview, visited July 26, 2021
Delaware, Accounting for child support payments, visited July 26, 2021
Snopes, Delaware child support card, Jan. 9, 2016
Email interview with Jeffrey Gentry, manager of internal communications, Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, July 26, 2021
Browse the Truth-O-Meter
More by Ciara O'Rourke
No, Delaware doesn’t limit what parents can buy with child support payments
Support independent fact-checking.
Become a member!
In a world of wild talk and fake news, help us stand up for the facts.