Child Support in the News-Week of November 29, 2004

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CHILD SUPPORT IN THE NEWS

Volume IV, No. 17, Week of November 29, 2004

STATE WATCH

A support group for single fathers forms in North Carolina.

In Louisiana, parents who failed to respond to amnesty letters are targets for the police department’s roundup.

South Dakota has been holding public hearings to gather input on potential changes to their child support guidelines.

The joint child support office between Iowa and Nebraska celebrates early successes.

States use amnesty programs to collect unpaid child support.

Florida cracks down on parents who aren’t paying support this holiday season.

PROPOSED LEGISLATION

Wisconsin’s budget proposal recommends cutting county child support collection funds.

Michigan’s Senate committee may consider a bill that grants amnesty to people who are delinquent in their child support payments.

LEGAL NEWS

Michigan’s Court Administrative Office gives a grant to Wayne State University’s Law School Clinic to implement a Prisoner Support Adjustment Project.

A New Mexico judge orders a woman to produce her child in court to verify the child’s existence.

ARTICLES

NORTH CAROLINA
Support Group for Single Fathers Forms

Carlos Stanley considers himself an advocate for the little man.

Out of work since February 2003, he became a single parent to 3-year-old daughter JaCoria Cox when she came to live with him in March.

He learned about a support group for fathers through a social worker at WAGES and has been attending ever since.

"I have got a situation that I figured people here could help me out with," he said. He is especially interested in learning to deal with such issues as child support, difficult without a job.

"It ain't like I ain't been looking," he said. "But something in my situation is keeping me from getting a job. I need all the help I can get."

Stanley says that attending the twice-a-month support group has been helpful, if for no other reason than to realize he is not alone.

Daniel Hooper, "male involvement coordinator" for WAGES, said this story is not unique. It is in fact what prompted the formation of the group.

"Someone did a case study several years ago and we learned that many of the children that were born in 2001 were born to a single parent family," he said. "Most of those were born to single parent mothers.

"Somebody's missing in the family."

The need for men in a child's life is important and should not be overlooked, he said.

"If there's a father in the child's life, children do better," he said.

But not just biological fathers. Grandfathers, stepfathers, even a church pastor can be instrumental in guiding a child.

Hooper said a $50,000 grant acquired in 2001 made it possible to establish the fatherhood support group. Membership was open primarily to parents of Head Start and Early Head Start children.

It began meeting once a month, but expanded this year to twice monthly. An average of two dozen men currently attend.

Topics of discussion range from family issues and literacy to job skills and the law. If someone comes in with a particular concern, Hooper says, "I let them go. We decided to address their needs."

The main objective of the program, called "Males Exclusively," is providing fathers with peers to support them.

"The program is designed so they coordinate their own program," said Donald Collins, a family social worker with WAGES.

Some of the issues the men face are very sensitive, with many feeling "economically disadvantaged," Hooper said.

Robert Baker of Goldsboro is 42 years old. He has raised two grown children and has two others, 10 and 4. The former truck driver was forced to quit his job two years ago because of complications from diabetes.

While his wife still works, he says, "We've been struggling. We have lost everything we have."

He said he has been in the hospital four times in the last year. But because his 10-year-old daughter doesn't live with him, he must find a job to pay child support.

"A lot of men get a bad rap," he said. "All the courts realize is you're not with your child. They don't take into consideration what you do for them when you're not around them."

Monday night was Donnell Hinton's first time attending. He said he came to "learn something and share something."

It was Desmond Thomas Sr.'s second meeting.

"When you come for the first time, you don't really know what to expect," he said. "But you have a bunch of males and you're not talking about beer and Spike TV."

He said the group builds on a lot of topics, from God to war, which serve to "strengthen the foundation of yourself."

The married father of three, ages, 10, 3, and six months, says the things he has learned from the group have been applicable at home.

"Not only to my child in the WAGES program, but to my older child," he said. "And it rolls over to my wife, doing something to punctuate my involvement."

Willie Parks Jr. of Dudley is a group veteran, having attended since the beginning.

"A lot of these kids don't have the male support," he said of his reason for joining.

The grandfather of six, from six months old to 23, has tried to be supportive of his children and a role model for theirs.

"I try to come in and give them that support and be a male figure for their children," he said. "I think it has helped them, has helped me."

Hooper said the hope is that what the men take away from the meetings will spill over into their being more involved in the community. The group recently took a field trip with the men and children to a museum in Raleigh, after which they all went out to eat.

"People really noticed us in that restaurant," Collins said. "When other men see groups like this out in public, we're hoping that kind of inspires them."

"A lot of times, we meet as fathers," Hooper said, "but our insight also strengthens the family and supports the mother."

TO VIEW ARTICLE ONLINE: Goldsboro News-Argus | News: Support group for single fathers forms

LOUISIANA

Ouachita Authorities Round Up Parents With Child Support Debts

MONROE, La. Dead-beat parents are being rounded up in Ouachita and Morehouse parishes.

Officials from the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office, the District Attorney's Office and the Monroe Police Department began a roundup involving child support enforcement warrants this morning.

People with outstanding warrants for nonpayment of child support who did not respond to recent amnesty letters were targets of the roundup. The amnesty letters offered people a chance to settle their child support debts.

The number of persons sought and arrested this morning were unknown, but there were 800 outstanding warrants when the amnesty letters were distributed.

TO VIEW ARTICLE ONLINE: http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=2629493

SOUTH DAKOTA

Child Support Commission to Hold Hearing
November 30, 2004

The South Dakota Commission on Child Support will conduct its final public hearing in Aberdeen to gather input on potential changes to South Dakota's child support guidelines and related statutes. The public hearing will be held Wednesday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. at the Ramada Inn.
The public hearing is part of the Commission's required four-year review of South Dakota's child support guidelines. The Commission is comprised of custodial and non-custodial parents, family law attorneys, the judiciary, the legislature and the Department of Social Services.
The Commission may recommend amendments that reflect changes in the costs of raising children and may address other problems or issues with related statutes. The Commission will submit its report and recommendations to the Governor by December 31. Recommendations may then be considered during the 2005 legislative session.
Discussions during the public hearing will be limited to potential changes to the child support guidelines and statutes. The hearing is not intended for specific comments or complaints involving individual child support cases. Written comments or suggestions may be submitted by December 8 for consideration by the Commission, to: Department of Social Services, Attention: Child Support Commission, 700 Governors Drive, Pierre, SD 57501-2291.

TO VIEW ARTICLE ONLINE: Miller Press

IOWA

Joint Child Support Program Earns Kudos
By Phil Rooney
December 1, 2004

The $15,000 that an Iowa woman received in overdue child support from her ex-husband is one sign that Iowa and Nebraska's first-in-the-nation office coordinating child support payments between the states is a success.

So were the smiles on federal and state officials who gathered Tuesday at the Flatiron Building in downtown Omaha.

"This is not only a good idea. It's a great idea," said Dennis Loose, chief deputy director of the Nebraska Health and Human Services System.

One problem in collecting child support has been keeping track of people who move from one state to another, said Kevin Concannon, director of the Iowa Department of Human Services. That's especially true of low-income people who tend to move more often.

"We thought it was a natural fit," Concannon said of the cooperative arrangement.

About 23 percent of the child support collected in Iowa involves interstate cases, and about 35 percent of the child support owed is from interstate cases. Nebraska officials did not offer figures.

Since the new operation started in April, Iowa officials report child support collections have increased from an average of $50,000 per month to $75,000 per month in Douglas and Pottawattamie counties, the first counties to become part of the program.

Nebraska officials reported they have collected $235,000 in delinquent payments and $308,000 in current payments for the six months. About 900 cases are being handled in the joint operation.

"We're kind of astounded," said Jeanne Nesbit, administrator of the child support program for the Iowa Department of Human Services. Planning has started for a similar arrangement with Illinois in Davenport, she said.

A three-person unit is working to coordinate efforts across state lines. Two of the people are paid for by Iowa while Nebraska pays for the other employee and provides the office space. They share records and, they say, success stories.

Karen, who lives in Iowa and asked that her name and location not be released, addressed the group via a speakerphone.

"I was in shock," she said. "It made me cry."

Karen said she had set the amount of child support at $100 in her 1987 divorce because she didn't expect her ex-husband to be able to provide much help.

The recovery team went to work and initiated legal action. After a hearing date was set for Nov. 9, they received a phone call that the money, all for delinquent payments, was on the way.

Now, with the $15,000-plus she received six months into the new program, Karen said she can pay medical bills and have some Christmas. Having remarried, her daughter may now go to college.

"She's going to have a chance now," Karen said. "For me it means doing some things I just haven't been able to do."

Karen said she hopes the states realize they have to work together to collect child support.

"There's a lot of women struggling out there," she said.

David Aerts, with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Kansas City, said the federal government has provided 66 percent of the program's administrative costs and is watching what the two states are doing.

Aerts said he's always interested in new ways to improve government services.

"We're pretty impressed with this," he said. "Nobody else has even tried this."

TO VIEW ARTICLE ONLINE: Daily Nonpareil

States Use a New Carrot to Collect Child Support
Amnesty programs offer a way to collect unpaid billions from parents who cannot or will not pay.
By Marilyn Gardner

Pay up now and avoid arrest. That's the preholiday message officials in Georgia are sending to parents who owe child support.

Beginning Dec. 1 and continuing for 10 days, a statewide amnesty program allows noncustodial fathers and mothers to catch up on back payments without punishment of fines or jail. Those struggling with financial problems can work out a payment plan.

"We think it would be a good thing if the money that's owed to many children in the state gets to them at this time of year," says Barbara Joye of the state's Office of Child Support Enforcement. Encouraged by the success of a pilot amnesty program in Columbus, Ga., last month that yielded $32,000, officials have sent letters to 6,000 of the state's most delinquent parents.

Across America, child-support amnesties in states and counties offer a way to collect unpaid billions from parents who either cannot or will not pay. Americans who are in arrears on child support owe an average of $9,000 per case.

"It's an expansion of opportunities to assist noncustodial parents in doing the right thing," says Kay Cullen, communications director of the National Child Support Enforcement Agency in Washington.

In New Jersey, an amnesty week in September brought in more than $1 million in payments, up from $900,000 two years ago. The program targeted parents so delinquent in their payments that warrants are out for their arrest.

"They didn't have to show up with a checkbook," says Suzanne Esterman of the New Jersey Department of Human Services. "They just had to commit to starting to pay child support once again. They certainly found it more beneficial to their children to begin owning up to that responsibility, as opposed to having the threat of jail hanging over their heads."

In New Jersey, 7 percent of those owing child support are women. Nationwide, mothers account for about 15 percent of noncustodial parents.

Those who owe money come from all economic groups. "We're dealing with low- income families, and we're also dealing with high-income families," says Paula Tolson, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of Human Resources. "We've had some pretty affluent people who decided, for whatever reason, not to honor their child-support obligations."

In two Maryland counties, Prince George's and Anne Arundel, 826 parents paid $168,000 during an amnesty in August. "We've done the 10 most wanted," Ms. Tolson says. "It's effective in some environments. But the family dynamic is complicated. You've got to use multiple strategies in reaching people."

Those strategies include helping noncustodial parents find jobs. Maryland offers job development programs and teaches job-search skills. In Georgia, a Fatherhood Program provides job training and education for parents who are unable to pay because they don't earn enough. "We help them to increase their earning power," Joye says.

Whatever the strategy, advocates for children emphasize that child support goes beyond dollars and involves being part of a child's life. New Jersey's child support department has developed an advertising campaign with the tag line: "Child support - it's not just money." Says Ms. Esterman, "Advertising, along with outreach, has definitely increased collections over the last seven years."

In West Virginia, an ongoing amnesty program allows the noncustodial parent and the custodial parent to agree to waive the interest due on unpaid support. If the debt is paid within two years, the interest is forgiven.

"For the few people who have taken advantage of it, it works very well, but not many have taken advantage of it," says Susan Perry, commissioner of the Bureau for Child Support Enforcement.

Other amnesty programs have had mixed results. When Ohio's Clermont County offered a month-long amnesty in July 2003, the effort received wide attention from newspapers and TV stations. "We were very pleased," says Brenda Gilreath, deputy director of the Child Support Program. "We thought, 'This is really going to be a success.' "

They sent 190 letters to noncustodial parents with arrest warrants, encouraging them to work out a payment plan during Child Support Month in August. But they got only 28 inquiries. Of those, six were granted amnesty. Staff members don't know why the turnout was so low.

Still, Ms. Gilreath sees a benefit. "For those who were arrested in August, we could say, 'We had an amnesty program in July - why didn't you come forward and work with us? You had your chance.' "

Officials also find that benefits continue after the program ends. "A lot of times, when people stop paying child support ... they stop seeing the child. [Amnesty] creates an opportunity to reestablish that relationship," says Brian Shea, executive director of the Maryland Child Support Enforcement Administration.

Children are not the only beneficiaries. Regular payment of court-ordered child support keeps some families from needing to apply for food stamps and welfare, benefiting taxpayers, too.

Emphasizing the importance of giving parents a second chance to pay without fear of punishment, Joye says, "Our purpose is not to have people arrested and go to jail. Our purpose is to make sure the children are provided for as the courts order. This is really all about benefiting children and strengthening families."

TO VIEW ARTICLE ONLINE: States use a new carrot to collect child support | csmonitor.com

FLORIDA

Fla. Police Launch 'Operation Grinch' to Catch Deadbeat Parents During Holidays
By Samantha Murphy
December 3, 2004

Florida's Ocala Police Department is getting into the holiday spirit early this year.

Launching a program called "Operation Grinch Who Stole Christmas," the department — along with similar initiatives across the nation — hopes to crack down on deadbeat parents avoiding court-ordered child support this holiday season.

"We're not exactly calling deadbeat parents grinches," police spokesman Sergeant Russ Kern said. "We just wanted to publicize the real issue here."

With more than 250 active warrants for child support in the county, Ocala aims to track down parents avoiding payments.

As part of a similar initiative in Miami's Dade County last year, police listed the names of those wanted on child-support charges in local newspapers — 30 arrests were made after the program was launched.

This year's operation, along with extensive advertising and publicity, began the day after Thanksgiving and is expected to run strong until New Year's Day.

"Although these programs are wonderful, they are also a double-edged sword," said Debbie Kline, a spokeswoman from the Association for Children for Enforcement of Support. "There are kids without child support for the rest of the year. They just don't go hungry over the holiday season."

Kline, who works at the year-round nonprofit that is run by parents who promote child-support issues, said the number of women and children being forced on the streets because of unpaid child support is increasing dramatically.

The Federal Office of Child Support reports that $100 billion in accumulated unpaid support is due to 18 million children in the United States. That amount is up from $92 billion in 2002.

Florida, which ranks sixth in unpaid support behind California, Texas, Michigan, New York and Illinois, has 785,097 children missing $4.1 billion in owed payments this year alone.

"I think a lot of these programs around the holiday season are political plays," Kline said. "It's good politics. But there is a bigger issue here that needs to be stressed year-round."

The problem, Kline said, is single parents don't know their legal rights.

"If you walk into a child-support office and say you would like to locate a deadbeat parent, they will more than likely turn you away," Kline said. "But what they don't tell you is that you have the legal right to demand such a request."

Child-support offices have access to state and government records that could help people locate absentee parents, she said. Knowing where to go for help is also a roadblock.

"Although every county as a child support office, every state has them located in a different division," Kline said. "In New Jersey, you have to go to the probation office. Who would think to go to a probation office for child support?"

Though the holidays may be the hardest time for parents in need of child support, attorney Steve Elsbernd, director of the Child Support Center in Kenton County, Ky., said it's actually the best time of year to track down deadbeats.

"It's the easiest time to locate these parents because many of them come back into town over the holidays," Elsbernd, whose office deals with a 10,000 child-support cases in a county of only 80,000 people. "These parents come back to eat at, say, their aunt's house, and with contacts or leads, we are able to catch them."

Other child-support initiatives in time for the holiday season include a proposed bill announced yesterday in Ontario that, if passed, will double maximum jail time to 180 days for those who don't pay their required child support.

The bill would also enable Canada's Family Responsibility Office to get financial and other information to locate deadbeats and even post a Web site identifying those who don't pay.

As parents in need of child-support payments start to feel the crunch of the approaching holiday only a few weeks away, programs across the nation are trying all they can to up child-support awareness, Elsbernd said.

"We will continue to fight for a parent's chance to put anything under the Christmas tree," Elsbernd said.

TO VIEW ARTICLE ONLINE: Fla. police launch 'Operation Grinch' to catch deadbeat parents during holidays - Courttv.com - Top News

WISCONSIN

Doyle May Trim Child Collections
State would reduce funding to counties' child support systems
By Scott Williams
December 5, 2004

Child support collectors in several counties are warning that state budget cuts could hurt Wisconsin's record as one of the nation's most effective enforcers of child support orders.

In a budget proposal to Gov. Jim Doyle, the state Department of Workforce Development has recommended slashing county child support collection funding from more than $14 million a year to less than $10 million.

State officials say the cuts are necessary to close the gap in a 2006-'07 state budget that faces a projected deficit of $1.6 billion.

Aiming for a two-year strategy that does not raise taxes, Doyle has asked all state departments to identify spending cuts representing 10% of their overall budgets.

But county officials fearing a decline in child support collections are pushing the Department of Workforce Development to consider alternatives, including raising fees charged to parents.

Milwaukee County child support director John Hayes said the state cuts would slash about $1 million a year from his agency, which employs nearly 200 people and processes more than $100 million in child support annually.

Hayes said he is confident an alternative will be found.

"Everybody appreciates that the fiscal problems in Madison are real," he said. "But the fiscal problems in the counties are real, also."

The state contracts with counties for child support collection services locally, and it distributes federal money that Wisconsin is awarded based on its success in collecting court-ordered payments.

Ranked among the nation's 10 best states for child support collections, Wisconsin this year got nearly $16 million.

'No other option'

Some of the federal money stays in the state Department of Workforce Development to fund its Bureau of Child Support. In its two-year budget proposal submitted to the governor in mid-September, the department seeks to keep more federal funding and give less to the counties.

"There was no other option," department spokeswoman Rose Lynch says in a written statement on the issue.

Officials expect to receive less federal funding, but Doyle's mandate prohibits them from raising taxes to make up the difference, according to Lynch.

According to the department's two-year budget request, the funds distributed to counties would decrease from the current level of $14.1 million to $11.6 million in 2006 and $9.8 million in 2007.

"We do not anticipate a negative effect on child support collections or to the state's strong reputation for child support collection," Lynch said.

Counties organized as the Wisconsin Child Support Enforcement Association have urged the state to reconsider.

At stake, according to county officials, is not only the performance-based money distributed by the state, but federal matching dollars that counties can receive on a 2-for-1 basis.

Milwaukee County, for example, gets about $4 million a year from the state. But the federal match brings in an additional $8 million to bolster local child support collection efforts.

Kenosha County receives slightly more than $500,000 from the state, which translates into a federal match worth another $1 million.

Kenosha County child support director Jeff Witthun said the state should work with counties to ensure that those hard-fought federal dollars are not lost, shifting the cost of child support collection to local taxpayers.

Witthun, who is president of the statewide association, said the group is trying to lobby the state gently.

"Nobody's a bad guy here," he said. "There's just a limited amount of money to go around."

Waukesha County officials have warned that the state budget cuts would cost the county more than $250,000 a year and would likely force the elimination of 5 to 7 staffers from its 32-person agency.

Fees could be raised

In a Nov. 16 letter to the state, Waukesha County Executive Dan Finley and County Board Chairman James Dwyer called the proposed budget cut "entirely counterproductive."

Linda Saafir, Waukesha County's child support director, said she hopes the state will consider alternatives, including the idea of raising the $35-a-year administrative fee paid by parents responsible for child support.

Under a proposal presented by the counties, that fee would be boosted to $60 by 2007, generating an additional $5.6 million a year.

Saafir said the fee increase is a worthwhile alternative to the state budget cut, which she said would make it difficult to continue Wisconsin's successful track record enforcing child support orders.

Waukesha County collects about $20 million annually, which Saafir said has made a significant positive impact on children's lives.

TO VIEW ARTICLE ONLINE: JS Online: Doyle may trim child collections

MICHIGAN

Senate Panel May Consider Child Support Amnesty Bill

LANSING, Mich. A state Senate committee this week may consider a bill granting amnesty to people who make child support payments too late.

The Michigan House unanimously passed the legislation earlier this year.

The amnesty program would waive all criminal and civil penalties for failing to pay child support, for a period of at least 90 days.

Under the program, the delinquent payer would have to make a written request for a waiver and pay off the past support in a lump sum. The payer also could get a waiver and submit half of the past due support, then pay off the rest within 90 days.

According to the Attorney General's office, 650-thousand Michigan children get less than the amount of support ordered for them -- and of those, 400-thousand receive no support at all.

TO VIEW ARTICLE ONLINE: http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2649643

MICHIGAN

State Supreme Court Gives WSU Law School Clinic Grant
By Dinah Gordon
December 3, 2004

Wayne State University’s Law School Clinic received a $62,500 grant from the Michigan Supreme Court State Court Administrative Office to implement a Prisoner Support Adjustment Project.

The Law School Clinic would, through the project, provide legal representation to nearly 400 inmates in the Wayne County Circuit Court system who have outstanding child support judgments against them.

The project will be supervised by Staff Attorney to the Civil Rights Litigation Clinic and Adjunct professor of law, Daniel E. Manville and directed by Erica M. Eisinger, director of clinical education for the law school.

Professor Manville explained how the grant was acquired.

“They contacted us to see if we were interested [and] we applied,” Manville said. “There are only two law schools in Wayne County and we’re the only one with a civil rights clinic working with prisoners’ rights.”

He said the program would help to set up a more sufficient system to help prisoners make their transition back into society.

While a prisoner who has children is confined, child support payments continue to add up. Prisoners who are released from a 15-year sentence will be released with more debt than what they may realize.
“It’s discouraging to come out [of prison] and have these payments without a job and have to start paying,” Manville said.

Some things the clinical program is aiming to achieve are to put moratorium on child support billings while a prisoner is confined, and to close child support statements for prisoners with life sentences.

“The project is a pilot project,” Manville explained. If the project has reasonable success for the Wayne County area, the state plans to implement the same type of program in the other counties statewide.
A dozen second-year law students will represent inmates during the 15-month period the program is scheduled to run.

TO VIEW ARTICLE ONLINE: The South End Newspaper - CAMPUS - State Supreme Court gives WSU Law School Clinic grant

NEW MEXICO

Judge Orders Woman to Show Child
By Todd Dukart
December 3, 2004

An Albuquerque man says he’s paying child support for a daughter who doesn’t exist.

Steve Barreras’ ex-wife Viola Trevino claims she has a 5-year-old daughter from him, and showed documents she claims verifies the child’s existence.

Barreras is suing Trevino for the $20,000 in child support he has paid, and Eyewitness News 4 was the only media outlet in the courtroom Thursday.

Trevino took the stand Thursday. She claimed the 5-year-old attends Truman Elementary School in Albuquerque. There is a Truman Middle School in Albuquerque, but no Truman Elementary.

In official documents, Trevino has said her daughter was born at St. Joseph’s Hospital, but testified Thursday that she was born in Viola Trevino’s sister’s house.

District Court Judge Linda M. Vanzi, who is presiding over the case, ordered Viola Trevino to produce her child in court by Monday. If a child does turn up by then, arrangements will be made for paternity testing.

TO VIEW ARTICLE ONLINE: KOBTV.com - Judge orders woman to show child