Show Child support system overloaded 3 billion due j Kathryn S. S Smith Columnist ii HILD CHILD sup sup- supPort support port is now r t K MiI in the orbit of an archaic an-archaic archaic overloaded and haphazardly run judicial system which does a horrendously horrendously horrendously horren- horren poor job of setting payments and enforcing collection collection collection col col- col- col lection regularly states Barbara Barbara Barbara Bar Bar- bara R. R Bergman Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland A great panacea for the welfare problem was enthusiastically enthusiastically enthusiastically en en- endorsed by Congress and the President in 1984 The Child Support Enforcement Enforcement Enforcement En- En Amendment was passed by an overwhelming overwhelming overwhelming over over- whelming vote of all fifty states Although the bill was supposed to alleviate the plight of divorced women with children by assisting with collections it has fallen far short of the mark The increased funding funding funding fund fund- ing for government enforce enforce- ment meet services promised free or low-cost low collection for single parent families and required required required re re- re- re states to pass tough collection laws Many states have not implemented the laws law's crucial provisions An estimated three billion billion billion bil bil- bil- bil lion dollars in due back-due support support support sup sup- port is owed to single mothers Half of the four million million million mil mil- lion divorced mothers receive little or nothing in support Offspring of poor single mothers make up over ninety percent of the caseload of Aid to Families with Dependent Children the ba basic ic federal welfare program said Mickey Kaus I have given up on the system 7 says Marcie Marde My son and I have to come first financially financially finan finan- dally I have had five different attorneys in three different states who I have paid thousands of dollars to My case has been in Recovery Services Services Services Ser- Ser vices and with my ex- ex husbands husband's new telephone number out of state they were unable to locate him He was still receiving paychecks from the same employer that he has been with for twenty- twenty five years and yet no one has his address After a year and a half of supporting myself and my myson myson myson son alone I had to ask for as assistance assistance assistance as- as from Social Services I Iwas Iwas Iwas was told that my case would take on a different precedence in Recovery Services Without providing any new information information information tion Recovery Services was able to find my husbands husband's address in order to serve him hima a summons to appear in courtin courtin court courtin in Utah for back due child support Anything my hus ex band owes in back due child support will be eaten up by bythe bythe bythe the attorneys attorney's bills After thirty days if an employee is delinquent with child support the employer is supposed to garnish his wages immediately That is how the is supposed to be en en- forced In Dallas if an employer does not comply with the court order they are held responsible for child support payments and legal fees in in- The self-employed self must post a bond payable to the re recipient of child support payments Wisconsin has taken an unprecedented stand on child support Neither a court judge nor lawyer de decides des what amount for child support is to tobe tobe tobe be awarded They are using the guidelines of the Child Support Amendment of 1987 For a person with one child seventeen percent of tax pre-tax income of the absent parent automatically becomes child support payment Just as taxes are withheld from the paycheck so is child support The state pays the custodial parent the money collected One of the problems with these guidelines is they have no teeth For the most part these in the amendments are not followed by the states or judges In 1987 new guidelines were established Roughly twenty percent of untaxed wages are to be given to the custodial parent Child support support support sup sup- port is not left to the judges discretion on a case-by-case case basis j Judges in divorce cases j have had considerable discretion discretion discretion i 1 tion as to whether to make a i 1 support child-support award and how I large it will be The wide latitude given to judges has meant that hat many judges have seen fit to make awards that were almost jokes Seven dollars per week per child is isone i ione one example Marianne J said Many judges have chosen not to award alimony No alimony may be fine for a ayoung ayoung ayoung young woman without children For unskilled older women with children they make the assumption that the woman can just jump out into the work force and make enough money to financially support herself and her children C Census data shows that five eighty-five percent of divorced women are not awarded alimony Editors Editor's note Kathryn S. S Smiths Smith's investigative article on enforcing child support laws will be continued in next weeks week's Horizon |