The amount is stunning: $4.5 billion. That’s the total owed in child support by parents — fathers and mothers — in the Washington metropolitan area. By contrast, the uncollected payments for the region’s children are only $1 billion shy of the District’s local budget for fiscal 2009. The arrears amount in Maryland — nearly $1.6 billion — is greater than its current $350 million shortfall.
States across the country have approved aggressive measures to collect money from “deadbeat” parents. Some laws make it possible to garnish paychecks. Others allow for revocation of licenses. More egregious violators can be thrown in jail. But, The Examiner’s Kathleen Miller and Jaime Malarkey reported earlier this week that the region’s laws aren’t being enforced
“We’ve made great progress in the last five years getting wages withheld,” Benidia Rice, deputy attorney general for child support, says about the District’s efforts to collect an outstanding $276 million from noncustodial parents.
Three weeks ago, the District mailed letters to people who owe back support, inviting them to work out a compromise. Rice says sometimes the arrears includes sums that have been on the books for years because the government cannot forgive funds due to custodial parents. For example, an individual could be 50 years old and if support was not collected that amount continues to be carried — although, it’s unlikely the cash ever will be received.
Money does matter. There is a direct correlation between it and the economic health of children. In District, for example, the child poverty rate in 2006 was 34 percent — up from 32 percent in 2000. In many instances, says Ed Lazere, head of the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, the custodial and noncustodial parents are poor.
“No one is earning enough to support children. You’re not going to get blood from a stone,” he continues. “It’s not a case of deadbeat; they’re dead-broke parents.”
The answer is to help poor noncustodial parents get jobs, Lazere adds.
Cash can’t be the core focus, however. The money mantra ignores the long-term effect on children of parental absence. Experts say children who growing up without biological parents in the home are more likely to have low self-esteem, do poorly in school, and become involved with criminal activity.
Yet, support collectors don’t help rehabilitate relationships between parents and their children.
“We truly are not equipped to provide emotional support,” says Rice, adding that the D.C. Superior Court Fathering Initiative offers such assistance. And, nongovernmental organizations also are attempting to fill the gap.
If local government officials truly are interested in the economic health and welfare of children, they may want to change the mix. They may want to emphasize rehabilitation over collection.
“When fathers are connected emotionally and involved with their children, they tend to pay child support,” says Vincent DiCaro, spokesman for the National Fatherhood Initiative. “If you can connect the hearts, the wallets will follow,”
