Deadbeat dads — and some moms, too — owe nearly $4.5 billion in child support payments throughout the Washington region, forcing local enforcement agencies to get creative in seeking out scofflaws and state officials to look for loopholes in the system.
Virginia collected $629 million last year, and Maryland collected $495.9 million in fiscal 2007, the last year for which data was available. Nonetheless, outstanding payments total $2.5 billion in Virginia and $1.57 billion in Maryland.
Hundreds of state lottery winners were allowed to keep their prizes despite overdue child support payments, according to an audit released Thursday blasting the state’s child support enforcement agency.
The agency did not report more than 600 deadbeat parents to the Maryland Lottery, which would have diverted their winnings into child support payments, the report said.
A test of 11 parents owing $244,000 in child support showed they kept $29,100 in lottery winnings — a violation of state law and an indication the state’s child support enforcement agency isn’t doing enough to collect from deadbeat parents, said Maryland’s chief auditor, Bruce Meyers.
The audit also criticized the agency for not suspending or revoking state-issued professional licenses from delinquent parents. More than 5,200 licensees owe child support totaling $47 million, according to auditors. More than half of 20 tested had not made any recent payments.
“It’s absurd,” said Del. Charles Barkley, a Montgomery County Democrat who passed legislation in 2007 that allows the state to revoke attorney licenses for unpaid child support. “It’s not easy to collect the money, but we give them a lot of tools and we expect them to use them. I think with that threat, people do come clean and pay overdue bills.”
Joseph A. Jackins Jr., executive director of the state’s Child Support Enforcement Administration, is scheduled to appear before the General Assembly’s joint audit committee Tuesday to respond to the findings. Written responses included in the 43-page report said the administration is setting up automated matches with licensing boards and the state lottery.
Meanwhile in Virginia, officials this week released a “Most Wanted” list of the nine most egregious child support evaders. The list features eight men and one woman, all noncustodial parents, who owe a combined total of $523,605 in past-due support to their children.
It’s not the first time Virginia has tried something new: They were the first state to subpoena cell phone records to track down deadbeats.
“That worked very well for us since everybody over age 3 has a cell phone these days, it seems,” Nick Young, Virginia’s director of child support enforcement, said. “Once we tell them we have their cell number and billing address and tell them that, many are willing to work with us.”
Young said his oldest “child” is 61, with a deadbeat dad who’s 87 — but evaded payments until recently.
“That ‘kid’ needed the money 55 years ago, when he was 6 and not 60,” Young added. “But, if a child support delinquency is not paid off, it stays with you the rest of your life. We would go after life insurance, home proceeds, whatever, and you can’t discharge it through bankruptcy — you will not walk away.”
