MND NewsLog: Federal Child Support Enforcement Cuts Will Hurt Bureaucrats, not Children
December 20, 2005
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Posted by ANCPR
MND NewsLog: Federal Child Support Enforcement Cuts Will Hurt Bureaucrats, not Children
News and Commentary
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Federal Child Support Enforcement Cuts Will Hurt Bureaucrats, not Children
By Jeffery M. Leving and Glenn Sacks
Democrats, women’s advocates, the National Governors Association, and child support enforcement officials are sounding the alarm over proposed cuts in the federal funds that subsidize states’ child support enforcement efforts. The cuts, which recently passed the House, will reduce federal reimbursement from 66% of the states’ costs to 50% over five years.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, this will lead to $24 billion in child support going uncollected over the next 10 years. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and Los Angeles County Child Support Services Department Director Philip Browning are warning that the cuts will mean a drastic reduction in the amount of child support collected. A bipartisan group of senators has penned a letter opposing the cuts, explaining that “in 2004, more than $4 was collected in support for every dollar invested in the program.” All of these claims, however, are based on false assumptions and misleading data.
It is true that federal figures show that over $20 billion in child support is collected nationwide yearly, and that only $5 billion is spent on enforcement. However, the vast majority of the funds collected are not done through enforcement tactics—they’re simply the payments already being made by law-abiding noncustodial parents. These payments will continue to be made regardless of the cuts. The myth that child support enforcement is a bargain was created by incorrectly counterposing total collections with expenditures on enforcement.
In reality, much if not most child support enforcement funds are frittered away in misguided attempts to collect artificially inflated paper arrearages from low-income men who couldn’t possibly pay them. Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement data shows that two-thirds of those behind on child support nationwide earned less than $10,000 in the previous year; less than four percent of the overall national child support debt is owed by those earning $40,000 or more a year. According to the largest federally-funded study of divorced dads ever conducted, unemployment, not willful neglect, is the largest cause of failure to pay child support.
The inflated arrearages are created in large part because the child support system is mulishly impervious to the economic realities working-class people face, such as layoffs, wage cuts, unemployment, and work-related injuries. According to the Urban Institute, less than one in 20 non-custodial parents who suffers a substantial drop in income is able to get courts to reduce his or her child support payments. In such cases, the amounts owed mount quickly, as do interest and penalties.
For example, a recent Urban Institute study found that only 25% of California’s $14.4 billion child support arrearage will be collected over the next decade because the support amounts demanded of noncustodial parents are not realistic. The average arrears owed per debtor is $3,000 higher than the median annual earnings of employed child support debtors. Those in the poorest category have a child support debt amounting to their full net income for seven and a half years.
The “Most Wanted Deadbeat Parents†lists put out by most states demonstrate this problem. In the past few months, “deadbeat parents†have been the targets of highly-publicized law enforcement actions in Virginia, Texas, Kentucky, and Arizona. Yet Virginia’s “Most Wanted†list is topped by a laborer, a carnival hired hand, and a construction worker, who collectively somehow owe over a quarter million dollars in child support. Of all the parents on Texas’ and Kentucky’s lists, only one appears to have an education, and the most common designation for occupation is “laborer.” Near the top of Arizona’s list is a maintenance man who owes $90,223, an unemployed man of no known occupation who owes $54,298, and, best of all, a roofer who owes $240,581.
This week Abbott boasted that he had arrested one of the “deadbeats” on his “Most Wanted” list–Charles Silva, who owes almost $40,000 in child support. Yet it’s doubtful that Silva will be writing a five figure check any time soon–Silva’s occupation is “general laborer.” Far from being lists of well-heeled businessmen, lawyers, and accountants, the vast majority of the men on these lists do low wage and often seasonal work, and owe large sums of money which they could never hope to pay off.
Child support enforcement agencies are notorious for their abusive tactics towards such men, as well as their mind-numbing incompetence, waste, and the incessant computer errors which lead to the persecution of innocent citizens.
It is true, as critics of the cuts say, that the amount of child support collected by child support enforcement programs has increased from $2.4 billion in 1977 (2004 dollars) to nearly $22 billion in 2004. However, most of this increase has nothing to do with enforcement. For one, there are far more children receiving child support now than there were in 1977, in part because of welfare reform, which has obligated the fathers of children on welfare to pay child support to the states. Also, the amount of child support demanded from noncustodial parents rose sharply during the 1980s and 1990s. In addition, whereas most child support used to be paid directly from the noncustodial parent to the custodial parent, today most child support goes through the state systems, creating the illusion of increased collections.
For too long child support policies have been determined by politics instead of common sense; the mantra of “help women and children†has allowed large-scale abuses and waste to go unchallenged. The proposed cuts won’t interfere with efforts to collect legitimate child support, but they will save taxpayers $15.8 billion over the next decade. They will also force some discipline and restraint onto an area of government which sorely needs it.
This is a slightly expanded version of a column which was originally published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal (12/17/05) and the Riverside Press-Enterprise (12/16/05).
Jeffery M. Leving is one of America’s most prominent family law attorneys. He is the author of the book Fathers’ Rights: Hard-hitting and Fair Advice for Every Father Involved in a Custody Dispute. His website is www.dadsrights.com.
Glenn Sacks’ columns on men’s and fathers’ issues have appeared in dozens of America’s largest newspapers. Glenn can be reached via his website at www.GlennSacks.com or via email at Glenn@GlennSacks.com.
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“It is true that federal figures show that over $20 billion in child support is collected nationwide yearly, and that only $5 billion is spent on enforcement. However, the vast majority of the funds collected are not done through enforcement tactics—they’re simply the payments already being made by law-abiding noncustodial parents. These payments will continue to be made regardless of the cuts. The myth that child support enforcement is a bargain was created by incorrectly counter posing total collections with expenditures on enforcementâ€.
THIS WAY OF THINKING IS THE REASON WE MAY NEVER SEE MEANINGFUL CHANGE IN THE SYSTEM. THE NUMBERS ARE CORRECT, BUT THE IDEA THAT NONCUSTODIAL PARENTS WHO PAY THE EXTORTION ARE “LAW-ABIDING†IS WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE. THEY “IN FACT†ARE ENABLING THESE CRIMINALS TO CARRY OUT THEIR “UNLAWFUL†ACTIONS. THEY ARE “IN FACT†ACCOMPLICES IN THEIR OWN EXPLOITATION. ANY NCP WHO REFUSES TO PAY IS “IN FACT†A LAW-ABIDING CITIZEN. ALSO, WHAT WAS THE “INTENT†OF INCORRECTLY COUNTER POSING TOTAL COLLECTIONS WITH EXPENDITURES ON ENFORCEMENT? SEEMS TO ME THE AUTHORS OF THIS ARTICLE ARE IGNORANT OF WHO THE REAL “LAWBREAKERS†ARE.
“The “Most Wanted Deadbeat Parents†lists put out by most states demonstrate this problem. In the past few months, “deadbeat parents†have been the targets of highly-publicized law enforcement actions in Virginia, Texas, Kentucky, and Arizona. Yet Virginia’s “Most Wanted†list is topped by a laborer, a carnival hired hand, and a construction worker, who collectively somehow owe over a quarter million dollars in child support. Of all the parents on Texas’ and Kentucky’s lists, only one appears to have an education, and the most common designation for occupation is “laborer.†Near the top of Arizona’s list is a maintenance man who owes $90,223, an unemployed man of no known occupation who owes $54,298, and, best of all, a roofer who owes $240,581.â€
THIS THINKING ALSO NEEDS TO CHANGE. WHY MAKE THE STATEMENT THAT IF THE AMOUNTS ALLEGEDLY OWED BY THESE VICTIMS WAS MORE “REASONABLE†THAT THEY WOULD/SHOULD PAY! THE SIMPLE FACT OF THE MATTER IS THAT NONE OF THESE PEOPLE MAY BE “LEAGLELY OBLIGATED†TO PAY A DIME. THE ISSUES ARE “SHARED PARENTING†AND “EQUALPROTECTION UNDER THE LAWâ€, NOT HOW TO MAKE THE EXTORTION MORE AFFORDABLE TO PAY!
NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO CLAIM TO “KNOW†WHETHER THESE PEOPLE ARE “UNABLE†OR “UNWILLING†TO PAY. WE NEED TO HEAR THAT FROM THE PEOPLE WHO ARE IN ARREARS. IN MY CASE, I REFUSE TO PAY, AND AM VERY PROUD OF THAT FACT. I KNOW THAT THERE ARE TENS OF THOUSANDS MORE JUST LIKE ME WHO SIMPLY REFUSE TO COOPERATE WITH THIS DOMESTIC ENEMY.
THE ARGUMENT CAN SIMPLY BE MADE THAT THESE MEN ARE NOT TRYING HARD ENOUGH TO MEET THEIR OBLIGATIONS; WHEN IN FACT, THEY ARE MERELY THE VICTIMS OF AN “OUT OF CONTROL†COURT SYSTEM THAT IS TRAMPLING THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS FOR THE SAKE OF PROFIT.
THE QUESTION IS NOT, “SHOULD THE EXTORTION BE MADE MORE AFFORDABLE� THE QUESTION IS, “WHY AREN’T THESE MEN BEING AFFORDED THE EQUAL PROTECTION OF THE LAW�
I KNOW GLENN AND THIS LAWYER MEAN WELL, BUT I THINK THEY NEED TO TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT THEIR REASONING.
THEY DEFINITELY DON’T SPEAK FOR ME.
Kevin Merck
AS A MOTHER, HISPANIC, ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY AND NON-CUSTODIAL WITH JOINT CUSTODY. I AM COMING IN FROM A DIFFERENT ANGLE (PERHAPS). MY X-HUSBAND TOOK ME TO COURT BECAUSE HE FOUND OUT THAT HE WAS ENTITLED TO MORE MONEY THAN COURT ORDERED BACK IN TEXAS. HE TOOK ME TO COURT AND THE JUDGE INCREASED MY CHILD SUPPORT. NOW, I HAVE JOINT CUSTODY. THE WAY THE LAWS APPLY IN VIRGINIA WITH REGARDS TO CHILD SUPPORT PAID IS UNFAIR TO THE NON-CUSTODIAL PARENT. I FEEL THAT THEY (VA) SHOULD NOT TAKE OUR GROSS SALARY, BECAUSE THIS INCLUDES OUR HOUSING ALLOWANCE. WE AS NON-CUSTODIAL PARENTS WOULD ALSO LIKE TO PROVIDE OUR CHILDREN A SAFE HEAVEN AND INVITING HOME FOR THEM TO VISIT WITH US. HOWEVER; THE STATE OF VIRGINIA TAKES ALL INCOME AND THEREFORE, OUR HOUSING ALLOWANCE IS TAKEN AWAY FROM US FORCING US TO NOT HAVE A NICE PLACE FOR THEM TO VISIT WITH US. IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION REGARDING THIS MATTER PLEASE WRITE TO ME, I CAN BE REACHED AT. Elizabeth_escamilla@hotmail.com or on my cell phone (757)544-1898. Thank you!…Roanna Escamilla-Mayer
end peonage NOW
vote Libertarian or Constitution party NOW
noncustodial fathers are worth more dead than alive – soscial security survivor benefits – check the numbers out.
Do your children a favor – if you are a responsible father – you would step in front of a freight train.
In the fine print: I’ll bet he’s the primary care giver. That’s where they get the NCP for support.
That stinks when the CP wants more money. I pay $566.00 every two weeks and my childs mother took me back because I got a 50 cent raise, AND, Domestics sent her a letter reccomending that she file for an increase!!!
Why would a mother/father want more and more money from the non-custodial parent? Even if it means that you live in a 1 bedroom shack with no retirement and no money to even entertain your child(ren) when they come over? I would presume that it’s one thing: MONEY!!!! Once that money comes rolling in the CP could care less if the child sees you again. They don’t give a hoot if you maintain a relationship or not with the child, they just want your loot! I’m honest with my daughter, she gets what I can offer because “your mom takes ALL my money”. It’s the truth. In the courts eyes I could be held accountable for saying that to a child! But, in the endm I was honest, and that’s where I find peace in my heart.
That’s true E Truth! I never gave that a thought. My wife has a daughter to another man and she got 400 a month when he was alive and now she gets 749 a month. What a f**king concept! That’s eeerie dude.
E Truth said,
on December 21st, 2005 at 1:28 pm
noncustodial fathers are worth more dead than alive – soscial security survivor benefits – check the numbers out.
Do your children a favor – if you are a responsible father – you would step in front of a freight train.
E Truth…I have been giving this more and more thought lately. I dont get to see my kids, and Kevin told me to find a way to not pay the extorsion and stay out of jail. A freight train is the only other way I can figure out how not to pay it and stay out of jail. Since I dont get to see my kids anyway, what difference does it matter?
Maybe I will become just another number to the beaurocrats who keep tabs on me, just in a different file eh?
Writing letters and sending emails to the media, congressmen and senators is the equivalent of hitting the enemy with spitballs.
If we want to make a difference in real time, we need to hit them with a laser guided bunker buster, which is exactly the effect we will achieve by refusing to pay the extortion.
You are a good man Chuck.
Merry Christmas
The germ of destruction of our nation is in the power of the judiciary, an irresponsible body – working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little today and a little tomorrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a thief over the field of jurisdiction, until all shall render powerless the checks of one branch over the other and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated.
Thomas Jefferson
Alright. What we need to be asking ourselves is this… What can we do to change things? I, personally, am very tired of feeling like a slave to the state and my ex-wife’s little bitch. If we are truely equal in the sense of our forefathers. Why do I feel oppressed? Why do I feel controlled? I do not need the state or my ex-wife to feel even the slightest bit of obligation to the upbringing of my children. That was something I took upon myself the first time I looked into my first child’s eyes and saw my own. I am tired of feeling helpless. I am not. Neither are any of you other NCP’s. However I do not know how to respond to this? Refusing to pay child support is not an option when your ex uses the state as her little bitch. The fact that her little mind can manipulate our government to do her bidding, is perfect symbolism of how weak our government really is. Our government was not intended to be used for such self-destructing political corruptness. What can WE as a LARGE GROUP of people DO? DO!!!! Not say. DO!!!! I am tired of talk. The only thing that happens is people listen and they say gee that’s fu#$%d *p. Then it’s back to business as usual. I’m tired of talking and I really could give two sh*&s about any a!@ ^ol# who understands but is only a victim of the same messed up system. So I am suppose to believe that unless I hold a political office that I am unimportant. I do not think so. We are a LARGE GROUP of people. We must unite and make our presence known in realms other than the financial stability of our ex-spouses at the price of demeaning our own position within ours and our children’s lives. We are far greater than the deadbeats that our ex-spouses claim us to be and our government oppresses us to be. I AM FATHER and the neither government nor any other entity can take that away from me, but the father that I am and the father that my children see as a result of the oppression forced on me by my own government, that ironically I defend, are polar opposites. I wish to act against this oppression with extreme prejudice. I wish to do this with my brethren, my fellow oppressed. If you are with me e-mail me at beltfed213@yahoo.com But with or without you I am out to change the tides of this oppressive tidal wave.
I’m in! You’ve got Mail! (not male either!)
Rohjlejr:
Well my friend, I would like to believe that you are ready to do “whatever it takes†to stand up for your rights as a U.S. citizen. However, I find that extremely hard to believe when you are apparently afraid to even let anyone know what your real name is. If we are not even willing to use our real names in emails on this website, what does that say about our commitment to change? Why should any of you be afraid to use your real name? Isn’t this a free country? Doesn’t the first amendment guarantee our free speech? The founding fathers had no such guarantee and were not afraid to say exactly what was on their mind. I cringe when I hear people like you talk about our founders and freedom, when you don’t have the courage or self respect to say what is on your mind without attempting to conceal your identity.
I understand your rage. Why not focus that energy on doing something constructive? Why not try and see this as an opportunity to help yourself and your fellow citizen? You claim you cannot refuse to pay the extortion, but that is strictly bullshit. You have to want change bad enough to make it happen. I’m also very tired of the talk; put-up or shut-up. I have made the commitment to refuse to pay even one more cent of the extortion. What are you going to do?
It is guys like Chuck Peyton and the 500,000 others who refuse to pay that will ultimately make the difference, while guys like you blow off steam and do absolutely nothing.
Merry Christmas
I’m curious if anyone will put up or shut up.
TheDeenster@netzero.net
Jim Deeny
Merry Christmas everyone!
Quote: Until men’s rights groups, father’s groups and anti-feminist groups realise they are on the same side and start co-operating together, we will remain as quiet, singular voices in the wilderness. United we can break through the censorship, group-think and twisted ideology, reach out to others and build something worthwhile. Our biggest enemy is feminism, our second biggest enemy is men’s ego and competitive nature.
To put your ego in front of co-operation is to damage the movement…………………………………Alan Carr – Webmaster/Chairman of the
People, please hear me out. Call it a Christmas present. Just take a moment and “listen†to what I have to say.
I’ve heard people say that they will throw you in jail if you don’t pay the extortion. What does that have to do with refusing to pay? Are you going to tell me that you are willing to contribute to the kidnapping of millions of children from their fathers in order to appease a domestic enemy? Are you going to tell me that you love your children on the one hand, but on the other hand contribute to their absence and exploitation? Are you going to tell me that staying out of jail at your children’s expense is acceptable to you?
The truth is that none of us has to go to jail unless we choose to do so. You can quit your job and they won’t be able to take your money. Is there a law in America that says you can’t quit your job? Isn’t that decision your business? Does the court now have the right to tell you that you must have a job or go to prison? Does the court now have the right to tell you how much you are required to earn, in order to justify what they claim is you’re earning “potential� Are you really going to live like that?
I spend most of my time thinking of different ways to try and get this message across to people. It is extremely frustrating for me because I have no idea if what I’m saying is getting through. What is so absolutely clear to me doesn’t seem to register with some people. How can we expect to live in a free country when we are not willing to accept the responsibilities of a free people?
If the courts take your children and say that you must pay “child support†or go to prison; that is EXACTLY why you must refuse.
If the courts tell you that a woman has choices and you have only responsibilities; that is EXACTLY why you must demand equal protection.
If the courts violate our constitutional rights and deny use due process, then we MUST fight back.
If we are not willing to stand up for our own rights, then who do we expect to do it for us?
Finally, the single most important thing to realize is that you ARE NOT breaking the law by refusing to pay. The sexist courts ARE breaking the law by denying you equal protection based on gender, using the nauseating pretence of “the best interests of childrenâ€. Rosa Parks died a national hero because she had the common sense to realize that she was not breaking the law and the courage to act on that knowledge. The lawbreakers were the racist criminals who tried to deny people equal protection based on race, using the equally nauseating pretense of “separate but equalâ€.
In the only dissenting opinion of that now infamous Supreme Court decision:
“The present decision…will not only stimulate aggressions, more or less brutal and irritating, upon the admitted rights of colored citizens, but will encourage the belief that it is possible, by means of state enactments, to defeat the beneficent purposes which the people of the United States had in view when they adopted the recent [the 13th and 14th] amendments of the Constitutionâ€.
John Marshall Harlan
U.S. Supreme Court Justice
If you exchange the words “colored citizens†with the word “men†you will see the correlation.
Think about it. Gender is no better excuse for discrimination than race. “The best interests of children†is no more convincing an argument than “separate but equalâ€. They both try to conceal the true nature and motivation of the discrimination.
Do the right thing; help put these criminals where they belong; in jail. We have to start holding these criminals responsible when they so blatantly violate the law. They are responsible for countless deaths and untold pain and suffering. The children of now deceased fathers should receive generous compensation for their loss at the hands of this insidious domestic enemy, which makes the egregious claim of acting in the “best interest of childrenâ€.
I am a lawyer working in Mahoning County Ohio and I see this kind of thing often. Juvenile Court and child support employees were living high off the hog until these cuts. Fathers’ continue to get the short end of the stick. We must unite in order to give our children a chance. We can’t leave our children in the hands of money hungry juvenile court employees. I’m trying to help a non-custodial father in a similar situation as he was paying support and still not able to see his daughter, this has been going on for (4) years, and the only progress is that the juvenile court is getting rich. You can see this at http://www.legalquestions.blogstream.com If anyone can help please contact us.