I thought Republicans were supposed to care about children. After all, they make a huge deal about being pro-life. Apparently that concern doesn't extend to the children of divorce because lack of funding is making it harder for custodial parents to collect what is owed them.
Deadbeat non-custodial parents who don't pay mandated child support have always been a problem. But it's getting worse. And budget cuts that will soon come before the House will only make it worse. They will cut federal funding for the enforcement of child support orders by 40% over the next five years. The Congressional Budget Office's preliminary estimates indicate that custodial parents will lose an additional twenty-four billion dollars over the next ten years. And ninety-five billion is already owed to custodial parents who can't collect what is due them.
How will this happen? Simple. Many states only process in-state payments by garnishing wages or requiring the payments be made through the state system. If your ex lives out of state, as 30 per cent of non-custodial parents do, you may have to go to the federal system, which will be severely affected by the proposed budget cuts. Even with federal enforcement, out-of-state deadbeat parents can easily evade payment.
The new bankruptcy laws don't help either. Child support payments used to be in a special category that could not be written off. Credit card companies have been added tot hat category, so custodial parents will now have to compete with Visa and Mastercard for funds. Who do you think has the best lawyers in order to get what's coming to them?
What about grassroot lobbying? The ONLY national organization, the Association for Children for the Enforcement of Support relies on grants to fund its work--and much of that funding has dried up in recent years. This group has helped pass laws in several states making failure to pay support a felony as well as the federal Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act which makes it a federal crime for out-of-state parents not to make their support payments. The Director of the Association says that advocacy for child support is not a priority of the Bush Administration.
Yet another example of compassionate conservatism in action.
To learn about one woman's struggle to get the four years of chidl support wed her, read about it here:
http://womensenews.org/...
For additonal info:
The Association for Children for Enforcement of Support: - http://www.childsupport-aces.org/
Office of Child Support Enforcement: - http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/...
SupportGuidelines.com: - http://www.supportguidelines.com/...
Tell your Congressman NOT to slash funds to enforce child support any further.