Interesting Acticle on Child Support

LOOKING FOR IDEAS
Officials nationwide are casting about for ways to update and improve their child support programs and are looking to their sister states for ideas. Many innovations are not created explicitly in law, but stem from broad statutory authority and supportive legislative oversight. Many predate the federal mandates and already have a positive track record, while others are still in their infancy. Some build upon the federal mandates, but most are entirely outside the 1996 requirements. Whatever their origin, they have one thing in common: Legislators want and need to know about them. These initiatives and others like them are sure to generate the next round of legislative reforms.

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New Mexico advocate for dads' rights takes on child support

The Belen father who founded Dads Against Discrimination and spent 15 years in New Mexico courts battling for fathers' rights has a new fight on his hands.

Don Chavez has filed a challenge to New Mexico's child support guidelines in state District Court in Albuquerque in connection with his recent divorce case.

Chavez's 16-page petition is devoted to the child support guidelines he claims are unfair.

Chavez said he is going to bat for parents who have custody of their children less than 25 percent of the time and must pay full child support to the custodial parent.

He has asked the court to develop new guidelines that will recognize that both parents must pay for the needs of the child and that their share should be based on their ability to pay.

If he is successful changing the guidelines, "tens of thousands of court-ordered child support orders in New Mexico will be rendered null and void," Chavez claims.

New Mexico collects $95 million annually in child support payments under the guidelines adopted in 1994, state officials said.

The state Human Services Department's Child Support Enforcement Division manages 60,000 cases, said Martin Eckert, Human Services Department public information officer.

Department officials said they were not aware of Chavez's petition. The department is not a party in his case, they said.

Chavez said New Mexico's child support guideline for determining payment is similar to a guideline struck down as unconstitutional in a Washington, D.C., case.

Chavez is critical of the divorce industry for not taking on this issue after the Washington court decision.

"Why has not one legally trained professional nor licensed attorney noticed the same in New Mexico?" Chavez asks in his petition. "Because this is their bread and butter."

Chavez is representing himself against his estranged wife, Quillon Dayton-Chavez of Albuquerque. She filed for divorce last month.

Chavez and Dayton-Chavez have two children, ages 3 and 6, from their seven-year marriage, his third and her second.

Chavez said he has not asked for child support from Dayton-Chavez. And she said she hasn't mentioned child support.

"I wasn't the one who brought up child support," Dayton-Chavez said. "He is acting like I asked, and I didn't."

Even if a new guideline is not developed, Chavez said he will benefit from the changes in child custody laws instigated by Dads Against Discrimination, a group he founded in New Mexico.

In 1980, when Chavez was in court fighting for joint custody of two daughters, his request was denied based on the Tender Years Doctrine, which basically said children were better off with their mother.

In today's divorce court, the law presumes that joint custody will be granted, unless a court establishes facts to support sole custody, Chavez said.

The joint custody law was passed by the Legislature in 1986.

Chavez said he has leave from his job as a school social worker to care for his two young children.

"I'm Mr. Mom," he said. "I'm the custodial parent."

Dayton-Chavez said Chavez lets her have the children three weekends a month.

"Personally, I don't see that Don's child support challenge is newsworthy," she said.

"He's trying to use the media and look very dedicated. He didn't want me to file for divorce, and this is his way to strike back."

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Fathers' group: Child-support warrants on Internet 'misguided'

By HEATHER SCOFIELD
Staff Writer

BUNNELL -- At least one national organization that champions the rights of fathers and children says there may be a down side to a new feature on the Flagler County Sheriff's Office Web site.

The agency just launched a new online database at www.myfcso.us that allows anyone to search by name or just view a list of those wanted by the Sheriff's Office. There are already more than 600 names.

The new "warrants" feature sounds like a good thing to some. But one national organization says if the new database is left as is, it could hurt children.

Why? Because parents who fail to pay child support could find their names featured on the list.

"It's a misguided activity on the part of law enforcement," said Mike McCormick of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children.

But the Sheriff's Office is not "picking and choosing" which warrants go online, spokeswoman Debra Johnson said. All warrants issued in Flagler County are going into the database. And child-support warrants are not featured on the separate portion of the Web site, which highlights several warrants weekly and includes photographs of the individuals wanted.

The Flagler Sheriff's Office appears to be the only law enforcement Web site in the area with a warrants database. Neither the Volusia County Sheriff's Office nor the Daytona Beach or DeLand police departments have a warrants database. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Web site has a database but child-support offenders aren't usually included, a spokeswoman said.

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Agencies partner to help Illinois collect $420,000 in past-due child support

ILLINOIS - The state's collection of past-due child-support payments increased 71 percent to $420,000 in 2007, thanks to a partnership between two state agencies seeking to crack down on delinquent parents, according to a statement released Sunday by Gov. Rod Blagojevich's office.

The state collected $245,000 in overdue child-support payments in 2006, according to the statement. But beginning this year, officials combined the services of the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, which collects child-support payments, with the Financial and Professional Regulation Department, the agency that issues state licenses for everything from public accountants to message therapists.

With this partnership, people who owe more than $1,000 in child support can be denied licenses when they are up for renewal.

Child-support payments statewide rose to $1.22 billion this year from $1.14 billion in 2006.

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County votes to add lawyer to help with child support cases

St. Croix County supervisors rethought an earlier decision and agreed last week to add another lawyer to the corporation counsel’s office.

Child Support Administrator Katie Kapaun urged the addition, saying her office needs more legal help to keep up with its caseload, which has increased 13 percent in the last two years.

County judges now devote eight hours a month to child support collections. Once a fourth judge is added next summer, they’ve agreed to increase that court time to 12-16 hours a month.

But, said Kapaun, that won’t help if there isn’t a corporation counsel to work on the cases.

Child support court work includes establishing paternity and support obligations, contempt actions for failure to pay and modifications to existing orders. That work involves preparation, pre-court conferences, court presentations and reviewing court orders once they’re filed.

Kapaun said Assistant Corporation Counsel Don Gillen averages about 65 hours per month on child support work. Corporation Counsel Greg Timmerman had agreed that if a new position were added to his office, that lawyer would spend half his time working on child support.

But the County Board cut the second assistant corporation counsel from a list of new positions before adopting the 2008 budget.

Kapaun said supervisors may not have understood that there is partial state funding for the lawyer.

The new position, including salary and benefits, would cost about $80,000.

Kapaun said state reimbursement for child support work would cover $27,000 of the cost. The extra position is also expected to save about $48,000 a year currently spent on outside lawyers who work with personnel issues.

Therefore, said Kapaun, the net extra cost from the tax levy would be about $6,000.

She said the county is falling behind state averages for current child support collections and could be penalized financially for not meeting standards.

Kapaun said the office can only get about 28 cases a month into court, and child support court hours are now booked up into August.

Hudson Supervisor Sharon Norton-Bauman said she would like some guarantee that the new position would only cost the general fund $6,000.

Since the need for outside legal help in employment matters varies, that’s hard to determine, replied County Board Chairman Buck Malick.

A motion to reconsider the position carried on a unanimous vote. A motion to table a decision until the January meeting failed on an 8-19 vote. The motion to add the new position was adopted 21-6.

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