The proud parents may not want to think about it, but the state of Washington sure does. About one in every four children is born outside a marriage, and enforcing child support is most difficult In cases where paternity has not been established. So Washington decided to got men on the hook while they’re most proud of fatherhood. In about 40 percent of out-of -wedlock births the father is now acknowledging paternity at the hospital. Smith was one who gladly signed.
Washington’s program is one of many innovative approaches states have devised to beef up collections. Taken as a whole, the record of the government’s network of locally run, federally financed agencies is pathetic. But prodded by major laws passed by Congress in 1984 and 1988, the agencies have pursued several avenues of reform:
Hit ‘Em Where They Work. Government officials thought they had the magic bullet in the mid-1980s: take the child support directly out of the father’s paycheck. But this approach loses track of people like Kent Patterson of Seattle, who switched construction jobs 24 times in 11 months. In 1990, Washington state began requiring many employers to give the names and social-security numbers of all hires to the child-support agency so It could track them. By 1994 all states are also supposed to garnish paychecks automatically, without waiting for the father to become delinquent.
Putting Blood in the Stone. You can lead a deadbeat to court, but you can’t make him pay if he doesn’t have any money. So several states have begun requiring fathers to join job-search programs. A Grand Rapids, Mich., program found jobs for 432 of 1,077 employees during an sight-month period-and their child-support payments jumped by more than 300 percent.
Private Eyes. Agency workers juggling 1,000 cases can often spend only a few minutes on each case. So some states, and increasing numbers of desperate mothers, are turning to private collection services for help. They are often quite effective, but firms can take a big cut of whatever they collect, while the government collects it all (in theory) for free. Parents can increase their odds by consulting groups like the Association for Children for Enforcement of Support. (1-800-537-7072) and the National Child Support Advocacy Coalition (P.O. Box 420, Hendersonville, Tenn. 37077). Noncustodial parents can try the National Council for Children’s Rights (202-547-NCCR).
The Big Fix. Some child-support experts believe the state-by-state enforcement system is too bureaucratic to ever work well. One proposed solution: turn it over to the IRS. Some advocates go further with a proposal called child-support assurance. The government steps up enforcement, but if the father doesn’t pay fully, the state fills the gap. States could then eliminate one of the counterproductive parts of the current law: when poor men do pay support, the state keeps most of It to help finance its welfare operation. Like many of these reforms, the goal here is somewhat unusual for the government: forcing parents, instead of the state, to take care of kids.
