Sloppy Thinking, Sloppy Reporting on Child Support Enforcement
Thursday / December 20, 2007
Child support enforcement is too important for simplistic reasoning and inaccurate information.
The Sheriff's Department of Flagler County, Florida, has launched an online database where anyone can search for active warrants - including child support warrants. In a story from the Daytona Beach news-journalonline.com, Mike McCormick of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children is quoted as saying that putting warrants online "could hurt children."
McCormick might well be right, but his example doesn't support his conclusion:
This reasoning assumes that noncustodial parents who don't pay child support will be labeled as deadbeats, face high legal bills and jail time because their names appear on a list of warrants online. But it's the other way around: Noncustodial parents who appear on the Sheriff's warrants list are there because they've already failed to pay child support, incurred legal fees and are now subject to arrest.
The story also claims that an Illinois man who failed to pay child support of $82 per week wound up with a $1.1 million debt after $100 per day penalties were added to his child support. In fact, what happened was that the man faithfully paid his child support, but his employer never turned the money over to the state. The employer, not the man, was the one fined. A link to the case can be found in our December 4 blog post.
Child support is a sensitive subject. It is important to study it carefully and not to pass on inaccurate, inflammatory information.
McCormick might well be right, but his example doesn't support his conclusion:
Parents can find themselves labeled as deadbeats, facing high legal bills and even jail time. And that can make it even harder for the parent to pay. More importantly, McCormick said, it can make it hard for the noncustodial parent to maintain important visitation schedules, which should be first on everyone's priority list.
This reasoning assumes that noncustodial parents who don't pay child support will be labeled as deadbeats, face high legal bills and jail time because their names appear on a list of warrants online. But it's the other way around: Noncustodial parents who appear on the Sheriff's warrants list are there because they've already failed to pay child support, incurred legal fees and are now subject to arrest.
The story also claims that an Illinois man who failed to pay child support of $82 per week wound up with a $1.1 million debt after $100 per day penalties were added to his child support. In fact, what happened was that the man faithfully paid his child support, but his employer never turned the money over to the state. The employer, not the man, was the one fined. A link to the case can be found in our December 4 blog post.
Child support is a sensitive subject. It is important to study it carefully and not to pass on inaccurate, inflammatory information.