Pay up, deadbeat parents

Legislative auditors have raised some intriguing policy questions regarding the enforcement of child support orders. One recommendation would be to suspend nonpayers' driver licenses, professional licenses and recreational licenses.

Considering that deadbeat parents owe Utah children some $325 million, better enforcement tools are clearly needed. Not all of the so-called deadbeats are people who are barely scraping by, financially speaking. Auditors pinpointed one "successful real estate agent" who earned more than $120,000 in 2003 but made only occasional payments to address $20,000 in back child support payments. Another person, a licensed contractor who earned $53,000 in 2003, owes $17,000 in child support.

Some professionals would respond to the possibility of their professional licenses being suspended. The prospect of losing one's driver license would likely bring others into compliance. But if the point of this pressure is to collect child support payments, taking away a person's means to work is, at first blush, counterproductive.

But the Office of Recovery Services clearly needs more leverage to counter people who cannot pay or refuse to pay child support. Thirty-six states allow agents to suspend and revoke licenses without court approval. Colorado boasts the recovery of $8.6 million in back child support payments through 2005 using this approach.

This is obviously a question for legislators to hash over because people who fail to pay child support place a greater strain on public assistance programs. The state has a great stake in recovering child support on behalf of children who desperately need it.

Frankly, it is difficult to understand why noncustodial parents do not pay child support. Divorce churns heated emotions between the former partners, but noncustodial parents have legal and moral obligations to provide for their children. They have already experienced the division of their families. Their financial well-being should not be compromised as well.

Another recommendation by legislative auditors was to publish the names of nonpayers who can afford to pay but do not. This approach could have unintended consequences. Publishing nonpayers' names could also humiliate children whose parents' child-support payments are in arrears.

One approach that appears to have no downside is more aggressive bank account seizures. Under Utah law, ORS agents cannot seize child-support payments from a checking account if the account balance is less than $2,000. This is much higher than in any surrounding state. A lower limit would enable ORS to seize money from a larger number of accounts, thereby improving collections.

Again, these issues need to be debated in a public forum to develop the best possible approaches to this problem. But ORS needs more teeth to address this issue, which wouldn't be the government's affair if parents would commit to do the best on behalf of their children, regardless of their personal circumstances.