Impact on Child Support Enforcement by Tangela Lewis

Impact on Child Support Enforcement by Tangela Lewis (R51-S12C)

Child support in its present form has not always existed. Initially child support was considered a civil matter.  Over the last few decades, the United States has witnessed an increase in the number of parents, mainly fathers, who are not taking responsibility for their children. Many of these parents have come to public attention through the child support system. “Child support enforcement, created by Congress in 1975 requiring states to create a child support program run by a state agency.   Department of Human Services administers the child support program for the state of Tennessee” (Tennessee Child Support Handbook, 2011).  Of the many areas of family law, few have attracted as much attention as efforts of child support enforcement.   Child support exists to help ensure that each child receives the financial support that is required by law.  Every child deserves the love and support of both parents to develop into the most productive adult possible.  Child support can consist of providing financial payments to the custodial parent on behalf of the child which is the most common type of payment. However, child support can be in the form of providing medical insurance, dental care, child care, or educational support.  Child support enforcement begins as a result of divorce, paternity testing, or a direct application request through the child support offices.  Unpaid child support has tremendous impacts on the parents, children, and society.

Custodial parents who are recipients of Families First benefits and TennCare/Medicaid and Foster Care cases are automatically referred to the child support office if there is a parent absent from the child's home. “As a Families First or TennCare / Medicaid recipient they must assign their rights to receive child support to the state to pay back the state and federal government for the benefits they and their child get under the Families First program” (Tennessee Child Support Handbook, 2011).  They must cooperate with the child support office in locating the alternate residential parent, establishing paternity, establishing a child support order, and enforcing a child support order.

The responsibility of providing for children with absent parents often falls on society.  Therefore, the government has to provide income to the custodial parent to procure the needs of the child. 

If child support is not being paid as ordered, the child support office will take legal action that is available to enforce the order and collect both current and past due support. Some other actions the child support agency can take to enforce non-payment of support are the placement of liens on property, the revocation of various licenses, the seizure of bank accounts, the denial of passports, and reporting to credit bureaus. Consequently, some parents who repudiate their child support obligations, for whatever reason, are at risk for fines and imprisonment and are labeled “deadbeat parents”.   The programs created to locate deadbeat parents are very expensive for the federal government.

Consequently, to the benefit of the child, child support enforcement allows the non custodial parent visitation rights that may not normally be allowed.  However, this enforcement can lead to rearing issues.  Due to parental conflict, increased visitation may be harmful to the children.  These conflicts become a root cause of many adolescent problems.  The connection between single-parent households and crime is so strong that controlling for this factor erases the relationship between race and crime as well as between low income and crime (Kamarck and Galston 1990, 14).

In addition, single families feel the impact because they have to work twice as hard to provide for their family.  It is sad, but many men don’t want to pay if they feel others will benefit from their monies.  In fact, many men perceive paying child support as a bill and fail to realize the importance of time and attention which come along with responsibility as well as support.

Certainly, the laws of child support enforcement should make more men reluctant to have children outside of marriage. In fact, these deadbeat parents, male or female, should be held accountable for their choices.  The fact is that deadbeat parents have spent a great deal of time and effort finding new and creative ways to avoid supporting their children and griping about how “unfair” the laws that force them to pay are.  If they put half that much effort into giving their children their due, there would have been little need for child support laws in the first place.  Above all, without a strong foundation, solid guidance, and support from both parents, kids suffer.  They do not get jobs and leach onto the systems and the cycle continues.

References

Kamarck, E., and Galston,W. (1990). Putting Children First: A Progressive Family Policy for the 1990s. Washington, D.C.: Progressive Policy Institute.

Anonymous.  (2011). Tennessee Child Support Handbook. Retrieved from