The reality facing families in the child support system is far from simple. Demanding, as a recent Baltimore Sun editorial did, that parents "pay up or else" - and suggesting that the main thing the Child Support Enforcement Administration needs to do is use available tools and get tougher on "deadbeats" - could harm the very children the child support system is supposed to serve.
It's important to remember that half of all unpaid child support is not even owed to children. When a struggling custodial mother applies for welfare cash assistance, the law requires her to establish a child support obligation against the father and simultaneously assign the resulting child support payments to the government. As a result, half of the $105 billion in national child support debt is owed to the government rather than to children. Although recent federal legislation encourages states to "pass through" such government-owed child support back to the children, Maryland has not yet chosen this option.
Another problem is the repeated use of the term "deadbeat." The bulk of Maryland's $1.5 billion in unpaid child support is owed by parents who are not deadbeats - they're dead broke. Almost two-thirds of parents responsible for unpaid child support debt have annual incomes of less than $10,000. And almost 70 percent of the total unpaid child support debt has accumulated from cases of current and former welfare families. The reality is that when a poor mother faces the difficult choice of applying for welfare assistance, the father is often also poor.
A 2002 report from Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement cautioned that "we need to steer clear of 'simple answers' and opt instead for more 'mature answers,'" recognizing that blind enforcement can cause harm. Low-income fathers facing unrealistic child-support demands, the loss of driver's licenses and garnishment of 65 percent of their net wages may be forced into the underground economy. Overly aggressive child support enforcement may discourage a father's interaction with his children and cause increasing family conflict. Studies show that young low-income parents in "fragile families" have the potential for healthy relationships, and possibly even marriage. But when the mothers are forced to sue the fathers - often repeatedly - for money not even owed to the children, and the arsenal of enforcement tools is then unleashed, the fragile relationships can be destroyed.
