DATE: Wednesday, June 11, 1997              TAG: 9706110005

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial

                                            LENGTH:   42 lines

PURSUING DEADBEATS ZEAL WITHOUT RESOURCES

Virginia child-support enforcement officials are getting really tough on deadbeat moms and dads. Good, although we'd feel more secure if the ``really tough'' part was being backed up with a few more resources.

Letters have gone out to about 57,000 parents - mostly fathers - who are substantially behind on their child-support payments. Those who agree to set things right by June 20, through a single check or a structured payment plan, will be granted amnesty from prosecution.

Those who don't can expect to feel the hot breath of the law down their collars. ``Virginia will pursue vigorously all enforcement measures,'' promised Nathaniel L. Young Jr., head of the state's child-support-enforcement division, at a well-attended press conference.

Gov. George F. Allen joined him in noting that a variety of additional techniques will be employed to locate delinquent parents, including tapping into bank and even cable-company records.

What Allen did not announce was the hiring of any new investigators or the installation of any new equipment to speed the tracking. Without such additional resources, it's reasonable to wonder how much change will occur.

Periodically in recent years, state officials have trumpeted beefed-up efforts to make both parents responsible for the children they bring into the world. Such attempts are laudable. They become even more essential as public assistance to poor families is curtailed through welfare reform.

Yet for all the hoopla, the gap between money owed and money paid is still far too large. Last year, for instance, the division of child-support-enforcement collected more than $250 million in support payments, up 14 percent from the previous year, but a far cry from the $800 million that is still owed.

Child-support officials say they'll work more closely with local police and sheriff departments to pursue and prosecute irresponsible parents. But there's been no structural impediment to that happening in the past.

We can only hope that the Allen administration is correct in saying it's all a matter of commitment. The nagging worry is that it's a matter of resources as well.

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