Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, September 3, 1994                   TAG: 9409060023
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SOME DADS WANT TO PAY - BUT CAN'T

"I understand there are deadbeat dads and moms out there," said Leonard, of Christiansburg. "But not all are deadbeat. Some are trying to meet their obligations. And they are struggling."

Fact is, in Virginia, the irresponsible far outweigh the responsible. Still, Leonard finds flaws with an enforcement system that can throw the responsible into economic hardship to meet their child-support payments.

She has written to state legislators suggesting that some "fine tuning" of the enforcement guidelines is in order, particularly in relation to new families created after divorce.

Leonard's husband, Barry, has two children from a previous marriage, which ended in divorce two years ago. His former wife, who has remarried, was awarded custody of the children.

Barry, who then earned $450 a week, was court-ordered to pay $200 each week in child support. He also carried the two children on his insurance policy, requiring an $81 deduction each month from his paycheck.

The Leonards had a son nine months ago. Tammy did not return to work for medical reasons. Barry by then had changed jobs and his income had dropped to $530 every two weeks.

The couple turned to public assistance - food stamps; the federal supplementary Women, Infants, Children nutrition program; and Medicaid - to fill the gap created by the cut in family income.

Barry continued to make support payments in lesser amounts. He fell behind because the financial strain had become too great, Tammy said.

Tammy returned to work part-time last month, rendering the couple ineligible for food stamps. But the couple's son continues to receive WIC and Medicaid.

"It doesn't really seem fair," Tammy said. "Our son has Medicaid that, because of our income level, has to pay for his medical. But Barry still has to pay health insurance premiums for his other two children.

"If the state recognizes that we can't afford to pay medical for our son, why don't they recognize that we can't afford to for the other two children?"

Leon Alder, regional administrator for the western regional office of the state Child Support Enforcement Division, said that as unfortunate as some hardships can be, legal responsibility for children of divorce rests with the mother and father.

"The whole concept is: What would children receive if the marriage remained intact?" Alder said.

Still, "divorce can cause financial hardship, no doubt about it. And it causes problems."

Courts have reviewed and altered payments, based on circumstances. The state law on child-support enforcement recognizes that certain allowances should be made, Alder said.

Amount of support is calculated using a worksheet that accounts for monthly gross income of each parent, basic support obligation - set out in a child-support computation schedule that outlines total combined monthly gross income of parents and the amounts that one to six children should receive - and basic allowable amounts for extraordinary medical and dental expenses, health-care coverage and child-care coverage.

Barry, for example, receives a credit for the insurance-premium payments that are deducted each month from his paychecks.

Robin Cawley, Barry's former wife, recognizes his dilemma and has agreed three times to reduce the monthly support payments. His initial $200-a-week payment has dropped to $65 a week.

"I don't feel like my children should suffer, although it's unfortunate what happened to Barry," she said. "The best interest of the children is what the system has to think of. Before people have more children, they should think about that. They should know before they start another family what their options are and prepare for that."

But Tammy wonders whether the enforcement system could provide some degree of equity between children from the former marriage and children born into subsequent marriages, and tax credits for the noncustodial parent.

"They put the [computation schedule] in to make it fair across the board," she said. "The current system is no more complicated than the system of child support before they put the [computation schedule] in place. A lot of children are better off for it.

"But there needs to be something like that done to account for children born into the new marriages."