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

DATE: SATURDAY, June 18, 1994                   TAG: 9406200111
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

PARENTS PAY CAR LOANS 1ST, SUPPORT 2ND

Parents are more likely to fall behind on child support than on car payments, according to a study by the Children's Defense Fund.

In a report Friday, the advocacy group said the national delinquency rate for used car loans was less than 3 percent in 1992, while the delinquency rate for child support owed to mothers was 49 percent in 1990.

For its report, the group surveyed the performance of state child support enforcement agencies, which serve families on welfare and non-welfare families who ask for help. Among the fund's findings:

Child support payments were made in 14.7 percent of cases in 1983. By 1992, the rate edged up to 18.7 percent of cases.

Non-welfare child support caseloads have nearly quadrupled, from 1.7 million in 1983 to almost 6.5 million in 1992. Overall, agencies more than doubled their caseloads.

At the current rate of improvement, it would be more than 180 years before each child served by a state agency could be guaranteed even a partial support payment.

- Associated Press

by CNB