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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 29, 1994                   TAG: 9406290106
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NO MORE LICENSE TO BE A DEADBEAT

DESPITE MORE aggressive efforts by federal and state governments to collect child-support payments, many absent parents continue to renege on their debts to their progeny. Many do so, apparently, without even a scintilla of remorse - or concern that the long arm of the law will grab them and make them pay. That needs to change.

To be sure, lots of deadbeat dads or moms don't financially abandon their children on purpose. They may be stuck in low- or minimum-wage jobs, if they have jobs at all, that barely sustain their existence - with little or none left over to contribute to anyone else.

But not all such parents scrimp by. Some are doing quite nicely, thank you, in good-paying jobs that support such niceties as motor boats, sports cars, car telephones - and, yes, in the case of some divorced parents, their children of second or third marriages.

Some have jobs in which they work "under the table." That is, they have incomes that they see no need to report to government busybodies (and sometimes employers are in collusion with them). Regardless, it's not that they can't afford to support their children living in separate households - they just flat-out won't.

It is primarily these nonpaying parents that the state of Maine has targeted with a program that can jerk the driver's licenses, and even professional licenses for doctors, lawyers, architects, plumbers, etc., of those who are in arrears. It's hard-nosed, but Maine's deadbeats have been skipping on a whopping $150 million a year in child-support payments - leaving state taxpayers to pick up the bills for supporting their children. Taking away someone's driver's license is a good way to get his attention.

Soon, other states may be required to follow suit, including Virginia. The commonwealth currently puts liens on property of delinquent parents, but hasn't gone so far as to seize licenses. President Clinton's welfare-reform proposal calls on all states to take action similar to Maine's. Virginia should do so in any event.

If you think that's harsh, consider what Massachusetts is doing. It runs posters of deadbeat parents on television during the evening news. The idea is that public shaming may work where rational arguments fail to convince debtors that there's no exit door on the duty to support their children.

Whatever the strategy, it needs to have a federal component, because many deadbeats cross state lines to avoid their obligations.

These debtors aren't merely running up immense bills for taxpayers, via Aid to Families with Dependent Children. By evading their moral and legal obligations to their children, they also become criminals themselves. The public's intolerance of crime ought to include these adult delinquents, and the government's tougher-on-crime attitude ought to be extended to them without further pussyfooting around.

by CNB