Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 31, 1994 TAG: 9408310051
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
State officials released the list at a Tuesday news conference in Richmond. It includes a cross section of so-called deadbeat dads who have been identified as the hardest cases to enforce, not necessarily those who owe the most.
"Three of these cases are being worked out of our Roanoke office," said Michael Henry, chief of the Virginia Division of Child Support Enforcement. "That doesn't necessarily mean [these men] are in the area."
But it does mean they have children in the area served by the Roanoke division.
The three owe a combined $59,000 in back child support. One is a truck driver. One works in construction. Another's occupation is listed as "works with dogs." All have last-known addresses elsewhere in Virginia or out of state.
Their names are being withheld by the newspaper because they have not been charged with any crime.
The state has released a similar list for the last eight years and has tracked down 47 of the 66 parents who have been on the list, Henry said. The 10 on this year's list owe a total of $199,114.
"The purpose is to focus public attention on the problem of parents who don't support their children," Henry said. "We also want to ask the public at large to assist us in finding these 10 individuals, but in addition, help us change public attitudes generally about parental responsibility."
The state is trying to collect a total of $622.4 million in back child support. In Virginia, the average amount owed is $6,100.
The list's release comes just days before the state will begin sending notices to 66 health professionals, warning that they could lose their licenses if they refuse to pay child support they owe.
The health professionals are the first to be targeted by a new state law that allows the courts to suspend state-issued business and professional licenses of parents who fail to pay child support.
The law, which took effect in July, is intended to compel parents to pay before their licenses are taken away, Henry said.
Henry said health professionals were the first targeted group because the division had established a computer interface with the state Department of Health Professions - the agency that licenses health professionals.
The 66 individuals owe a total of $595,000 in back child support, Henry said. It is highly likely, he said, that some of those 66 live in the Roanoke area.
The law could affect about 10,000 parents, nearly all of them fathers, who owe about $60 million in back child support in Virginia, Henry said.
He said other license holders who owe child support will be sent notices in the next several months as they are tracked down through other state licensing agencies. They must be at least $5,000 or 90 days behind in payments.
The next targeted group could be holders of occupational driver's licenses - such as truck drivers, Henry said.
The state Division of Child Support Enforcement has been exploring the idea of suspending or revoking the driver's licenses of parents who are delinquent in child-support payments.
The division also is looking at a bill introduced during the last General Assembly that, in part, would deny initial issuance or renewal of driver's licenses of parents delinquent by more than one month in child-support payments.
Tuesday, Henry said the division made the driver's license penalties one of a host of recommendations it presented to the Governor's Commission on Citizen Empowerment, which has been working on a plan to implement state welfare-reform measures.
"We have presented the idea to them," Henry said. "They are studying our recommendations, but things haven't moved that much as far as that issue is concerned."
The three dozen recommendations included a bill carried over from the last General Assembly that would allow the division to create liens on motor vehicles.
The Associated Press provided some information for this story.
by CNB