Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 11, 1995 TAG: 9506120070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FRONT ROYAL LENGTH: Medium
Supporters of suspending professional licenses for failure to pay child support touted the law as a way to get money from doctors, lawyers and other wealthy parents who refuse to pay child support.
Amber Bachand wasn't what they had in mind.
Bachand, 34, is an unemployed nursing assistant who has had trouble with drugs and trouble holding down a job. She long ago gave up custody of her 13-year-old son, Paul.
But the boy's father didn't sue for unpaid support. Virginia officials want $3,899 as reimbursement for welfare checks the state gave Bachand's mother to care for her grandson.
``It's not exactly the high roller that we were all envisioning,'' said Michael R. Henry, director of the Virginia Division of Child Support Enforcement. ``It's a fairly difficult issue for us.''
Nearly 10 months after her first warning, Bachand has yet to pay a nickel to the state. Instead, she has gone into hiding. When she did not show for a hearing in Warren County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court on Friday, Judge William W. Sharp lifted her license and ordered her arrested and jailed.
``We don't want her license,'' Kathleen M. Griffin, the state's lawyer, said afterward. ``We don't want people's cars. We don't want people's homes. We just want them to pay their child support. If they make an effort and work with us, they're not going to get into this situation. ... This one just screamed out that something had to be done.''
The state wants to recoup some of the $157 a month Paul's grandmother, Katherine Poland, once received in Aid to Families with Dependent Children benefits to care for him.
Bachand had been living with her parents and son, but she left home to avoid the state's claim and has not been heard from for three weeks, according to The Washington Post.
Poland was horrified to learn that her decision to take welfare benefits ultimately resulted in legal action against her daughter. The situation, she said, has ripped her family apart.
``I want you to understand - I had nothing to do with this,'' Poland said. ``I am not suing my daughter. ... I didn't realize what all it involved, or I would never have gone and asked for assistance.''
The license suspension program began last summer with grand expectations. Officials said they would cross-check the names of parents who were 90 days late or owed more than $5,000 in child support against lists of people holding state licenses for any of three dozen professions. The idea was to scare delinquents into paying.
For the most part, that has worked. As of late April, 222 notices had been sent to debtor parents, with $167,000 collected. In one case that fit the mold of official expectations, a prominent Richmond lawyer forked over $15,000 in back payments.
But while lawyers and doctors make juicy targets, many blue-collar workers require state certification to work, including barbers, cab drivers and truckers.
``Some of the people the Division of Child Support Enforcement proceeds against are just very poor people,'' said Kevin A. Bell, the lawyer appointed to represent Bachand by the public defender's office. ``It's not a lot of deadbeat dads making a lot of money.''
by CNB