THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 16, 1994 TAG: 9408160360
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
Doctors, lawyers, real estate agents and other professionals in Virginia who are behind on child support could find themselves out of work soon as the state begins suspending their licenses to force delinquent payments.
The first of thousands of notices will be mailed in a few weeks to medical professionals whose names were culled from state computers. In coming months, officials will target others in 34 professions that require state licenses or permits, including barbers, engineers, pharmacists and accountants.
``The idea is hopefully not to get to the point of actually suspending people's licenses so they can't work; the hope is to get them to contact us,'' said Joseph S. Crane, the state's assistant director of child support enforcement.
While governments long have garnished wages and seized property of delinquent parents, Virginia will be the first in the region to take aim at their ability to work.
Officials said the program will give them leverage against thousands of recalcitrant parents, mostly fathers, who owe millions of dollars but have been able to evade normal enforcement techniques because they are self-employed, work for cash or have hidden assets from authorities.
In the few but increasing number of states that have adopted such an approach in recent years, the threat has been highly effective.
In Maine, which launched its initiative last year, state officials said they already have collected more than $13 million in overdue payments from 10,130 parents who were targeted, while actually moving to suspend only one man's professional license. That program also suspends driver's licenses, an option Virginia is studying. ``It's been a very effective tool,'' said Wayne D. Doss, president of the National Child Support Enforcement Association.
In Virginia as elsewhere, the problem of collecting child support has enormous scope. The state has 340,000 child support cases, affecting about 500,000 children - or one in four children in Virginia. In about half the cases, paternity or a court-ordered support payment has not been established. But in more than 100,000 cases, officials said, parents are behind or not paying at all. The state estimates that among the group, it will find 10,000 licensed professionals, who owe an average of $6,100. ``Even if we only get 10 percent of that, that helps a lot of kids,'' said Michael R. Henry, director of child support enforcement.
Virginia once was rated the second-worst state in child support but has made steady progress. Last year, it collected $192 million for custodial parents, 10 times as much as it did in 1986. Money was withheld from the paychecks of 50,000 delinquent parents, seven times as many as in 1986. Even so, last year's collection rate amounted to barely 30 percent of what is owed.
The new program will cover a wide gamut of occupations regulated by the state, including architects, cosmetologists, auctioneers, harbor pilots, geologists, funeral directors, embalmers, bar owners and polygraph examiners. Although ordinary driver's licenses are not affected, those for truck drivers and cabdrivers will be subject to suspension. The state will send notices to delinquent parents who owe more than $5,000 or are 90 days behind in payments. Those who do not make arrangements to pay will be taken to court; if they lose there, they will have 90 days to surrender their licenses. by CNB