DATE: Friday, July 11, 1997                 TAG: 9707110008

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B8   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   69 lines

DEADBEAT DADS IN VIRGINIA CHEATING KIDS AND US

Gov. George F. Allen is appropriately pleased that Virginia's two-week ``deadbeat dad'' amnesty coaxed more than 9,300 noncustodial parents to pay or agree to pay their delinquent child-support bills.

Virginians at large also should be pleased. Altogether, the delinquents came across with $1.5 million and formally agreed to pay $5.6 million more. Every dollar is welcome.

Virginia has made commendable progress in collecting support payments from noncustodial parents. But far too many children are still being shortchanged.

The San Francisco-based Child Support Reform Initiative, a project of the not-for-profit Public Media Center, reports Virginia's gains in a packet of data aimed at aiding journalists' inquiries into their states' child-support-collection record.

Between 1994 and 1995, CLASP reports, Virginia's child-support caseload increased by 1 percent, from 360,564 cases to 363,058. State staff to cope with the caseload expanded by 30 percent, from 893 to 1,157. The money was well-spent. Collections rose by 98 percent, from 68,891 to 136,411, raising the total of money for children from $182.8 million to $226.7 million.

Also gratifying was the 19 percent increase in the number of paternities established - 22,090 in 1994, 26,234 in 1995. Identifying biological fathers is a necessary prerequisite to seeking support orders, which soared 36 percent in Virginia; 23,921 orders were obtained in 1994, 32,471 in 1995.

The Child Support Reform Initiative says that $34 billion owed U.S. children goes uncollected each year. It reports, too, that a Columbia University School of Social Work study ``estimates that one quarter of the families currently on welfare could become self-sufficient if the child-support-collection system worked properly'' and 25 percent could have their payments reduced with more effective support collection.''

To the degree that noncustodial parents won't or cannot support their offspring, children and society suffer.

A child deprived of both a parent and a decent standard of living is doubly disadvantaged. Not every disadvantaged child is destined to fail in school and in the job market. Or become an unmarried teen mother and wind up on welfare. Or become a street criminal.

But the doubly disadvantaged starts life behind the curve, which can be disastrous for the child and for others.

The Virginia child-support caseload now numbers about 403,000, with 186,000 noncustodial in deliquency.

The 9,300-plus delinquents who took advantage of the amnesty put a dent in the unpaid debt to Virginia's children. And the 64 arrests and 448 summonses targeting delinquent dads that immediately followed the amnesty will make another dent, although a much smaller one. Still, Virginia is doing better than many other states in tackling a problem that is nationwide.

Congress has pushed states for two decades to improve their child-support collections and provided funds for the purpose. Results have been mixed. So CLASP is pushing for a federalized collection-and-disbursement system, in large part because states' computer systems aren't compatible with one another and won't be for years, if ever.

Noncustodial fathers are able to move from state to state, as legions do, often escaping financial responsibility for their offspring.

As a consequence, though Congress has balked at federalizing the child-support system, sentiment spreads on Capitol Hill for a coherent, effective answer to the problem.

`Getting tough'' with delinquent dads, which is a favorite phrase of governors, including Virginia's, appeals to the electorate but yields little. Better to install a system that enables government to find delinquents and pluck a portion of their pay in whatever state they may be. Cost-effective collections would ease strain on taxpayers and improve the lot of millions of children. Sad experience shows that ``getting tough'' and one-time amnesties produce too little.

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