DATE: Saturday, September 6, 1997           TAG: 9709060363

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH SIMPSON, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   49 lines

STATE IS PURSUING DEADBEAT PARENTS FOR CHILD SUPPORT

State child support enforcers are trying to make good on their promise to go after deadbeat parents who passed up the governor's offer of amnesty earlier this year.

Sixteen people in Norfolk and Portsmouth were picked up late Thursday on charges of failing to appear in court in the second of a series of roundups of child support evaders across the state.

The sweeps are part of the governor's KidsFirst campaign, and they target the child support evaders who failed to respond to letters sent out in June to 57,000 deadbeat parents.

The letters had informed recipients that if they caught up on payments or came up with a payment agreement during a 15-day period in June, child support enforcers would not pursue them in court, as long as they abided by the payment agreement.

State officials say the letters brought in an estimated $4.5 million as of Aug. 30 from 9,275 parents across the state.

Those parents who didn't respond to the offer are now the target of stepped-up enforcement efforts.

Carol Vanderspiegel, regional administrator for the Child Support Division of the state's Department of Social Services, said the arrests Thursday were the result of a more concentrated campaign that the two cities' law enforcement and court officials worked on together.

``It's a more intensified effort to send a message that we are serious about going after the people who didn't take us up on amnesty,'' Vanderspiegel said.

Besides the 16 arrests, there were 34 summonses issued for people to appear in court regarding child support payments. While all these cases would have been pursued regardless, the one-day roundups bring in more people on one day in an attempt to raise awareness of the pursuit of deadbeat parents, Vanderspiegel said.

The first roundup in the KidsFirst campaign was June 30, and resulted in 69 arrests in Newport News, Virginia Beach, Fairfax, Roanoke, Richmond and Culpeper. Five other cities across the state will have similar roundups during the next two weeks.

About 404,000 parents in Virginia make child support payments, and about 186,000 are delinquent. Those targeted are the most egregious offenders, who owe at least $500. The collection crackdown is a component of welfare reform.

Chad Clark, an assistant secretary of Health and Human Resources, said the campaign includes new laws that give support enforcement officials access to cable TV and bank records. KEYWORDS: CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT

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