DATE: Friday, November 21, 1997             TAG: 9711210658

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 

                                            LENGTH:   39 lines

85 DEADBEAT PARENTS GET ORDERS TO FACE COURT FOR NON-PAYMENTS

Child-support enforcement officials made a roundup of 85 deadbeat parents this week, issuing summonses for them to appear in court to explain why they have not paid child support to Suffolk children.

The sweeps are part of Gov. George F. Allen's KidsFirst campaign. They target child-support evaders who failed to respond to letters sent in June to 57,000 deadbeat parents.

The letters offered a 15-day amnesty period in June during which parents could come up with a payment agreement. In exchange, the state would agree not to pursue them in court as long as the parents abided by the agreements.

About $9.1 million from 13,124 parents has been brought in as a result of the letters.

Those who failed to respond to the letters, however, have been pursued more aggressively by child-support enforcers.

This week's sweep was the third in a series of roundups being conducted across the state. Parents were also served summonses in Danville, Petersburg and Richmond this week.

The parents who owed money to Suffolk children were picked up throughout Hampton Roads, and owe a total of $351,765. Previously, sweeps focused on parents who owe child support to children in Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Portsmouth.

Carol Vanderspiegel, the regional administrator for the Child Support Division of the state's Department of Social Services, said the sweeps bring together the efforts of police, courts and child-support enforcers in a three-day effort.

While the division would normally pursue these cases anyway, the sweeps enable officials to concentrate the efforts over two or three days and coordinate all the agencies involved to serve more parents than usual with summonses to appear in court. ``We are trying to do them en masse, to draw attention to them and increase the probability that non-custodial parents will make payment agreements with us,'' Vanderspiegel said.

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