Increase Federal and State Child Support Enforcement

The child support system in this county is outdated and does not satisfy the need. Though an ideal situation would not require law enforcement to become involved in the support of children, reality is far from ideal. Individual states are charged with child support enforcement. Many states do an inadequate job of keeping track of noncustodial parents and enforcing court ordered child support. There are federal statutes for child support enforcement; however, the state is charged with the decision of which cases are prosecuted federally. Many cases meet and exceed the federal requirements and are neither prosecuted on the state level nor on the federal level established by law.
In addition to the insufficient federal and state enforcement, there is a need for a national federally funded office to oversee state child support enforcement practices, to keep track of noncustodial parents who move throughout the country and establish minimal requirements for child support enforcement. These requirements should include but not be limited to required DNA testing, tougher penalties for noncustodial parents who avoid court ordered support payments and penalties for employers who assist noncustodial parents avoid payment. Required DNA testing will decrease the number of fathers who pay support for children that are not biologically theirs when deceived by the women mothered the children. Tougher state penalties are required to close the many loopholes used by noncustodial parents. Many dont report accurate contact and wage information, which prolongs the legal process and sometimes stops it altogether. Many work for cash only and report that they are unemployed or underemployed so that courts cannot assess and order reasonable child support. Many simply leave the state, which ties the hands of the state enforcement system as well as the custodial parents. There should also be requirements for employers who employ noncustodial parents to accurately report wages paid in cash or by check and to honor garnishment requests from state and federal enforcement agencies.
It is not enough that noncustodial parents are allowed to only make monetary support payments when children require more than monetary support. It is unfair that only the lives of the custodial parents must change when children are born into a family. It is unreasonable that men are required to pay child support for children that are not theirs decreasing the amount of monies available for their legitimate children. It is unfortunate that the only hope for many custodial parents, after years of nonsupport, is organizations that are paid a percentage of the overdue child support. Nonsupport or inadequate support enforcement leads directly to the degradation of family, community and society.
Signing this petition states that you agree that there must be changes in federal and state child support enforcement. It further states that you agree that such changes should maximize payment of court ordered child support and minimize nonpayment by noncustodial parents through stricter penalties for nonpayment.