Cold hard Christmas currency, please

Circuit Judge David Tapp
Commonwealth Journal

December 24, 2007 08:15 am

— It is a sad commentary on modern society that so many children in this country will once again celebrate Christmas and the start of a new year without the benefit of basic economic support from two willing parents.
Impoverished through apathy, hundreds of thousands of American youth will be shortchanged by one or more parents who refuse to honor their obligation to provide adequate care for their children.
While most parents required to pay child support do so gladly, a significant minority continually attempt to elude or simply ignore their responsibility. Approximately 11 million child support arrearage cases exist nationally. This number reflects cases in which one or both of the known parents owe child support. Unfortunately, this startling number jumps dramatically when you factor in those cases involving children born out-of-wedlock where paternity has yet to be established, thus rendering collection impossible.
The lack of adequate financial support from one’s own parents does not mean that a child’s holiday or even daily life is unpleasant. Perhaps many of our children would benefit from an existence less focused on what we can purchase and the collective benefit of these acquisitions. Nevertheless, parents do have an affirmative legal obligation to provide financial support for their children.
It is doubtful that requiring recalcitrant parents to honor their obligation to provide financial support for their children will make them better people, nor will it foster a greater appreciation of the Christmas season. Such entreaties, offered to the better sense of parents who have ignored their own children’s needs in favor of personal greed, resentment against a custodial parent, or simply disinterest, are admittedly, not likely to be successful. However, the collection of past-due support, by reasonably coercive means, will undoubtedly help children succeed in school, experience opportunities otherwise missed, and accord financially disadvantaged children a lifestyle commensurate with those blessed by supportive parents.
Fortunately, local, state and federal enforcement agencies are becomingly increasingly adept at ferreting out the location of these delinquent parents, as well as devising new ways to coerce non-paying parents to comply with their support obligations.
Nationally, child support collection efforts garner over $20 billion annually. Kentucky is contributing its fair share, collecting approximately $400 million each year.
Identification of a non-paying parent and their employment is the key to successful enforcement. Once the non-paying parent is identified, enforcement agencies have a host of obligation efforts available to them. Overdue support can now be collected from federal and state tax refunds due to the obligor. State and county officials can, and do, file liens on real and personal property for past due support. It is also becoming increasingly common to report unpaid support obligations to credit bureaus or to even freeze bank accounts. Moreover, professional, occupational, recreational, and drivers’ licenses may now be suspended due to unpaid support. Some collection statutes even authorize the use of more aggressive efforts, such as the placement of so-called “boots” on an obligor’s vehicle in order to render it immovable.
Our local officials take full advantage of these tools. While final figures remain unavailable, collections efforts in Pulaski County are expected to exceed $4,000,000. Lincoln County will have collected in excess of $1,355,000 and Rockcastle County will also exceed $1,000,000.
The refusal of a parent, who is motivated by ill will or even apathy, to provide adequate economic support for a child, strikes a visceral chord. That some children will be derived of better nutrition, improved housing or the opportunity to participate in an educational or extracurricular opportunity is disturbing. With the conclusion of this year near upon us, let us again resolve to decrease the opportunity for this unfortunate type of neglect that exists within our society.