
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 26, 1990                   TAG: 9003262165
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

FOCUS ON DRUGS OVERLOOKS NEEDS OF CHILDREN

THE POLITICIANS have put so much emphasis on the drug problems in this country that the welfare of our children has been swept under the table. With the divorce rate increasing every year, we need to examine the problems that exist in the laws.

Child support needs to be turned over to the hands of the federal government so that a person cannot go to a state that does not comply to another state's law. Our children did not ask to be brought into this world, yet they are the ones who are suffering.

We read every day that it takes two incomes to raise a family, and I have learned the hard way how true this is. Once my ex-husband left the state I was left responsible for every debt we had, because it is too expensive to go out of state to get someone. I have lost my home, and had it not been for the financial help of my family, my children and I would have been among the increasing population that we call "street people."

An article in your paper in December stated what a good job the Child Support Enforcement Agency had done in locating eight of the 10 most-wanted list published in October. The agency worked hard on those 10 cases but also said there were more than 110,000 cases in Virginia.

How long will it take the agency to work their way through that many cases? With the help of the media, maybe someday the American people will realize the problem and our children will get the help they deserve. DOROTHY B. BUTTS CHRISTIANSBURG

by CNB