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

DATE: THURSDAY, July 21, 1994                   TAG: 9407220100
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CHILD SUPPORT

DEBT-DODGERS, beware. Virginia's Child-Support Enforcement Division has a new weapon in its arsenal of laws aimed at cracking down on absentee parents who renege on financial obligations to their children. As of July 1, the division can get a court order to recall state-issued business and professional licenses of so-called deadbeat dads and moms.

Harsh? Perhaps. But so are children's circumstances when child-support payments owed to them aren't paid, month after month, year after year.

And while some - unfortunately, even some judges - view this adult delinquency as a petty offense, the harm done isn't petty.

Nor are the sums involved.

The state's child-support enforcement division estimates that, of some 340,000 cases under the division's oversight, about 180,000 involve payments in arrears. With the average debt per case being $5,000, the total soars to hundreds of millions owed Virginia youngsters.

It's uncertain how many deadbeats may hold state business and professional licenses, and could be forced to surrender permits to practice law, medicine, plumbing, taxi-driving, etc., under the new law passed by the 1994 General Assembly.

But a division spokesman said the state has issued about 650,000 such licenses. If even 10,000 of the license-holders happen also to be holding out on child-support payments, the $5,000 average debt suggests this law could be worth $50 million to children in the commonwealth.

Worth a pretty penny, too, for state taxpayers - who often must pick up bills, via Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Medicaid and other social programs, that wayward parents wiggle out of paying.

Even with the new law, Virginia is not going after delinquents as aggressively as some states. Maine, for instance, takes the driver's licenses - which potentially could put virtually 100 percent of the debtors in reach.

As part of his welfare-reform effort, President Clinton may require all states to take Maine's approach. Because state laws and enforcement efforts vary so greatly, and many irresponsible parents flee across state lines to avoid their obligations, national uniformity in laws is needed.

But Virginia needn't wait for federal action. The threat of a lost driving permit might well be more effective than putting business licenses at risk. The potential loss to the state's deadbeats could equal a $90 million gain for their children - a fair-enough trade.

by CNB