Money for nothing: states are finally collecting money from deadbeat dads. Now, if they'd only get it to the moms

Washington Monthly, Oct, 2002 by Sandy Bergo

Calls made for this article finally got results for Kendra Monroe and Jane Baker. Alabama sent Monroe the $4,971 that had accumulated over two years. Michigan traced Baker's missing check and sent it to her. The other Michigan families--owed a total of $9.3 million--had to wait for the September computer fix. Both women were pleased to get the money, outraged about how difficult it had been, and worried about other families in the same spot. "I'm not the only one this is happening to," says Baker. "It's such a struggle all the time. It's not been easy." As Monroe puts it, "Just imagine all the women out there they're doing the same thing to, if they don't have somebody to push it through."

But that somebody is--or should be--the federal government. Because the child-support collection system was originally designed to recoup welfare costs, it's still structured to favor collection over distribution. As a result, today, the federal government pays financial incentives to the states if they do a good job collecting child support and penalizes them if they don't comply with federal requirements. Yet there are no incentives for doing a good job--or penalties for doing a bad job--of distributing the support to families. It makes perfect sense for the federal government to push states to reduce undistributed collections, especially if welfare reform is to remain a success. According to a University of Wisconsin study of divorced women in that state, those who leave welfare are much more likely to return to welfare if they don't get child support. Without support, there was a 31-percent chance the woman would return to welfare within six months. With support, even a small amount, there was only a 10-percent chance of returning to welfare.

This fall, Congress will get a second chance. The welfare reauthorization law being debated specifically addresses the issue of undistributed collections, and if passed, will direct HHS to take a leading role in estimating the size of the problem, figuring out how long the delays are and how to shorten them, and recommending to Congress how to reduce undistributed collections. Which is exactly how it should be. After all, child-support enforcement in the United States is a federal program in all but name. The federal government calls the shots. It's their law. For the most part, it's their money, too. Now, it's time for the federal government to make sure the program works.

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