UNIT TARGETS DEADBEAT DADS

Deadbeat dads who shirk child support payments beware Rebecca Ward is watching.

Ward, supervisor of the Child Support Enforcement Unit in Southeast Missouri, and her 44 investigators are handling 55,000 cases in the 16 counties from Franklin County to the Arkansas border.

Nationwide, deadbeat dads owe a child support debt of $18 billion. Between 97 and 98 percent of absent parents are men.

Monitoring 55,000 cases, admittedly, is a tall order. But Ward said her office is doing a respectable job.

"We work under the premise that every child has a right to know his parent and be supported by that parent," Ward said.

The Southeast Missouri district, with offices in Cape Girardeau and Caruthersville, works to collect child support for families who receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children, commonly called welfare, and families who do not receive welfare.

Those who receive welfare are automatically referred to the office for collection of child support. But those who do not, must apply for help. The services are free.

"We must, by law, provide equal service to both groups," Ward said.

About 3,000 cases involve families receiving welfare and asking for assistance in collecting money owed.

The other cases include those in which back child-support payments are owed or cases in which the father cannot be located.

"The caseload of non-public assistance has doubled in the last two years and it has passed up AFDC cases in numbers.

"In part, I think more and more people are finding out about us and asking for help," she said.

The local office consistently tops the state in percentage of parents paying. But the numbers are still tragically low.

The statewide average rate of collection for non-welfare cases is 27 percent. The district office here has a 33 percent collection rate, making it number one in the state.

For welfare cases last month, the local collection rate average was 15 percent. The state average was 11.8 percent. "We were number one again," she said.

Although a 15 percent success rate seems very low, Ward said 15 percent is a great improvement over past years. "I can remember 7 and 8 percent," she said.

"Because the cases change and it's not the same cases counted each month, it's hard to say if we're doing better or worse.

"But we collected $17 million (in child support) last year," Ward said.

"The sad thing about this is that we have to have this program, that we have children in need," she said

With 44 investigators and 55,000 cases, the average caseload is 1,250 cases per investigator.

"We are hiring," Ward said. But the new employees will be working on a new service called modification.

If the court order for support is over three years old, or if it's been that long since anyone has reviewed it, investigators must obtain new information about the income of both parents. In setting the amount of child support in Missouri, the income of both the father and mother are considered.

"We will try to assist in getting the order raised," Ward said. "Of course, it will happen once in a while that it will go down.

"We are going to overtly seek to raise orders. Most of the new staff will be attached to that."

Before any money can be collected, the absent parent must be located, which is often difficult if the parent doesn't want to be found.

"We use computer systems tied in with the criminal justice system here and in other states. We monitor Social Security, employment security all these different computer systems. Also, we use the federal parent locator service.

"But still we have a group of cases where no matter what we add, we can't find them to collect."

She said the parent must have some tie to an organized system of some sort to be found. "If they don't work or own a business, if they don't file taxes, or draw benefits, if they aren't in the system in some way, we can't find them."

But, she said, "We never stop looking for you."

She explained that every case on file at her office has been entered into the computer.

"The computer watches until something kicks out," she said. "For example, we get a computer notice if you start drawing unemployment.

"Many people feel like we aren't doing anything. But actually the computer is trolling the system looking for every person," Ward said.

"A lot of people feel the need to call and remind us to work on their cases. But often there is nothing we can do but wait, unless they have some new information from family or friends."

Once a parent is located, Ward said, "We do have a group of laws now to allow this agency to do things which used to be done in the court system."

Last year, a new unit was established in Southeast Missouri to establish paternity. "In one year, we established paternity in 1,265 cases."

Paternity must be legally established before child support can be ordered.

The agency can also file a wage withholding order with the employer of the parent who is delinquent in paying child support. Payments will be withheld from each paycheck.

"Our order goes direct to the employer, money starts coming and must keep coming until an order is issued for it to stop," she said.

"It's very speedy. Once it's issued, the employer is required to mail the money 10 days later.

"Previously you had to go to court and do a garnishment through the court system."

A garnishment is for payment of one debt. If the parent failed to pay again, another garnishment had to be filed. "This system is much improved," Ward said.

"Another one of the services we can use is IRS full-collection. We can, for a fee, go in and attach property to sell off to meet the debt.

"Every year we add more and more things we can do. We try to hire more legal help. We try to explore new avenues like credit bureaus and private contractors.

"We can do an awful lot of things to enforce the order, but we can't do more than the law allows," she said.

She said some parents who do not pay their child support go to jail.

"It is a crime not to support your child, but you cannot be prosecuted under a criminal code unless we can prove you could have paid."

The case must go through the legal system, including the prosecutor and courts.

It's complicated, but sometimes it works. A man who topped a national list of deadbeat dads pleaded guilty Wednesday to dodging child-support payments for a decade.

Gregory Morey, 35, admitted guilt as part of an agreement in which prosecutors dropped one of three felony charges that he failed to pay $600-a-month in support since September 1982.

The Arizona state attorney's office said Morey owed $74,000 in back payments and $34,000 in interest.