$15 CHILD-SUPPORT FEE WAS ILL-ADVISED

The Missouri Department of Social Services rightfully decided to abandon a fee plan that would have caused serious financial hardships on families that receive child-support payments.

Department director Kathy Martin said the proposed rule that would have taken $15 monthly from child-support checks processed by the state was withdrawn because of opposition by those who receive child-support payments and child-advocacy groups.

The proposal would have affected 37,213 child-support cases and cost each family receiving support payments $180 per year. That's because the $15 monthly fee would have been swiped from the money that goes to those families every month.

Poverty-level families and there are many who get $100 or less in child support monthly particularly would have suffered.

The reason for the fee was to fill budget gaps in the Division of Child Support Enforcement.

And that it would have done: The state would have taken in $4 million during the nine months the fee would have been collected in fiscal 2002 and another $6.6 million in full fiscal 2003 -- all money children are entitled to.

Most child-support payments are received at a central location in Jefferson City and then disbursed through the Family Support Payment Center.

The center was created in 1999 when lawmakers passed legislation in response to federal requirements. But a year later Missouri lawmakers cut funding to operate the division's collection unit, only to turn around and order the center to collect the $15 fee to make up the deficit.

Taking money from children so that the state can save a few million dollars out of its $19 billion budget would have been unforgivable, and the Department of Social Services deserves praise for this action.