Justice department needs to put resources into Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act

AUSTIN, Texas (June 23, 1998) -- A leading child support advocate applauded Congress for enacting stiffer penalties for parents who shirk child support by crossing state lines. But he said for the new law to have an impact on the mounting child support enforcement crisis in this country, the Justice Department needs to put the law to work.

“People who try to avoid their responsibilities to their children by crossing state lines rightfully should go to prison,” said Casey Hoffman, president of Supportkids. “But it won’t happen if federal prosecutors don’t take them to court.”

According to Sen. Herb Kohl, a Senate sponsor of the bill, only 386 cases have been filed by federal prosecutors since Congress first imposed misdemeanor penalties for such offenses in 1992. There have been 162 convictions.

“That breaks down to 64 cases a year or a little more than one case per state,” Hoffman said. “The conviction rate amounts to about one-half a conviction per state per year.”

The new Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act imposes felony penalties for crossing state lines to avoid paying child support.

“The Justice Department needs to make the issue of child support a priority. Even a strong statement of support for the bill from the Attorney General is insufficient and will not take the place of prosecutions,” said Hoffman, who formerly headed the nation’s largest state-run government child support program.

“For the new law to have any impact, the Justice Department will have to put people and money behind those words,” Hoffman said. “With hundreds of thousands of Americans going off welfare, the government needs to walk the talk and enforce these interstate child support cases. Clearly, the child support check must replace the welfare check.”

Hoffman, who is a former family law attorney and assistant district attorney, has spoken and written extensively about the child support issue. In May, he testified before a U.S. House subcommittee on the need to impose stiff monetary penalties on delinquent child support. He also urged Congress to make more child support enforcement tools available to the private sector and to locally-funded government child support programs.

Supportkids is the nation’s largest private child support enforcement company working on behalf of custodial parents. With clients in all 50 states, the company receives more than 10,000 inquiries a month from custodial parents seeking help in collecting child support.

Hoffman pointed to a May 12 crackdown in New Jersey in which 626 parents who were delinquent in child support were arrested. The detainees owed more than $14.7 million in back child support.

“This action by law enforcement in just one state shows what the federal government can do when they decide to call a halt to the irresponsible behavior of parents,” Hoffman said. “I applaud Congress for passing this law and I’m pleased the President plans to sign it. Now somebody needs to ask some tough questions about how it’s going to be implemented.”

Back to more press release stories