Deadbeat Dads on the Run : Making deliberate failure to pay child support a federal offense

There’s a saying, “It doesn’t take a man to make babies, it takes a man to raise them.” But that aphorism clearly means nothing to the thousands of “deadbeat dads” who flee across state lines to avoid financially supporting their families.

A bill introduced last March by Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.) and taken up recently by a House judiciary subcommittee will seek to curb such shameful behavior by using federal law to punish fathers--and mothers, in a relatively small number of cases--who are criminally irresponsible in failing to provide support.

The proposed Child Support Enforcement Act of 1992 would impose fines of up to $5,000 or prison terms of up to six months for first-time offenders. Subsequent attempts to make a run for a state border to avoid paying could result in terms of up to two years.

Uniform federal standards should help to remove many of the barriers that spouses face in extracting payments from former partners.

This is not to say that individual states take the problem lightly. Deliberate failure to pay child support is a punishable offense in every state; and state governments use a variety of means to force a parent to pay up, including parent locator services, withholding of income and even jail time for contempt.

But enforcing the laws becomes extremely difficult once a non-custodial parent leaves the state. Within three years of a divorce or separation, 25% of parents live in different states.

Recurrent court hearings, endless paperwork and protracted waiting for money have left many spouses impoverished and desperate. According to subcommittee testimony, the average yearly income of a woman who fails to receive mandated support is less than $14,000.

The General Accounting Office reported that of the 2.5 million mothers who lived in different states from the non-custodial fathers of their children, only 43% received regular child-support payments.

The House and Senate should pass this legislation. As Rep. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said, “men warped enough to prefer constant movement to caring for their children” must be punished.