Dogging the Deadbeats : D.A. Unit Extracts at Least Partial Child Support From 53% of Cases

The mother of six, showing signs of being pregnant with her seventh child, sat down opposite caseworker Georgina Quintana of the county district attorney’s office.

Four different men had fathered her children, the woman told Quintana. None were paying child support. She had no current addresses, no phone numbers, no places of work or Social Security numbers for any of the men.

For Quintana, whose job is to establish paternity in child support cases, finding the fathers will be a tough challenge that may not result in the actual collection of support payments that these men are legally required to provide.

The young mother represents an increasingly common problem in society: a welfare family whose members are casualties not merely of financial neglect but also of a grossly overburdened child support system.

The county district attorney’s Family Support Division, considered one of the more efficient in the state, has about 70 Georgina Quintanas to handle an expected 70,000 child support cases this year. What is most troubling for Quintana and other officials is knowing that many of these mothers and children would not be on welfare if the fathers were paying child support.

“I see so many of them, especially among the younger girls, where if they got that financial help they would feel confident enough to go out and get training,” said Quintana, sitting in one of a group of small offices occupied by district attorney officials at the regional Santa Ana welfare facility.

“Most would not be in the situation they’re in,” she added, recalling the young, pregnant mother of six who had sat opposite her the week before.

The issue of child support and its relation to welfare dependency is not a new one, but it has assumed fresh prominence as public frustration mounts over burgeoning welfare rolls. Unchecked, parental irresponsibility threatens to overwhelm health and social services agencies in Orange County and elsewhere, officials say.

“Child support is a major reason for the increasing costs of welfare and caseload growth,” said Larry M. Leaman, director of the County Social Services Agency. “The public still holds the stereotype of the welfare mother who abuses the system by having more and more kids. But a good part of the problem is a result of divorce and abandonment by fathers.”

And deadbeats can be found in all income groups. National data shows that 70% of absent parents have incomes of at least twice the poverty level.

Many parents statewide go through district attorney offices to try to collect child support. The D.A.’s office can pursue court-ordered child support that has already been obtained in a divorce proceeding. It can also establish paternity and seek court-ordered support.

When a parent applies for a welfare program such as Aid to Families with Dependent Children, the case is automatically referred to the district attorney to try to collect all current and past-due child and medical support. All payments--except the first $50, which is retained by the recipient--are used to pay back the state and federal governments for AFDC payments made to the family.

In Orange County, the number of child support investigations handled by the district attorney’s office has doubled in the last five years, growing more than 25% last year alone. And this year for the first time, welfare referrals are expected to equal non-welfare cases.

Statewide, the child support caseload increased by 18% from 1990 to 1991. Two-thirds of the state’s cases are welfare referrals.

Reasons for the burgeoning caseload vary but mainly reflect a profound restructuring of the family unit--with implications for public policy that are only now being recognized, experts say.

From 1970 to 1989, the proportion of California babies born to unwed mothers increased from 13% to 30%, according to state officials.

In 1990, 1.6 million California children--one out of every five--lived with just one parent. Of all female-headed households with children younger than 18, 45% were poor in 1990, in contrast with just 8% of all married couples with children, according to Children Now, a California advocacy group that has studied the link between non-support and welfare.

A March report issued by the group found that absent parents--usually fathers--have had a 41% rise in income after divorce, while mothers have a 31% plunge in their standard of living--enough to drive many children below the poverty line and onto welfare rolls.

“We really shadow AFDC,” said Leslie L. Frye, chief of the state’s Office of Child Support Enforcement.

Effective child support enforcement would in some cases eliminate the need for welfare or at least reduce the costs of providing welfare, Frye said.

“That is why in California, child support enforcement is becoming such an important program,” she added.

Investigators have already been given powerful tools. Beginning this year, state officials looking for deadbeat parents will have access to Social Security numbers, which for the first time are required in renewal applications for driver’s licenses. Officials are also now able to access personal information about delinquent parents from public utility records. Parents who owe child support can have their wages attached, as well as state and federal income tax refunds, unemployment and disability benefits.

And in California, information about child support and overdue back payments are reported to the three major credit reporting bureaus each month.

Gov. Pete Wilson, as part of his welfare reform package, has proposed that state law require custodial parents to cooperate with local district attorney offices to enforce child support orders. According to the Children Now study, in California alone there is $2.5 billion in uncollected child support payments.

The report argues that many parents simply fail to pursue child support they are owed because of the cost, inconvenience and complexity of the process.

Orange County has what is considered one of the best enforcement programs in the state. Of California’s 13 largest counties, it ranks first in the percentage of payments recovered, with collections estimated at more than $38 million this year. It ranks eighth among all 58 counties.

Yet just 53% of Orange County child support orders result in even partial payment. Local officials say they lack the money and manpower to do better.

The district attorney’s office Family Support Division has about 250 employees and a $13-million budget. Teams are assigned to establish paternity, find absentee parents, execute court orders and handle out-of-state cases. But the 70 or so family support officers such as Quintana have a backlog of about 1,000 cases each.

Establishing paternity is essential, especially for children whose parents never married. It will ensure that a child has legal right to inheritance, medical, life insurance, Social Security and even veteran’s benefits.

Quintana remembers a recent case in which she established the paternity of a little girl whose unmarried mother had applied for welfare. Later, the father won a large lottery jackpot. The child now receives $2,000 to $3,000 a month in child support.

Quintana said she stresses to fathers that paternity also gives them rights, such as court-ordered support and visits.

Even if paternity and location of an absent parent are not at issue, getting actual payments may take years--or may never be realized.

Edna Sage, who is in charge of staff development for the family support unit, said 40% to 50% of child support orders require enforcement action, such as placing a lien on a home or, at last resort, filing criminal charges.

“The cases that bother you are the ones where he has the ability to pay, like a doctor or a lawyer, but who does everything he can to hide assets,” she said.

Sage told about a doctor who refused to pay child support for his daughter, then moved to Saudi Arabia, which has no reciprocal agreement on support orders with the United States.

The company the doctor worked for would not cooperate with investigators, who finally learned that he would be returning to the United States to visit relatives. After being arrested, he promised to pay--a promise that was promptly forgotten after he returned to Saudi Arabia.

When investigators learned that the doctor usually returned to the States each year for a medical conference, they thought they would finally get their man. What they did not know until just before the conference was that the doctor planned to sneak into the country through Canada. His ruse was discovered, and he was arrested again.

Sage said eventually the doctor began a dialogue with his young daughter--they had not spoken in years--and now makes support payments regularly.

There are other cases that elicit sympathy--the disabled father who had his Supplemental Security Income check attached for child support--but others reflect cold, contemporary reality: Many parents simply do not recognize any moral or legal obligation to provide for their children.

“Sometimes, there is a lack of education on the part of the father, but there are also people who feel no responsibility,” said David Himelson, deputy district attorney in charge of the Family Support Division. “There are thousands of them out there who don’t have any problem with that, and they are the ones we tend to chase around.”

While officials said it is not surprising that some absent parents want to avoid their obligation, what is surprising is the frequency with which some mothers fail to pursue court-ordered child support, especially if they are on welfare.

Some are reluctant because they are told “if you report me, I’ll take the child,” Quintana said.

Others simply lack self-esteem. “They feel it’s asking for a handout, rather than it being the responsibility of the father,” Quintana said. “They don’t feel like they have a right to it.

“I feel like I’m here to remind them of that right and to represent the interests of the child.”

When a Parent Doesn’t Pay

Since 1872, California law has required parents to pay child support as part of their obligation to their children. This legal mandate exists whether or not the parents intended to have the child or were ever married. Despite the requirement, in 1990 just 39% of child support orders tracked by district attorneys in California result in any payments.

Orange County Caseload Up

Since 1988, the number of child support cases handled by the Orange County district attorney’s office has increased 90%. This year, for the first time, cases involving children on welfare are expected to equal non-welfare cases. 1988: 36,794 (42% on welfare) 1989: 41,207 (44% on welfare) 1990: 45,598 (44% on welfare) 1991: 56,836 (46% on welfare) 1992 (* Projected): 70,000 (50% on welfare)

Where to Go for Help

The district attorney’s office offers free family support services. Private lawyers or legal clinics also provide help in obtaining support. Such services may involve fees. The district attorney’s office is at 801 Civic Center Drive West, Suite 200. Phone (714) 541-0257 for more information.

Some of the services available:

1. Determining who the child’s parents are.

2. Finding a child’s parents to establish child support/paternity and enforcing support payments.

3. Establishing, modifying and enforcing a court order to pay child support.

4. Collecting child and spousal support payments.

5. Establishing and enforcing medical support.

Payments Increasing

Child support payments collected by the district attorney’s office have increased during each of the last four years. The projected $38.5 million this year would represent a 37% jump since 1988. 1988: $28.0 1989: $30.6 1990: $32.0 1991: $37.4 1992 (* Projected): $38.5

O.C. Parents Pay Most

Throughout urbanized Southern California, Orange County has the highest percentage of child support orders resulting in at least partial payment: Orange County: 53.2% San Bernardino County: 48.8% San Diego County: 41.7% Riverside County: 40.1% Los Angeles County: 35.7% * Figures are averaged for 1987-90

Money for Enforcement

The district attorney’s family support division budget has increased 34% since 1988, while the share of that budget funded has fallen from of 94% to 84%:

Budget State, federal funding 1988 $9.8 million 90% 1989 $10.9 million 92% 1990 $10.9 million 94% 1991 $11.0 million 89% 1992 $13.1 million 84%

Sources: California Department of Social Services; Orange County district attorney’s office; Orange County auditor-controller final budget report; Children Now white paper, March, 1992

Researched by CARLA RIVERA / Los Angeles Times