No Substitute for Loving Fathers
Re “Still Far to Go on Child Support,” O.C. Perspective, Oct. 27:
Your editorial creates several misleading impressions about the district attorney’s family support division. The product of a 20-year-old congressional action, the program’s main purpose is to reimburse taxpayers for welfare expenditures.
About 80% of the families in this program are Temporary Aid to Needy Families recipients required to assign their child support rights to the state. The money the district attorney collects in such cases is not given to the family, except for a token pass-through of $50 a month. In the 75% of non-TANF child support cases handled by private citizens through their own means, the rate of compliance is greater than 85%, but the state neither tracks nor reports these payments.
Research confirms a high correlation between payment of support and two factors: the obligor’s ability to pay and the quality of his relationship with the obligee. The states with the highest collections of support are those, such as Michigan, where visitation rights are strictly enforced.
The most likely cause of this year’s 50% upsurge in collections is welfare reform. When mothers move from TANF to work, fathers no longer have to support their children under-the-table to dodge the district attorney, and working mothers are generally more supportive of visitation than others.
The central message buried in this mass of data is that government programs are a poor substitute for loving fathers, who have more to give their children than money in any case.
RICHARD BENNETT,
Vice president
Coalition of Parent Support
Cupertino
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