Child Support Collection

* The California Legislature’s attempt to strip child support from county district attorneys serves as yet another example that the folks in Sacramento are out of touch with our local communities.

The proposal to create a new state agency to oversee child support collection clashes with our citizenry’s wishes in today’s world. In recent years, local demands could be summed up by key phrases like “local control,” “direct representation” and “competition.” Yet with child support collection, the Legislature proposes to eliminate local control, favor distant bureaucratic empowerment over local and direct representation, and ignore competition.

I find it hard to believe a new state agency could secure more delinquent child support payments than a local government office, particularly the local district attorney’s office. Wasn’t it the state that, attempting to meet a federal mandate, spent $305 million on a glitch-ridden computer system that essentially crippled local child support collection efforts? County district attorneys’ offices are still trying to recover, yet the state wants to take over the service.

With the Ventura County District Attorney’s office, we have local control over collection services as well as direct representation because the district attorney is directly elected and staffs local offices. Who will we hold responsible if the new state agency fails to improve child support collection? If a mother is not receiving payments, today she can walk into a local office and discuss her case with a human being. This would not be guaranteed with a faceless new state child support agency.

Ventura County District Attorney Michael Bradbury takes his child support collection duty seriously, and it shows in his success rate. Many other counties have not been so successful--and thus the Legislature’s concern.

It is true that everything in government can be improved, somehow. However, the Legislature’s sudden and draconian stance on child support collection is not the way. In fact, it appears opposite to the public’s present-day desires. It makes one question the motivation. We would hope the aim is to improve the lives of children and parents victimized by the irresponsibility of a deadbeat parent--but in reality this proposal smacks of needless Sacramento politics as usual.

JUDY MIKELS

Ventura County Supervisor

Simi Valley