CHILD CARE Georgia offers deadbeats 10 days of amnesty

Programs offer noncustodial parents a chance to catch up on child support.
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
Pay up now and avoid arrest. That's the preholiday message officials in Georgia are sending to parents who owe child support.
Continuing for 10 days after starting Wednesday, a statewide amnesty program allows noncustodial fathers and mothers to catch up on back payments without punishment of fines or jail. Those struggling with financial problems can work out a payment plan.
"We think it would be a good thing if the money that's owed to many children in the state gets to them at this time of year," says Barbara Joye of the state's Office of Child Support Enforcement. Encouraged by the success of a pilot amnesty program in Columbus, Ga., last month that yielded $32,000, officials have sent letters to 6,000 of the state's most delinquent parents.
Across America, child-support amnesties in states and counties offer a way to collect unpaid billions from parents who either cannot or will not pay. Americans who are in arrears on child support owe an average of $9,000 per case.
'The right thing'
"It's an expansion of opportunities to assist noncustodial parents in doing the right thing," says Kay Cullen, communications director of the National Child Support Enforcement Agency in Washington.
In New Jersey, an amnesty week in September brought in more than $1 million in payments, up from $900,000 two years ago. The program targeted parents so delinquent in their payments that warrants are out for their arrest.
"They didn't have to show up with a checkbook," says Suzanne Esterman of the New Jersey Department of Human Services. "They just had to commit to starting to pay child support once again. "
From all walks of life
Those who owe money come from all economic groups.
"We're dealing with low- income families, and we're also dealing with high-income families," says Paula Tolson, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of Human Resources.
Other amnesty programs have had mixed results. When Ohio's Clermont County offered a month-long amnesty in July 2003, the effort received wide attention from newspapers and TV stations. "We were very pleased," says Brenda Gilreath, deputy director of the Child Support Program. "We thought, 'This is really going to be a success.'"