Child support is crucial in providing the appropriate necessities for a child in California and across the United States and timely payments are very important during every stage in a child’s life. That is why the federal government is trying to use the Internet to keep parents accountable.
The parents who don’t pay or fall behind on child support are often referred to as ‘deadbeat’ parents and may owe anywhere from hundreds of dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. Unfortunately officials say in most cases when authorities try to track down parents, they are not at the location or no longer live there. Only about 10 percent of the time authorities actually make contact with deadbeat parents after knocking on the door of a residence. Furthermore, if police are serving a civil warrant and the parent crosses state lines, they cannot go after them. Thankfully, if a parent owes more than $5,000 in back payments, the federal government steps in, in order to arrest parents and charge them with the felony crime.
In hopes of catching these deadbeat parents, federal investigators have set up a website that lists the most wanted parents. According to authorities, the man at the top of the list owes more than $1 million in child support. As has been seen from previous cases, those at the top of the list sometimes involve professional athletes.
While many parents are still waiting for much-needed payments, the government has been able to recover more than $33 million in child support from arrested parents. They say more than 500 arrests have been made since 2006.
Source: WAVY-TV, “Government goes after deadbeat parents,” Jan. 18, 2012