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Prosecution for non-support and other issues need study, legislator says Tuesday, Sep 12, 2006 By Betsy Turner Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - A steady stream of constituents complaining about not receiving child support payments has one state legislator searching for answers. Testimony is expected today in a study requested by state Sen. Sharon Trusty, R-Russellville, who said Monday she wants to explore, among other things, why some parents are not being prosecuted for neglecting to pay child support. "I'd like to get an answer on why prosecutors aren't taking dead beat parents to court, realizing there may or may not be an acceptable explanation," Trusty said. A hearing on the study proposal will be held at the state Capitol during a joint meeting of the Senate Committee on Children and Youth and House Committee on Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs. Trusty said she has requested information on the number of open child support cases and how many are prosecuted per judicial district. Other issues to be addressed, she said, include child support enforcement administrative fees, the effect of bankruptcy on delinquent payments and how judges handle contempt of court charges related to such cases. The state Office of Child Support Enforcement has about 125,000 active cases in various stages of development, administrator Dan McDonald said Monday. Some are at the point of establishing paternity or going through the process of obtaining payments while the majority already have child support orders, McDonald said. He said some prosecutors are more willing or have more resources to handle the delinquent child-support cases. "We see some better results in some places than others," McDonald said. State law allows for felony prosecution of a non-custodial parent if more than $2,500 is owed in support. McDonald said the state has no way of uniformly ensuring prosecution of felony non-support cases. He said he would support a systemic referral approach to prosecuting deadbeat parents, including an additional staff member at each of the state's 26 child support enforcement offices to work with prosecutors on the cases. "We would refer to the prosecuting attorney in that jurisdiction the number of cases they think they could handle on a monthly or quarterly basis," McDonald said. "We would have plenty to refer." |
