California legalized theft for Riverside County child support unit

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California has major problems

Assessment of California's Substantial Accrual of Child Support Debt Available


The Center on Law and Social Policy (CLASP) has released a report based on data collected by the Urban Institute that had been previously commissioned by the state to investigate a large amount of arrearage debt owed by noncustodial parents in California. The report, "Pursuing Justice: A Strategic Approach to Child Support Arrears in California," makes the following findings and recommendations:


$14.4 billion is currently owed in arrears. While eighty-five percent of all obligors owe arrears, $8.1 billion of this debt is owed by very low- or no income obligors (making less than $5000 a year).
Seventy percent of orders are set by default in California (substantially higher than many other states). In the absence of knowledge of obligor income, orders in the past were automatically calculated as the total of the family's monthly welfare grant. Very low-income parents (less than $5000 monthly income) thus now owe median support orders of $280 (or twice net monthly income at $5000 a year pay) and parents with no recent income have a median monthly debt of $277. Though the state now has guidelines for low-income obligors (defined as making less than $12,000 a year), the report recommends that these guidelines be used more often by courts in making award decisions. Beyond modifying current orders to reflect current ability to pay, the authors recommend that the state forgive or modify arrears accrued based on the assumption of higher income.
Seventy percent of current debt is owed to the state (PRWORA requires parents to assign to the state any child support paid on their behalf to repay for assistance received, with state option to pass through a portion or all of the amount collected to families). The state therefore has the option to partially or fully forgive this debt.
While half of states do not charge interest on arrears debt, California charges a rate of ten percent. In addition, payments are applied to interest before the base amount owed. The authors recommend that the state eliminate or reduce interest and apply payments to the principal owed first.
In California, arrears may be charged retroactively for up to one year preceding the date on which the order is set. The authors suggest limiting this amount for low-income parents or allowing caseworker discretion.
Modifications were generally found to be inflexible and difficult to obtain, as they can be made only every three years and then only in the case of a monthly order change exceeding $50 or 30% of the order amount.
Finally, five percent of obligors were currently incarcerated. The report recommends that the Departments of Corrections and Child Support work together to immediately modify order amounts upon entrance into prison.


The full report can be accessed at www.clasp.org.

 

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and even more problems

Department of Child Support Services Releases Reports on Child Support Performance


The 2001 Annual Report of the California Department of Child Support Services is now available. The state is required by the federal government to provide an annual report on state performance with designated federal objectives. Though the state performed higher than the national averages in paternity and child support order establishments, the state ranked quite low in current support and arrears collection and cost-effectiveness. Approximately only one-half of current or arrears cases received payment in the previous year. The report argued for a rethinking of state child support efforts that encourage aggressive establishment of orders through default and courts over voluntary establishment of paternity and orders (please see information from previously mentioned CLASP report above).
A telephone survey of custodial (CP's) and noncustodial parents (NCP's) by the Department of Child Support Services found that fifty-three percent of interviewees reported income of less than $1500 a month; one-third were unemployed; and 10% of noncustodial parents relied upon welfare benefits as their main source of income. Forty percent of all interviewed (NCP's more than CP's) reported dissatisfaction with the child support system. There was a high demand for legal counseling and employment services among those surveyed.


Both reports are available at www.childsup.cahwnet.gov.

 

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and if you want even more info here ya go

Report Outlines Challenges Specific to Californian Low-Income Fathers

The Social Policy Action Network (SPAN) has released a report documenting barriers to increased low-income father involvement. The report's child support recommendations seconded those of other recent findings (see above), with particular attention to the state's high rate of default orders and the process for support order modification. The report suggests that while paternity establishment increased from 20.9% of cases in 1987 to 45.1% of cases in 1994, the adjudication of many of these cases through the courts in the absence of parents has resulted in high default orders often unreflective of parents' ability to pay. Documenting individual arrears as high as $100,000, the authors recommend improved efforts to locate and verify the income of potential obligors, in addition to implementing a system by which informal support can be credited. The report also recommends simplification and increased flexibility in modifying child support orders, particularly through the provision of legal services and reduced barriers to court accessibility. Finally, the program identified the need for a state program to modify support orders of fathers entering the prison system.


The full report, "Promoting Responsible Fatherhood in California: Ideas and Options" can be found at the SPAN website at www.span-online.org/CAfatherhood.pdf.