State Child Support Laws Victimize Children and Their Parents
by Tom Gomez
Danny (not his real name), is 28 and a father of 2 children: one born when he was 16 years old, the other when he was 19. Like most of the men here in the Sterling Correctional Facility, he has little formal education, no job skills, and has spent most of his adult life in prison for drug charges – both here, and in the neighboring state of Arizona where he was born.
Recently Danny returned to prison again, this time from a halfway house in Denver, not for alcohol or drugs, but for having 2 children. Arizona, which provides income support, housing assistance and medical coverage to his first child, wants its money. The state has filed an order to garnish 25% of Danny's pre-tax earnings for unpaid child support. Colorado has done the same for unpaid child support for his 9-year old.
Danny has had no contact with either of his children, both born to unwed teenage girls, in over 5 years. He says he tried to maintain contact with the children's mothers from prison but lost touch over time. While Danny may have lost touch with his children, the state governments that have provided the children with food stamps, section 8 housing and medicaid have not lost touch with him. The tens of thousands of dollars he owes in back child support payments, plus interest, keeps growing every year he's in custody. It is, in fact, the very reason Danny says he's back in custody.
Colorado law limits the amount of garnishments for unpaid child support to 25% of wages, and total garnishments to 50% of wages. That meant $140 out of Danny's check each week at the halfway house, with too little left to pay his rent and save money to secure a place to live. That's without factoring in court costs, fines, restitution and court ordered counseling, treatment and classes in everything from relapse prevention to parenting – none of which are likely to help him support himself or his kids. While Danny was fortunate to be working full time, he says his earnings just weren't enough to satisfy his obligations, and claims that's the reason he got sent back.
Whether or not Danny's claims are true, there's no doubt that most of the men here are fathers, and that almost all owe back child support which, like the other fees imposed by the courts and the legislature, cannot be discharged in bankruptcy. As 80% of prisoners in Colorado are poor, have little education, and few job skills, many will never catch up. To encourage the men to earn more (presumably), Colorado has also revoked their driving privileges until they pay up. The result, of course, is to make them even less capable of supporting even themselves. Add to that the plethora of mental and behavioral health classes and court-imposed fees, restitution and supervision fees required as conditions of release under mandatory parole. It's easy to see why laws designed to 'make the bad guys pay' are costing the taxpayers of Colorado a lot of money, upwards of $30,000 a year to jail impoverished men...a price paid most heavily by the very children the state is supposedly trying to help.
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The Stae victimizes the defenseless
The State victimizes the defenseless all the time. The fact is ex fellons are an easy group to victimize and there are few who will stand up for them or their rights.
Colorado like most states has a motive for this behavior--profit. I think many people who fallow politics would agree that politicians and politics in general, revolve around four things as it is practiced in the America today. These four things are; 1) Politics manly revolves around self interest; 2) Politicians must acquire wealth, power, and status regardless of weather there goals and aims are altruistic; 3) The issues and ideals that are espoused by politicians are more often then not political weapons and not in themselves valued by politicians; and 4) All of the above principles apply equally to bureaucracies1. Our founding fathers, people like Jefferson, Washington, and Samuel Adams would look at this state of affairs with repugnance but the truth is the only people who doubt that politics has come down to these four principles (or something very similar) in contemporary America are also the same people who believe in the tooth fairy and Santa Clause.
Thr prison and parole system is a bureaucracy that cares nothing for the people it controls or the public as its main goal it cares only for itself and increasing its budget and power.
The child support people are no different and they in fact get a cut of what this poor man pays as well as some matcching funds from the feds so it is in the interests of thiss burocracy to never let this man be in a position to catch up. Be it child support or parole or probation or the DOC the fact is these agencies exploit people and are evil.
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