Not having received any child support assistance for more than four years, a south-central Kansas woman had a simple request: include her husband on the state's next child support enforcement most wanted poster.

AI ask this, sir, not because I am consumed with hatred for my ex-husband, although most days while I am working two jobs I don't like him very much, she wrote to the SRS child support enforcement chief in her area. AI am asking for this out of love for my son. I am so proud of him and his hardworking attitude toward life. We lived in the same house for 13 years, but my son receives no acknowledgment.

Because this woman=s situation fit the criteria for including her husband on the most-wanted poster, her request was granted. Her ex-husband, whose whereabouts are unknown, owes more than $14,000 in court-ordered child support payments. He has not made a payment since 1994.

As this woman knows, publicity can sometimes help children. Of the eighty absent parents who have been featured on the most-wanted posters since the poster campaign began in September, 1993, 58 have been located. Most of the success in finding these absent parents came because of leads supplied by the public after release of the poster.

Because of the success rate, SRS is releasing another poster this week. Similar to previous posters, the ninth Kansas Most Wanted poster will feature 10 parents who are not paying court-ordered child support and cannot be located. Because current employment and address information is not available for the absent parents appearing on the poster, SRS is asking the public for help in locating them.

The series of posters is one of the more visible methods used by the CSE program to collect child support and educate the public about its importance. Once an absent parent is located, CSE staff can use a number of legal tools to enforce a child support obligation.

AWe have a dual responsibility to children and to taxpayers, said Rochelle Chronister, SRS Secretary. AChildren benefit when they are financially and emotionally supported by both parents. And when families do not receive their child support payments regularly, they must look to the state for help. By helping families with court-ordered child support, we not only help families to remain financially self-sufficient, we also save tax dollars as well.

Studies have shown that one-third of the families on public assistance would not be on public assistance if they were receiving child support payments. The U.S. Congress recognized the need to enhance the ability of states to collect court-ordered child support obligations with welfare reform legislation. With reform, a 60-month lifetime limit for public assistance was put in place, increasing the need for families to have reliable and adequate child support income by the time their public assistance ends.

The Kansas CSE program collects about 57 percent of the more than $127 million of current child support which is due each year to the families it serves, both those who do not receive public assistance and those who do. Another $444 million in past due child support is owed by absent parents such as those featured on the poster.

The new set of absent parents featured on the poster are among the 140,000 cases worked annually by the CSE program.

SRS will distribute the Most Wanted posters across the state. Copies are also sent to child support programs in other states.

Among criteria used in selecting parents for this poster were:

• persons who have a court-ordered obligation to pay child support;
• persons who owe more than $1,000;
• persons who have not made a child support payment in the past six months;
• and persons whose whereabouts are unknown, unverified, or, if known, refuse to meet their child support obligation.

The CSE program asks anyone with information about any of the absent parents on the poster to call the toll-free CSE hotline at 1-800-432-3913 or any SRS office. People with information can also respond through the comment button on the SRS web site on the Internet. The Internet address is http://www.ink.org/public/srs/srswanted.html

Page Last Updated: May 29, 2001