Those featured represent the runners, those who move from location to location and job to job to avoid paying support to help their children.

The Child Support Enforcement (CSE) program of the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services released it's 12^th Most Wanted poster today. Persons featured on the Most Wanted poster symbolize the most difficult cases faced by the program: absent parents who go to great length to avoid their court-ordered financial obligation to their children.

Rose Felt, the ex-spouse of an absent parent featured on a previous Most Wanted poster, knows the effect of this avoidance. Her ex-spouse owed $42,835 for three children when the November, 1997 poster came out. Since then, he made a few small payments, then stopped completely. He now owes $47,055.

"He's learned the system so well, he'll be at a job just long enough to make some money, then he'll leave, she said. He knows how to beat the system, and he doesn't care. He has not filed income taxes or gotten a drivers license.

Ms. Felt said its the kids that miss out.

"I have a son, 12, who has never seen him since the divorce in 1991," she said. "He knows kids whose parents divorced who see their dad every other weekend. He doesn't understand."

"And the two girls, 13 and 14, they're pretty angry with him," Ms. Felt added. "They know he has not fulfilled his obligation. He has a financial responsibility to those kids."

It is for the children that the CSE program exists, said SRS Secretary Rochelle Chronister.

"Children benefit when they are supported both financially and emotionally by both parents," she said.

Federal and state laws have given CSE new tools to help bring in court-ordered child support. Those tools include a New Hires Directory which allows CSE workers to more quickly locate absent parents who have failed to meet their child support obligation. Under the law, employers supply information on newly hired employees within 20 days. Previously, information on newly hired employees was sent only four times a year. With quicker reporting, CSE needs less time to locate persons who have a court order for child support and to enforce that order through court-ordered income withholding.

The New Hires Directory is one factor in increased collections of child support by CSE.

In state fiscal year 1999, which ended June 30, total collections increased about 10 percent over fiscal year 1998 to $142.3 million. And since the CSE program started in 1976, more than one billion support dollars have been collected for families.

Secretary Chronister said increased collections also help taxpayers.

"Often, when CSE is able to collect court-ordered child support, the family receiving the support is able to leave cash assistance," she said. "ACSE collections for persons on public assistance contributed directly to the closure of 3,167 cash assistance cases in state fiscal year 1999."

But after closure of cash assistance cases, CSE services continue.

"This provides a safety net for families concerned about the five-year lifetime limit for cash assistance eligibility," said Secretary Chronister. "Continuation of CSE services also reduces the risk of the family returning to dependence on public assistance."

In state fiscal year 1999, CSE established 16,571 cash support obligations, including 4,506 medical support (health insurance) orders.

Paternity establishment also plays a vital role in CSE's overall mission. Not only does CSE often recover the costs of state-paid birth expenses and public assistance, but children benefit from having their parentage clearly established. Paternity establishment opens the child's avenue to cash and medical support, family medical information, and potential inheritance and other rights.

In state fiscal year 1999, CSE established paternity for 12,065 children.

The series of Most Wanted posters is one of the more visible methods used by CSE to collect child support payments. Among criteria used in selecting parents for the poster are the following: 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 address is http://www.ink.org/public/srs/srswanted

Page Last Updated: May 29, 2001