ANNAPOLIS – When Derek Harvey took custody of his four children in 1996, he wanted to move them out of the Baltimore neighborhood he said had become too violent, but his home-buying efforts were stymied when his credit report revealed delinquent child-support payments.
Harvey found help at the Legal Aid Bureau’s Barriers to Employment/Child Support Project, where attorneys were able to persuade the state Child Support Enforcement Agency to temporarily stop credit reporting so he could buy a house.
Low-income parents often end up with child support payments set too high for their means, the project’s lawyers said. And methods of enforcing payment, like wage garnisheeing and driver’s license suspension, can even deter parents from being employed, they said.
“This was a new idea of supporting the guys known as deadbeat dads,” said Dan Hatcher, an attorney with the project, started in 2000 with funds from the Abell Foundation.
Harvey bought a three-bedroom house, and now Legal Aid attorneys are working with legal issues pertaining to the amount he owes.
“It’s been a real struggle,” said Harvey, a landscaper for the city of Baltimore. At times his wages were garnisheed and his tax refunds were taken. “I have to clothe them, feed them, buy school supplies.”
Sometimes high child-support payment orders put parents “in a situation where it’s impossible,” he said.
Although parents often create their own problems, the situations many times are beyond their control, said advocates.
“Many parents end up with unrealistically high orders because they just don’t show up for court hearings,” said Paula Roberts, a researcher with the Center for Law and Social Policy. Some might be trying to avoid obligation, she said, but many low-income parents move frequently and simply don’t receive their orders.
If a parent doesn’t show up, the court won’t know if the support amount set is too high until the parent speaks up – which Roberts said is most likely to happen when the state tries to enforce payment.
The primary tool the Child Support Enforcement Agency uses to enforce payment is wage garnisheeing, or having employers withhold child support from the delinquent parent’s paycheck. When parents don’t have attachable wages, the agency goes after driver’s licenses and credit reporting.
To keep those parents working, and helping their children, the Legal Aid project tries to get parents work-restricted licenses, for example, or help them modify their support-payment amounts.
“What Legal Aid often uncovers are exceptions to either (enforcement) policy or the use of tools,” said Brian Shea, director of the Child Support Enforcement Agency. “What I do is look for consistencies in the application of policy and the application of tools.”
The tools, or enforcement methods, are usually effective at compelling payment in the 300,000 cases handled by the agency, which collected 63 percent of the money owed last year.
“What we like to have is a lot of tools,” Shea said, “and we have to use them judiciously.”