Posted on 06/16/2010 8:59:20 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
Despite being locked up before for ignoring orders to pay child support, Luna had managed to come up with only $13.11 for his two children during the past year. He mumbled that he couldnt give more, that he didnt have a job and that he lived with his parents.
In Bexar County, parents like Luna who miss child support payments are far more likely to get jail time than in Texas four other largest urban counties.
Last fiscal year, 1,013 parents were held in Bexar County Jail for failing to pay child support, according to figures from the Texas attorney generals office.
Thats more than five times the number of deadbeat parents jailed in Dallas, Harris, Tarrant or Travis counties. Those four counties combined sent 631 people to jail last fiscal year for owing child support.
So far this year, deadbeat parents have taken up an average of 161 beds per week at the jail the same number that Harris County jailed all last year.
The vast discrepancy reflects a tougher-than-average philosophy in Bexar County in which parents who owe child support more often are summoned to court, judicial officials said. Usually, theyll stay in jail for a few days or weeks to teach them a lesson or until they come up with some money.
In two days, your namesake is going to turn 10. Thats a pretty big day for him, Rausch barked at Luna, ordering him back to jail until he could make a $2,000 lump-sum payment. A week later is Fathers Day, and youre going to be in jail for both of those. I dont think it matters to you.
After Lunas hearing, Rausch said fathers who dont have relationships with their children often need to be threatened with jail to get their attention.
The intact family is disappearing, he said. There are good fathers out there, but the numbers are going in the wrong direction.
This court has taken a very firm, tough approach to fathers and mothers who dont pay child support. I feel very comfortable and confident were handling it the right way.
Not everyone, however, agrees.
Its counterproductive to me, and it just doesnt make a lot of sense, County Judge Nelson Wolff said.
It costs the county $60 a day to house a prisoner in Bexar County Jail, which often is overcrowded, he said. That equates to $2.7 million taxpayers must pay each year to incarcerate the parents, he estimated.
Hand in hand with the cost is the problem of jail overcrowding.
I think there has to be a better way to do it, Wolff said.
In Bexar County, fathers or mothers whom the Texas attorney general has targeted as in arrears on payments usually arent brought into court unless they have been delinquent for months or years.
Once at Bexar County Courthouse, many work out deals with prosecutors or the other parent on the spot. If the case remains unresolved and a judge finds a defendant at fault, he or she may be put on probation or sent to jail until a lump sum can be paid.
Even if released, those found at fault frequently are summoned back for updates on their payment status. The intensive release-and-reset strategy can result in more people being jailed, judges said.
A parent could be jailed up to six times in a year for missing payments or failing to appear in court, Bexar County officials say.
The countys use of flash incarcerations may be different from other counties, where jail time is viewed more as a last resort, University of Texas family law Professor John Sampson said.
That appears to be the case in Dallas County, which has roughly the same number of child support cases as the San Antonio area, but far fewer people being sent to jail.
Both counties collected similar amounts of child support payments between $262 million and $265 million last fiscal year. Dallas, however, sent 160 deadbeat parents to jail.
I guess its a carrot-stick approach, said Judge George Collins, who oversees one of Dallas four child support courts. When you cant seem to encourage them anymore, you lock them up.
Were not big on putting them in jail. Were big on collecting money.
San Antonio attorney Lisa Dossmann has seen the differences in judicial philosophies firsthand, having worked for child support offices with the attorney general in Dallas and Bexar counties before going into private practice a decade ago.
On her first day in Rauschs court after transferring from Dallas, the case she was prosecuting resulted in jail time.
I was stunned, she said. In Dallas, they gave them a lot more time to come up with the money.
Like other attorneys and judges interviewed for this report, she sided with both of Bexar Countys child support judges, even though shes now a defense attorney.
I think its a fair approach, she said, explaining that her clients rarely end up in jail because she warns them of the consequences. If the client comes up with some kind of lump sum, even if its a low amount, the judge isnt going to incarcerate them.
And when they do refuse to pay, incarceration often will spur family members to chip in to make a payment so the defendant can be released quickly, she said.
Although Bexar Countys system is different from other counties in Texas, it does seem to be effective, said Janece Rolfe, a spokeswoman for the attorney generals Child Support Division.
It is a program that (prosecutors) are very pleased with, she said.
But with a child support collection rate on par with Dallas County, Bexar Countys judicial philosophy doesnt make sense, Wolff said. Once a person is in jail, hell lose his job or cant look for work.
It just doesnt add up, he said. Obviously, all of the other counties have come to the same conclusion except for us. ..... Youre putting them in there with the criminal element. ..... Jail should be for the protection of the public.
Wolff said he has been critical of the incarceration rate for most of his political career with the county. But its the elected district court judges who hire the child support court judges, and so his griping has had little effect, he lamented.
Senior state District Judge David Peeples sees a parallel between getting a child to obey and making a parent pay child support. Like the threat of spanking, incarceration can persuade a parent to follow court orders.
You need that possibility of going to jail hanging in the background, he said.
Peeples, who oversees the two child support courts in Bexar County and nearly two dozen in the region, knew the incarceration rate was disproportionately high in Bexar but was unaware of how high.
Peeples speculated that could be somewhat reflective of Bexar Countys low-income population, and judges vigilance in pursuing low-income defendants who might slip under the radar in other jurisdictions.
It might not be as lucrative going after a deadbeat parent whos poor, and it might not add a lot to the total collections tally, but the money collected even if a smaller amount is significant to the other parent struggling to raise the children, Peeples said.
Still, he said, the numbers need to be carefully examined.
If were not getting any more bang for our buck, youd wonder why we do it, he said.
Peeples also joined other judges, such as Delia Carian, Bexar Countys other support court judge, and Harris County child support Judge Gregory Wettman, in voicing skepticism that the incarceration statistics have been submitted the same way by each county.
Ive got to believe theyre just counting it different, Wettman said.
Carian, who has been on the child support bench in Bexar County for three years, admits she and Rausch are tough. But she never thought of that as an anomaly.
To me, it seems like everybody has the same position, she said.
Representatives with the attorney generals office said the agency is reviewing the numbers, but so far no reporting discrepancies have been found.
Inside Rauschs and Carians court chambers are lists of every defendant in jail for owing child support. The files are revisited weekly.
While fathers like Luna theoretically could stay in jail indefinitely if the ordered amount isnt paid, chances are the most hopeless cases will result in releases from jail after a few days or weeks, Rausch said.
The released prisoners then will be brought back to court months later to see if their attitudes have changed, he said.
Over the course of two days in the first week of June, Rausch ordered 48 people released about five of whom paid the demanded amount.
Im sympathetic with the jail population issue, said Rausch, who has been on the bench for nearly 22 years and serves on the National Judicial Child Support Task Force.
It does no good to put someone in jail and intend for them to stay there and serve out that sentence, he said. Im hoping their time in jail taught them a lesson.
At the very least, he said, it gets the attention of other parents waiting in the courtroom most of whom wont end up in jail.
On a recent day this month, prosecutors in Rauschs court collected $15,000 in back payments for children whod previously been neglected.
Rausch, who said he had a great relationship with his own father, finds it frustrating to see parents neglecting the needs of their children. He has seen scores of children cry in his office because of an absent parent. While he cant force parents to have relationships with their children, he does have the tools to make sure they support them, he said.
Were tough very tough, he said. My bedrock philosophy is, if youre going to bring a child into this world, you have to support that child. The court system is the only entity that can enforce that.
And if that means jailing parents, so be it.
If you place significance on a parents obligation to support the child, I dont see where there can be any other approach, he said.
Today, custody isn’t about the welfare of the children, it’s about enriching the pocketbook of one of the parents, almost always the mothers.
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Funny thing is that both parents are worse off after the divorce. Take a guy making $40,000. Put a $1000 a month child support payment on him. He can barely survive. And the woman getting the $1,000 a month has her rent or mortgage paid for . . . maybe. Both are worse off and they both bitch and bitch about it and get bitter . . . Problem is divorce.
How are parents supposed to be able to do a job earn money and pay support if they are in Jail?
In my experience (in Massachusetts) the judges will not put a father in jail if he’s making an effort. My buddy lost his job recently, but goes out of his way to take care of his two boys and see’s them 4 days a week.
His psycho ex can’t claim he’s a neglectful father as he sees the boys all the time, takes care of them more than just the odd weekend here and there.
A father is more than just a checkbook. Unfortunately, many single moms don’t see it that way. At least the judge in my buddies case is understanding of the tough economy.
My brother is going through this in New York. He’s separated from his wife and lives in an apartment a mile away from their house. He sees his 3 boys everyday, takes them to school, activities, the doctor etc.
He has a full-time job and pays support and has managed at least a problem-solving relationship with his ex. Overall, the situation stinks for all concerned, except the ex. She had the affair, ruined the marriage, yet gets to stay in the house and receive child support. At least he doesn’t pay any alimony...
Please re read my post. I said that I agree that in most cases jailing them is counterproductive. He will work for awhile and then as soon as the courts catch up to him he quits. He works cash jobs under the table. He has several years of income tax he has refused to file for because the court would seize it.
Well yeah, how many women are forced to pay child support? And how many men get custody in a divorce.
If women dont have to pay support, then of course there will be more men who dont pay pay support than woment.
What is the % of men who are ordered to pay support and dont? Then, what is the % of women ordered to pay support and dont. Then compare those answeres.
Jail is an incentive to pay. If you don’t pay - you go to jail.
Secondly, jail is an incentive for others to look and learn. My 24 year old unmarried son has watched his uncles suffer through “family court” for years.
He knows better than to get married and have kids.
“Won’t happen”; he says.
Which is very sad. Consider what our Country has done to familes.
Smart men today are RUNNING away from marriage and having children.
Who can blame them?
Uh.....no. If the threat of child support is the only reason to remain married, then it's a lost cause.
Its dumb, with unemployment so high, you cannot get blood from a stone...I think most fathers do support their kids, but sometimes the Friend of the Court makes support payments so high the guy cannot even pay his rent. No man wants to move back with their parents.....
What about a guy that according to state guidelines should have been paying over $700 a month but his ex actually asked the court to lower it to $400 a month and he still refuses to even attempt to pay anything?
I don’t blame them at all. I am a victim of my husbands ex-girlfriend who has used the welfare system as a vindictive tool. The hag makes 65 THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR! And uses the welfare system of the state. Pathetic.
Nothing.
So is debtor's prison. The Founding Fathers had BIG problem with debtor's prisons.
I wonder what Madison and Jefferson would say today about court ordered child support. My guess is they wouldn't be too keen with the government becoming involved in such a plainly domestic problem.
The older I get and the more lives I see ruined in family courts, I'm beginning to believe that it's none of the government's business, at least with respect to child support. Here's a clue ladies, if you want your child's father involved in your child's life and paying for that child, perhaps you should be a bit more discerning in selecting the men you bed.
Sounds like he is gaming you.
Have friends on both sides of this issue. One case surprisingly like yours. (Any chance you live in Virgina, used to live in LA?) One case the exact opposite: He really can’t pay, she’s moved in with a wealthy doctor, she puts him in jail at every turn out of spite (and serious mental illness, no joke).
Frustrating on all counts.
Nope, not in Virginia, PA actually.
My son has no job ( can’t find one ) is a full time student, owes child support. Since December we have paid $7500 to keep him out of jail. The mother calls child support and reports him as a deadbeat dad.
We have not seen our grandson for 3 years, he is 8. She insists we will try to kidnap him but she’s willing to let him come for a weekend visit if she can come too. That will not happen.
She harrasses me on the phone, her husband does not work, she does not work and has two other kids at home that have different fathers. All happened after our grandson was born.
My son goes back to court next month. The judge has ordered him to pay another $1500. He does not have it. He will have to spend 90 days in jail or pay the support.
She rarely if ever shows up to court and when she does she wants extra money for bills she claims my son should pay.
She told me that’s what happens when you get someone pregnant. You pay.
She thinks it’s funny. I hate her.
One day our son will be able to afford a lawyer. We will have the last laugh.
i may be wrong, but i thought debtors prison was illegal in the US of A....unless you are a white male against any female...then, you lose
You know, in Islam the father has all the rights. In most of Europe, the parents have equal rights. In the USA the mother and the courts have all the rights.
If the courts in the USA truly were based on equality and impartiality then the term “deadbeat dad” would not exist — rather it would be “deadbeat parent” as one would expect many, many more fathers would be granted custody of their children.
Our system is based on a 1950s model that assumed that when a marriage broke up it was the man’s fault and he was leaving his family destitute. That is so untrue today where women have as much, if not moore, earnings potential than women and as many women are leaving marriages so they can have sex with otehr people as men are.
your solution cannot ever happen........it makes too much sense, therefore it will never happen
Now we need an article covering what happens when the custodial parent denies court ordered visitation.
Nothing.
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Nothing?
Not entirely true. My brother took his ex back to Court one time regarding her refusal to allow him to see his kids as per the court order.
The judge “admonished” her and told her to follow the visitation orders, and blah, blah, blah.
Then.....
He considered HER motion to increase the support payments. Motion granted.
My brother had to cough up another $100 a month.
The moral? As a man - you are screwed in family court. You NEVER win.
Yea...for only one half of the relationship.
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