Subject: ACFC: Child Support Quiz
Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2000 23:07:57 -0700 (PDT)
From: acfclist@usa.net (ACFC Website)
To: acfclist@svr2.marketrends.net
Thanks to Roger F. Gay for sending us the following.
ACFC
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1. Non-custodial parents pay what percentage of their court ordered
child support?
a. 20 %
b. 40 %
c. 70 %
d. more than 70 %
Your Answer:
2. What increase in the percentage above has been recorded since the beginning of the
federal crackdown enforcement efforts in 1975?
a. 0 %
b. 20 %
c. 50 %
Your Answer:
3. How much is spent on the federal child support enforcement program each year?
a. $100 million
b. $1 billion
c. $4 billion
Your Answer:
4. How many employees are there nationally in the
child support enforcement program?
a. 1,000
b. 20,000
c. 50,000
d. more than 50,000
Your Answer:
5. The federal government spent approximately what amount to develop a computer
tracking system for the child support enforcement system?
a. $500
b. $10,000
c. $4 million
d. $4 billion
Your Answer:
6. What part of the population will be registered in the
child support enforcement
system?
a. only "deadbeat dads"
b. all divorced and never married parents
c. all adults who hold jobs
d. everyone
Your Answer:
Answers
1. (c,d) The only federal agency that estimates the "compliance rate" for all
child support orders in the US is the Census Bureau. Their official estimate is 70
percent. However, the estimate comes from a (Census) survey of recipients. Surveys of
payers consistently produce much higher results. (See also US Bureau of the Census child support data and note that
when you examine the figures based on such biased reporting, it is clear, they indicate that
the compliance rates in the 1991 - 95 interval actually
dropped, in spite or perhaps because of the draconian measures that are now in place)
2. (a) The only change in the estimated compliance rate for all cases
resulted from a change in the details used in the census survey. One major problem with
the program is that there has been no systematic test against a valid baseline to evaluate
program results.
3. (c) Federal and state matching funds add up to $4 billion of the
taxpayers' money each year.
4. (d) More than 50,000 -- see next answers.
5. (d) The federal government has spent a staggering $4 billion
developing a computer tracking system; probably at least 1,000 times the amount a large
private company would spend on a similar system if an off the shelf solution was not
available.
6. (c) The current target group for initial registrations is all newly
hired employees. That is expected to continue, which will eventually include everyone with
a job. There is of course an option to enter people into the system who do not hold jobs
as well. The "new hire" approach simply collects the largest number of entries
at the expense of employers.
Are you being used in the drive to increase government power and
bureaucracy at the
expense of sanity and human rights?
SCORING
6 right -- specialist expert
3 right -- awake and not easy to fool
1 right -- you're educated by the mass media
0 right -- member of both NOW and ACES
BONUS QUESTIONS
B1. The need for a federal child support enforcement program arises because men
frequently abandon their wives and children and refuse to support them.
YES ____ NO ____
B2. Child support award
amounts needed to be increased because they were insufficient in
the past.
YES ____ NO ____
B3. Divorced and never married women are typically much poorer than the fathers.
YES ____ NO ____
The correct answers to all three bonus questions are no.
Women initiate divorce more than men at a ratio of at least 8:2. (That appears to
hold true in all developed nation. See also "Who
files for divorce?" —WHS) Research shows that the reasons they abandon
the fathers of their children rarely involve unbearable circumstances. Most often, they
just feel like they want a change. Studies at hospitals show that most non-married fathers
show up for the birth and often accompany mothers for prenatal check-ups.
Researchers have observed caring relationships and a strong desire on the
part of fathers to be involved.
The myth that child support awards were insufficient in the past is related to an
unstated change in the purpose of
child support among advocates for increases. The new
version of "child support" is intended to provide for the mother at least as
much as for the child. Arguments over the size of
child support awards have also become
confused with false claims about the percent of the amount awarded that is paid; and thus,
advocates have argued for stronger enforcement measures in relation to their desire to
have a higher amount ordered by courts. A good example is the current claim by advocates
that only 40 percent is paid of the amount owed. They mean (among other things) that they
want the size of awards doubled to include even more financial support for mothers. The
actual compliance rate is between 70 and 80 percent.
[Sanford Braver, in "Divorced
Dads – Shattering the Myths," reports that the average compliance rate as
reported by custodial mothers is 68% and as reported by non-custodial fathers is 84%
(Table 2.4, p.32), but, even more astonishingly, that when fathers have reasonable child
access, they "want to pay voluntarily [original
emphasis]. Coercion, punishment, garnishment are not normally needed at
all." (p. 197; "The Message to Policymakers," 1st par., 2nd sentence) Furthermore,
he reports that under those circumstances the compliance rate with
child support payments
is 93% (as reported by fathers) and 89% by mothers' reports (p. 194, Table 9.4) —
with any of the remaining outstanding amounts being most often due to the fathers'
inability to pay due to reason of being unemployed, incarcerated, in hospital, disabled or
crippled, or even being dead. —WHS]
Poor mothers are more often paired with poor fathers. Women's income has risen
sufficiently in past decades to bring middle class women more on par with their middle
class husbands. Systematic research has shown that current
child support payments make
divorced mothers better off financially than they would have been if they had remained
married to the father of their children. This effect is amplified when a mother remarries
and thereby also benefits from the income of a new spouse.
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Children Need BOTH Parents!
The American Coalition for Fathers and Children
For Membership information call 1-800-978-DADS or see ACFC's homepages at: http://www.acfc.org
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