Failures to pay child support are very impactful and finding ways to address this issue effectively is very important.
Some might assume that a failure to pay child support is always due to indifference or lack of caring on the part of the parent who failed to make the payment. This assumption is incorrect. There are many different things that can cause a person to struggle to keep up with their child support payments.
One such thing is an inability to find employment. Employment struggles are something that many people have experienced in the down economy the U.S. has had in recent years.
More and more lately, we have been seeing states establish programs aimed at addressing this potential contributor to failures to pay child support.
Texas has such a program. The program is called the Noncustodial Parent Choices program. The program was started in August 2005. It is a joint initiative. The Office of the Attorney General of Texas, the Texas Workforce Commission and Texas district court judges are the parties that are involved in this joint initiative.
The program is aimed at providing noncustodial parents who have experienced struggles keeping up with their child support payments with help in finding employment. There are certain requirements a noncustodial parent must meet to be eligible for the program. Recently, these requirements were relaxed to allow more noncustodial parents to qualify.
What do you think of this program and ones like it? Do you think such programs are a good way to address the issue of failures to pay child support?
Source: WOAI, “Program collects child support, helps put parents back to work,” Melissa Vega, May 16, 2013