Published: October 21, 2008 08:42 pm         

Pay up or lose your licenses

THE ISSUE:Child-support delinquencies

OUR VIEW:We support a new state initiative to suspend the driver’s licenses of non-paying parents.



Back in April, Howard Circuit Court Judge Lynn Murray and County Prosecutor James Fleming asked the County Council’s approval to increase the workload of the Circuit Court juvenile referee.

The number of paternity and Child in Need of Services (CHINS) cases had tripled in the first quarter of this year, Murray said. Those cases were taking up much more of her time.

“We have 500 to 600 paternity cases – an important part of that is child support,” she told council members.

The judge said she was spending four hours every Monday to hear up to 60 cases involving enforcement of child-support orders. Such a caseload apparently isn’t unique to Howard County, and the state soon will do something about that.

Parents who owe $25,000 or more in child support and who haven’t contributed money toward the care of their children for at least a year could have their driver’s licenses suspended, Gov. Mitch Daniels said Monday. The new initiative also includes fishing and hunting licenses.

“We don’t want to take anybody’s license ... but if you won’t do your duty, then certain privileges the state confers ought not be yours until you start doing your duty,” he said.

The new program will launch in Indiana’s four most-populace counties – Marion, Lake, Allen and St. Joseph – as well as Vanderburgh, Tippecanoe, Monroe and Kosciusko. Daniels said the rest of the state will be added soon.

What’s more, the $25,000 starting point later will be lowered to just $2,000, and from one year of delinquency to just three months. The Department of Child Services believes more than 76,000 cases of nonpayment in Indiana meet the $2,000 cutoff.

We applaud the state in getting tough on payment of child support. Such cases clog our courts while children needlessly suffer.

We expect many delinquent parents to pay up out of fear of losing their driving privileges.

     

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