MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
JEFFERSON CITY - "Sperm donors with checkbooks" is how one critic of child support enforcment charges men like Eric Harriel are being treated by Missouri's legislature.
Harriel is a convicted criminal.
It's not that he robbed a store or committed an assault. Instead, he served two months in jail for being behind on his child support payments.
Now, the 32-year-old St. Louis man can only find work as a teacher's assistant, earning $12,000 a year. After two court battles, he gained custody of his 12-year-old son, who had been being physically abused by his mother's boyfriend.
"Men are not criminals just because we don't live in the same households as our children," Harriel said.
He says fathers are continuing to be punished by provisions now before Missouri's legislature to comply with new federal requirements concerning deadbeat dads.
The federal mandate being debated by a House committee is part of the new federal welfare law. It requires Missouri to enact laws allow for revocation drivers, professional or recreational licenses for those owing three months or more than $1,000 in child support.
Usually the threat of losing the freedom to drive is enough to make people take their child support obligations seriously.
"People have more connection to their driving privilege than to their support obligations," said Teresa Kaiser, director of the Child Support Enforcement Division. "This is a carrot to reach the people who have the money, but not the motive."
Kaiser said she does not anticipate actually suspending many licenses, but warned the department will make examples of those who refuse to pay.
"If they enter an agreement with us, and then don't fulfill it, we will take action," she said.
The main goal is to get the delinquent dad -- 90 percent of the cases involve men -- into the office to discuss their payment options.
"The fact is we don't know why many of these people don't pay," Kaiser said. "We want to work with them to set up a payment agreement."
This emphasis on men worries Scott Field, president of the National Congress for Men and Children St. Louis chapter.
"Men are regarded as sperm donors with checkbooks," he said at a public hearing Wednesday.
Currently, only one out of every four dollars in court-ordered child support is actually paid, Kaiser said. The state has 300,000 outstanding child-support cases.
Kaiser said about one quarter of those who owe support are not paying because they can't afford it. Many of the non-payers are in prison, in drug or alcohol treatment centers or have episodes of mental illness.
One of the more controversial aspects of the bill involves how a father's paternity is proven.
The Child Support Enforcement Division has recommended implementing a conclusive presumption of paternity based on genetic testing.
"This would cut off extraneous and degrading testimony that is traditional in these testimonies," Kaiser said. Anyone who did not agree with the first genetic test could ask for another test.
But state prosecutors testified that no blood expert is willing to conclusively prove paternity.
"In the case of identical twins, the DNA is the same," said John Donvard, the St. Louis assistant circuit attorney. "Does that mean the child has two fathers? Conclusive presumption makes it irrelevant whether the man and woman had sexual intercourse."
David Usher, the lobbyist for the National Congress for Men and Children, said he believes the bill is unconstitutional and that Missouri should refuse to pass the mandate.
However, Rep. Vicky Riback Wilson, D-Columbia, who is a member of the committee hearing the bill, said there are important reasons to pass the bill.
"If we don't pass something fairly soon we stand to lose federal money that we desperately need for child support enforcement," she said. "Missouri is emphasizing both the emotional support as well as the financial support."