Open Letter

I’m writing this because last month, August, was Child Support Awareness month. And again, I did not receive my court ordered child support. The arrears as of September 1, 2012 are $152,613.82. This figure does not include the amount for this month of $613, bringing the total owed to $153,226.82.

You may ask yourself, “Why is she writing this letter instead of going to work and supporting her children?” I do work, and I do support my children. I am writing this because too many children do not receive much needed child support each month, and too many LCSA (Local Child Support Agency) employee’s collect a pay check each month for delivering sub-par performance.

The California Department of Child Support Services (CADCSS) website states that Child Support is about security, dreams, trust and confidence. If Child Support is so important to the lives of children, then why is our state not performing better? In the Child Support Enforcement FY 2009 Annual Report to Congress California’s cost effectiveness is listed at $2.10 collected for every dollar invested towards chilld support collections. Only New Mexico, District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands collect less per dollar invested than California at $2.03, $2.02 and $1.90 respectively. Even Guam has a greater cost effectiveness than California.

You might still be asking yourself, “Why is she writing this?”  Because, until taxpayers get fed up with supporting the children of others, and employing government workers who do not do their jobs, nothing will improve. In the state of California, a person with an open child support case stands only a 60% chance of having any support collected in any given month – This means that collecting only $1.50 in a given month will throw a case into the “positive” pile of collections.

With over 9,000 employees and the best child support enforcement laws in the nation I think we can do better for the children of our state. Women with children are the fastest growing homeless population in California. What does this say of the security, dreams, trust and confidence, child support is supposed to help provide to children? In California the employees of the CADCSS and LCSA’s receive 100% of their pay and benefits each month. Perhaps if they were to have a 60% chance of receiving a check, or any portion of a check each month, they might rethink how consistently they implement the child support enforcement laws in this beautiful state of ours.