A reporter at Channel 3 Eyewitness News in Tennessee has fallen onto the government propaganda train. I took the time to challenge the "International News" last week and have yet to hear back from any of the numerous employees that I contacted regarding their skewed view in favor of expanded government services.
Supporting budget cuts will improve the availability of services for child support enforcement to low-income families, since the current focus of the programs is on revenue generation for the state not on collections for lower-income needy families.
Currently the state-run child support enforcement services have little to no focus on lower-income families due to difficulty in actually collecting from under- or unemployed program participants.
State provided child support enforcement services focus on higher-income families, which gives the appearance of program success through the use of use of income withholding orders to facilitate collections.
Because there is a significant level of overparticipation from wealthier families that should not be receiving benefits the lack of collections for lower-income family are going unnoticed while the program is being labeled a success.
Taxpayers should not be required to foot the bill for collection services for individuals that would not otherwise qualify for welfare services when those participants can afford to provide services for their own domestic relations disputes.
There are an ample number of private collection and law firms that provide services to both lower-income and higher-income families to make up for any alleged reduction in state collections as a result of reduced funding. The private collection and law firms are notably more successful in their outcomes as they focus on their clients, not on maintaining caseloads for state budgeting purposes.
Where a benefit recipient is determined to voluntarily request services using an application for Title IV-D services, it would be more than appropriate for the State of Tennessee to follow the proposed rule by the Administration for Children and Families stating that “Retaining the annual fee from support collected on behalf of the family may be the least administratively burdensome method when collections in excess of the first $500 are disbursed to the family.” (Federal Register / Vol. 72 No. 15 pg. 3096) This will allow benefit recipients to only pay for services that are successful and is more than fair.
I want to point out that for families that are already needy, as means tested for other government assistance programs, the State pays the fee and there is no burden placed upon NEEDY FAMILIES. There is a difference between NEEDY families and GREEDY families.
It’s time to make the taxpayer whole and shift responsibility back to the individuals who are voluntarily applying for the Title IV-D services where they do not otherwise qualify for other forms of government assistance. Teach positive outcomes where people actually pay for the services they receive the benefits from.
Reigning in the Title IV-D program is good for our tax-payers, good for our parents, and most of all… good for our children.
Lary Holland
http://www.nationwideblueprint.com
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