Child support is a court-mandated method of ensuring that children are provided for in the case of a divorce. Failing to pay child support can mean that a child is not provided all the opportunity they deserve to thrive, and that the non-paying parent can incur serious consequences.
Failure to pay child support is an issue not solely confined to New Jersey. However, New Jersey readers may find interest in one Texas county's approach to handling the failure to pay child support. Texas officials arrested 32 fathers on Sept. 17, the first day of a five day annual round-up of parents behind on child support payments. The fathers arrested were in arrears for child support payments ranging from $3,500 to $115,000.
The warrant sweep is an annual event in Travis County and lasts five days. It is designed to raise community awareness about the problem of unpaid child support. A local official informed the media that the desire is not to arrest parents and keep them from their children, but rather to spur them towards making payments and being a healthy part of their children's lives.
This round-up reflects the large numbers of custodial parents and children going without receipt of child support. In New Jersey, Child support takes into account costs including daycare, healthcare and education. Failure to make payments can negatively affect the well-being of children in these areas. Morris County, New Jersey, parents not receiving child support payments to assist in the rearing of their child can seek legal counsel to rectify the circumstances and ensure receipt of the funds necessary to give their child every opportunity for success.
Source: KVUE, "Travis County parents owe millions in unpaid child support," Jessica Holloway, Sept. 17, 2012
