To letters@washpost.com 

Regarding https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/19/AR2006101900110.html 

 Dear Editor,

"Life could already be difficult for fathers who gets seriously behind in their court-ordered child support payments," the recent article read.

 True - men that are laid off and cannot pay their child support are often treated no different than the men that purposely evade paying support. Men that lose their jobs because of illness are routinely treated as deadbeats as well.

What about Reservists whose units are activated and they have to quit a well-paying job? Regardless of the reason, parents who miss their child support payments are labeled 'deadbeat' by politicians and the press.

But what is not publicized is that most noncustodial dads in arrears earn less than $15,000 a year. If a custodial mom earned a salary this low, society would offer her help. The 'deadbeat' dad is vilified and criminalized.

County Executive Andrew Spano said that besides the effect on the spouse and children, missing child support payments "dips into the pockets of the taxpayers" by forcing many families onto welfare rolls. What about the men who would be on welfare if they had custody? They are Spano's target.

Bear in mind, Spano and his ilk across the country receive money from Washington for every parent ordered to pay child support - and the bigger amount of child support ordered, the bigger Spano's paycheck. It seems to me that Spano is the one dipping into the pockets of the taxpayer.

Child support enforcement agencies try to 'persuade' noncustodial parents to pay with the threat of name-calling and shame, license suspension, and impounded cars. Did I mention the threat of jail?

There are two ways to make a donkey move; the stick and the carrot. It is time to try something positive to encourage payment of child support:

Westchester: Embarrass `deadbeat dads,' then seize their cars

By JIM FITZGERALD
Associated Press Writer

October 17, 2006, 5:59 PM EDT

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- The next step in Westchester County's drive to collect child support from deadbeat parents may be seizing their cars and selling them, the Social Services commissioner said Tuesday.

Commissioner Kevin Mahon spoke as the county, hoping to shame some parents into compliance, took out a newspaper ad to publish the photographs of four men who have skipped out on a total $193,000 in child support payments.

Mahon said he would do whatever works, including impounding an offender's car and then selling it if there's no support payment in 30 days.

"If you don't want your picture in the paper, you don't want your license suspended, you don't want your car impounded, you don't want to go to jail, do the right thing," Mahon said. "Pay your child support."

County Executive Andrew Spano said the newspaper photos could accomplish three objectives:

_Embarass the four men into making payments.

_Prompt people who recognize them to report their whereabouts.

_Put other offenders on notice that their pictures, too, might appear in the newspaper or on TV.

He noted that reneging on court-ordered child support "not only changes the quality of life of the spouse and children but it also dips into the pockets of the taxpayers" by forcing many families onto welfare rolls.

"If we could get one of these guys it would pay for the ad 10 times over," Spano said. The quarter-page ad in Tuesday's New York Post cost $6,624. Spano said it would not be repeated until results are evaluated.

The county executive said he paid support for four children from a previous marriage and had to adjust his spending to do it.

"I could not afford to live the lifestyle I (previously) lived because I had to pay child support, so I didn't live that lifestyle," he said. "I changed it. I downgraded it. I made sure I had the money, because it's an important thing for families to make sure that their children are taken care of."

Mahon said parents who are tracked down often say they don't have enough money but have new cars and take vacations.

"They're not willing to say, `What's my first responsibility?"' he said.

If someone who owes child support has no job, he said, the county would help that person find one.

Spano said about $144 million is owed in the county, and the office of Child Support Enforcement is hoping to collect $60 million this year, up from $58 million last year.

Carmen Almeida, ex-wife of one of the men pictured in the ad, is owed $63,000. She said Tuesday that her husband has never paid any support in the seven years they've been divorced. As a result, she said, their 18-year-old daughter may have to drop out of American University in Washington next semester when a scholarship runs out.

She fears her ex-husband, Alberto Almeida, may have fled to Portugal, but hopes friends of his who see the picture "will speak to him and see if he can send his daughter something. She needs the money and he always said he loved her very much."

Manuel Barreiro, director of the child support office, said he had no record of an attorney representing Alberto Almeida, and Carmen Almeida did not recall the name of her ex-husband's divorce lawyer.