Amnesty offered to parents

State and county officials are hoping an emphasis this month on child support will result in more payments being made. Parents apprehensive because they are behind on child support payments have an opportunity to regroup.

Gov. Mike Easley has proclaimed May as Child Support Awareness Month. The state also designated May 7 to 11 as Amnesty Week, whereby parents who are behind on support payments can arrange to catch up without legal action.

Here in Alleghany at least, the amnesty offer is still good until the end of the month. "If they'll come in, we'll work with them," said Pat Andrews, child support agent for the Alleghany County Department of Social Services.

She said that in a majority of child support cases, the judge enters a stipulation that if the parent gets a month behind, he or she can be arrested for the entire amount of the arrears. "Some get behind on the payments and get scared and hide and don't pay anything. This (amnesty) gives them a chance to come clean....to come out from under a rock," Andrews said.

She said she has a total of 371 cases. Of those, 290 parents, or 78 percent, are under a court order to pay child support. The state child support enforcement office reported 62 percent of its 493,966 clients (involving a total of 555,712 children) are under an order.

Andrews said 56 local cases qualify for amnesty. Eligibility criteria include a valid mailing address and a 90-day lapse since the last payment was made.

In 12 of the 56 cases, the absent parent is in another state, Andrews stated. The other state must enforce the support requirement. She said the amnesty program was effective last year, with 22 parents responding.
 
 

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