‘Deadbeat’ Parents May Lose Licenses Aim Is Better Collection Of Child Support

Parents who are behind in their child-support payments, including one man who owes $55,000, are paying up to avoid losing their driver’s licenses.

Armed with new authority from the Legislature to suspend the licenses of “deadbeat” parents, the state Division of Child Support sent warning letters this summer to 46,000 people, prompting some to set up payment schedules, said Walter Moy, coordinator of the division’s license suspension program.

However, about 180 people from across the state, nearly all of them men, are in danger of losing their licenses because they did not respond to the warnings, he said. As a result, the first license suspensions could occur in about a month.

“The program is working as we had hoped it would work. We’re getting their attention and they’re complying,” Moy said. “We’ll move into the next phase for those who haven’t seen fit to comply as yet.”

The license suspension program, required by Congress, was a key piece of the welfare overhaul approved earlier this year by the Legislature and Gov. Gary Locke. It gives the state the authority to suspend automotive, business and recreational licenses of parents who are at least six months in arrears.

The program was included in the welfare plan because many families on public assistance are headed by women who receive little or no help from the fathers of their children. Boosting their support theoretically could reduce a reliance on government assistance.

State officials hope the threat of license suspension will draw out some $28 million. The state currently collects about $400 million a year out of an estimated $1.7 billion owed.

Exact figures on the amount collected through the license suspension program aren’t available since the Division of Child Support is still setting up its computer system. But Moy said anecdotal evidence shows it’s already working.

He said a survey of 102 responses to the warning letters broke down this way: 66 percent set up payment plans; 21 percent identified their employers so the division can garnish their wages; 7 percent have requested modifications of their child-support obligations, so those cases are on hold; and 6 percent are on public assistance, making them exempt from license suspension.

Moy declined to release the names of parents targeted by the program, saying state attorneys are still examining what information is considered public.