New Child Support Registry
Susan Goodman, Washington, DC; Renee Montagne, Washington

Susan Goodman reports that there is a new computerized database designed to keep track of parents who have been ordered by the courts to pay child support. States will be able to find delinquent parents who try to avoid payment by crossing state lines, and withhold part of their paychecks.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Starting today, a new computerized federal child support registry will begin logging the names of every parent who has been ordered by a state court to pay child support. By cross- checking those names with another national database of newly hired workers, it will be easier for the states to track down and withhold wages from the paychecks of more than five million parents, mostly fathers, who don't pay child support.

Susan Goodman reports.

SUSAN GOODMAN, REPORTER:
The new federal registry of child support orders will not include the names of parents who have worked out private child support arrangements with their spouses. Nor will states be able to track down parents who are self-employed or who don't have jobs. But by cross-checking the two federal databases, states will be able to locate and withhold wages from the paychecks of parents who try to avoid paying child support by crossing state lines.

Michael Coffin (ph) is a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services.

MICHAEL COFFIN, SPOKESMAN, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES:
Now by having these national databases, noncustodial parents can run, but they can't hide, because now we'll have information on their whereabouts and any money that they're earning in order to assist those children who are living in a different state.

GOODMAN:
The two new databases are part of the federal government's efforts to help states improve child support enforcement. Even though collections have increased in recent years, so have the case loads, and children continue to receive less than 20 cents for every dollar ordered by the courts.

However, Ron Henry is worried about whether the information in the databases -- on job status, income and court orders -- will be accurate. As a lawyer who does pro bono work on behalf of children's rights organizations, Henry says that some states have found mistakes in 30 to 40 percent of the case reports.

RON HENRY, LAWYER WHO REPRESENTS CHILDREN'S RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS:
We're really quite concerned that we'll end up with a tremendous mismatch between the data that's in the computers and the data out in the real world. The last thing from a child's standpoint that we want to see happen is the entry or enforcement of erroneous orders, either too high or too low.

GOODMAN:
The success of the program will also depend on whether 52 different computer systems can talk to each other across state lines. Despite spending $2.6 billion in federal funds, ten states, including California, Ohio and Pennsylvania, are still not ready. California's program fell so far behind the governor pulled the plug on the project last year, according to Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey.

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE LYNN WOOLSEY (D-CA):
California spent five years and $100 million in taxpayers' funds to build its system but had to scrap it because it didn't ever work.

GOODMAN:
State officials estimate that it will be two to three years before a new computer system is up and running. Woolsey says that without good enforcement, many families are forced to go on welfare. Thirty years ago, Woolsey was in the same boat, a working mother with three young children and no child support.

WOOLSEY:
So in order to take care of my kids, I was forced to go on welfare, even though I continued to work. I mean I worked the entire time I was on welfare, but I needed that safety net. And I don't think this should happen to anyone or anyone's children.

GOODMAN:
Woolsey and others say it's time to scrap the state- based system. She and Republican Henry Hyde introduced a bill last year that would put the federal government in charge of collecting and distributing child support. For NPR News, I'm Susan Goodman in Washington.