Editorial: Children deserving of better

Friday, Dec. 12, 2003 | 9:04 a.m.

An outside audit of the Clark County District Attorney Office's Family Support Division has found that it has done a poor job in collecting child support payments. Policy Studies Inc., a Denver-based consulting firm, noted that in three of five categories the federal government uses to gauge the success of child-support collection programs, Clark County performed worse than the national average. In one example, the national average rate for collections on current support orders is 58 percent, but Clark County was at only 43 percent in 2002.

One of the reasons why collection rates aren't doing well can be attributed to the lean staffing levels in the Family Support Division. In 2002 the division had an average caseload of 385 clients for each employee -- the national average was 304. The audit, which says that adding employees can increase collection rates, recommends that the 216-employee division add 26 full-time employees and 35 part-time employees. The relatively low number of employees, which results in lower collection rates, also creates a vicious circle when it comes to federal funding. That's because federal dollars for these programs are incentive-based -- the fewer the collections, the less federal funding that is sent.

A failure to collect support payments can be devastating for the custodial parents who rely on the money to clothe and feed their children. These single-parent families, if they don't get the payments, can see their standard of living substantially reduced. In the worst cases, these parents and children end up in poverty. It is encouraging that the Family Support Division isn't discounting the recommendations, saying it will look at reorganizing resources to do a better job. The bottom line is that this issue can't be put on the back burner. The county has to make this a priority and make sure the Family Support Division has enough funding to do its job.