- If deadbeat dad wants to hunt, he has to pay
- By Ashley Wiehle, Chicago Tribune
- bnd.com
- 05/06/2008 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: admin ( 27 articles in 2008 )
Belleville News-Democrat
Illinois requires child support must be current
Springfield - When Rachel Miller got a child-support check for more than $14,000 last fall, she never would have guessed the long-awaited money appeared because the father of her two sons likes to hunt white-tail deer.
The state had refused to renew his hunting license as part of a new program that gives deadbeat dads an ultimatum: pay up now or give up your right to hunt and fish.
"I thought someone was pulling a joke on me," said Miller, who lives in Roscoe, Ill., just north of Rockford. "I thought, 'It's a little late for April Fools. Not funny.'"
Matching up hunting licenses against computerized lists of parents behind on their payments is the state's latest way to use technology as a dragnet to chip away at the long-standing problem of child-support collection.
In the six months the program has been in effect, the state has collected nearly $130,000 from 90 parents who each owed at least $1,000 in child support and needed to make good to be allowed to fish or hunt. Another 88 parents decided to forego the licenses rather than pay their child support
tabs. Collections are expected to grow even more rapidly after Illinois residents swarm to renew licenses that expire en masse Monday and fishing season starts to pick up.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich vowed to improve on Illinois' ranking among the nation's worst at child support collection when he took office in 2003. Last year, the state collected a record $1.2 billion in payments. Despite improvement that garnered awards from watchdog groups, however, state
officials say parents, mostly women, still are owed $3.2 billion in back child support.
The hunting license crackdown is merely one tool in the state's arsenal aimed at forcing parents to pay what they owe for their children. A program launched several years ago withholds professional licenses, such as medical or accounting licenses, from parents behind in their child support. In
January, the state started suspending driver's licenses of deadbeat parents, whose names also are cross-checked when a lottery winner tries to collect.
Illinois is trying to duplicate the success of other states, where people have shelled out enormous sums to preserve their right to hunt. In Maine, one hunter paid $30,000 in back child support after being selected in an annual lottery for one of only 3,000 coveted licenses to hunt that state's
majestic moose.
For Michael DeBrito, Miller's ex-boyfriend, the incentive was deer, not moose. He hadn't made a child-support payment for his teenage sons, Anthony and Michael, since 2005, according to court documents and state officials. Miller had about given up hope.
"I had paid more in lawyer's fees than I had ever collected," she said. "It was costing too much money to try and collect a little bit of money."
Then DeBrito sought to renew his hunting license last year.
For the first time in the 22 years he has been hunting white-tail deer, DeBrito said, he was denied.
Instead, he was given a phone number.
"It showed an error, and when I called the number, they said (the license) was not being issued because of back child support," DeBrito said.
Under the new state program, people who apply for a hunting or fishing license through a sporting goods store or other designated vendor will be denied if they are flagged as delinquent in child support. Their names pop up if they match on a cross-reference of lists maintained by the Department of Natural Resources, which oversees outdoors activities, and the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, which oversees child support collections.
DeBrito blamed a paperwork mistake for Miller not receiving payments. But Ruth Igoe, a spokeswoman for Healthcare and Family Services, said the state is not aware of any paperwork issues. She said DeBrito paid overdue child support in October.
According to court files, DeBrito used part of a worker's compensation settlement to pay $14,187 of what he owed. He then got his new license and is now back on track with a $125-per-week plan, Igoe said.
Miller, who has married and is now also the mother of an 8-year-old daughter, used part of the money to expand the small kitchen that serves as a family room.
"We're a pretty close family, and we tend to gather in the kitchen," Miller said. "We have a bigger area where we can gather and enjoy board games."
The experience has led Miller to believe holding licenses in limbo until delinquent parents pay up is good practice.
DeBrito, who lives in Geneva, Ill., feels otherwise.
"I don't agree with a lot of things they did with fishing and hunting licenses," DeBrito said. "The way the state works now, they're in control of way too many things."
Not everyone - including several statewide hunting organizations - sees it the same way as DeBrito.
"We think the program is good if the intent is to collect child support due to dependent minors," said Jered Shofner, president of United Bowhunters of Illinois. "If that's what they have to do to track them down, it's a good thing.
Illinois requires child support must be current
Springfield - When Rachel Miller got a child-support check for more than $14,000 last fall, she never would have guessed the long-awaited money appeared because the father of her two sons likes to hunt white-tail deer.
The state had refused to renew his hunting license as part of a new program that gives deadbeat dads an ultimatum: pay up now or give up your right to hunt and fish.
"I thought someone was pulling a joke on me," said Miller, who lives in Roscoe, Ill., just north of Rockford. "I thought, 'It's a little late for April Fools. Not funny.'"
Matching up hunting licenses against computerized lists of parents behind on their payments is the state's latest way to use technology as a dragnet to chip away at the long-standing problem of child-support collection.
In the six months the program has been in effect, the state has collected nearly $130,000 from 90 parents who each owed at least $1,000 in child support and needed to make good to be allowed to fish or hunt. Another 88 parents decided to forego the licenses rather than pay their child support
tabs. Collections are expected to grow even more rapidly after Illinois residents swarm to renew licenses that expire en masse Monday and fishing season starts to pick up.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich vowed to improve on Illinois' ranking among the nation's worst at child support collection when he took office in 2003. Last year, the state collected a record $1.2 billion in payments. Despite improvement that garnered awards from watchdog groups, however, state
officials say parents, mostly women, still are owed $3.2 billion in back child support.
The hunting license crackdown is merely one tool in the state's arsenal aimed at forcing parents to pay what they owe for their children. A program launched several years ago withholds professional licenses, such as medical or accounting licenses, from parents behind in their child support. In
January, the state started suspending driver's licenses of deadbeat parents, whose names also are cross-checked when a lottery winner tries to collect.
Illinois is trying to duplicate the success of other states, where people have shelled out enormous sums to preserve their right to hunt. In Maine, one hunter paid $30,000 in back child support after being selected in an annual lottery for one of only 3,000 coveted licenses to hunt that state's
majestic moose.
For Michael DeBrito, Miller's ex-boyfriend, the incentive was deer, not moose. He hadn't made a child-support payment for his teenage sons, Anthony and Michael, since 2005, according to court documents and state officials. Miller had about given up hope.
"I had paid more in lawyer's fees than I had ever collected," she said. "It was costing too much money to try and collect a little bit of money."
Then DeBrito sought to renew his hunting license last year.
For the first time in the 22 years he has been hunting white-tail deer, DeBrito said, he was denied.
Instead, he was given a phone number.
"It showed an error, and when I called the number, they said (the license) was not being issued because of back child support," DeBrito said.
Under the new state program, people who apply for a hunting or fishing license through a sporting goods store or other designated vendor will be denied if they are flagged as delinquent in child support. Their names pop up if they match on a cross-reference of lists maintained by the Department of Natural Resources, which oversees outdoors activities, and the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, which oversees child support collections.
DeBrito blamed a paperwork mistake for Miller not receiving payments. But Ruth Igoe, a spokeswoman for Healthcare and Family Services, said the state is not aware of any paperwork issues. She said DeBrito paid overdue child support in October.
According to court files, DeBrito used part of a worker's compensation settlement to pay $14,187 of what he owed. He then got his new license and is now back on track with a $125-per-week plan, Igoe said.
Miller, who has married and is now also the mother of an 8-year-old daughter, used part of the money to expand the small kitchen that serves as a family room.
"We're a pretty close family, and we tend to gather in the kitchen," Miller said. "We have a bigger area where we can gather and enjoy board games."
The experience has led Miller to believe holding licenses in limbo until delinquent parents pay up is good practice.
DeBrito, who lives in Geneva, Ill., feels otherwise.
"I don't agree with a lot of things they did with fishing and hunting licenses," DeBrito said. "The way the state works now, they're in control of way too many things."
Not everyone - including several statewide hunting organizations - sees it the same way as DeBrito.
"We think the program is good if the intent is to collect child support due to dependent minors," said Jered Shofner, president of United Bowhunters of Illinois. "If that's what they have to do to track them down, it's a good thing.
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