Reform Child Support NOW!

We petition the United States Government to vote on and pass H.R. 4678, the Child Support Distribution Act of 2000 The only proposals that should be included are:

Changing assignment and distribution rules so that children and custodial families benefit more from child support paid by non-custodial parents. (Pass-through laws in more than half of the states prohibit 100% of the child support payment being paid to the custodial parent.)
Provides monies through a competitive grant process to innovative fatherhood programs so they can provide needed services to low-income non-custodial parents to help them support and raise their children. (More grants should be offered to help with employment and training programs for low-income noncustodial parents.)
Prohibiting the recovery of Medicaid-related birthing costs from low-income non-custodial parents. (If both parents are low-income, taxes pay for the birth of the child. The non-custodial parent should be indebted for birthing costs already paid for by the government.)

Additional provision MUST be included in the bill to benefit low-income children, parents:

Repeal the Bradley Amendment enacted in 1986 {42 U.S.C. §666 (a) (9)} which requires state courts to prohibit the retroactive reductions of child support arrears/debt. This amendment:

Automatically triggers a non-expiring lien whenever child support becomes past-due
Overrides any state’s statute of limitations
Disallows any judicial discretion, even from bankruptcy judges
Requires that the payment amounts be maintained without regard for the physical capability of the person owing child support (the obligor) to promptly document changed circumstances or regard for his/her awareness of the need to make the notification. (A noncustodial parent can be disabled, a POW, or in a coma and still be responsible for child support debt.

H.R. 4678 should include the following changes to the bill:

Child support order reviews must be conducted upon request by either parent when financial situations change instead of the every three-year mandate.
Trigger amounts for passport denial should not be increased but eliminated.
There must be no enforcement measures executed when collecting child support debt for adult children.
There must be no garnishments from Veterans’ disability payments. (Direct deposits, once processed can be seized by the government to repay child support debt.)
Child support payments, penalties & interest should not be allowed to accumulate when a parent is incarcerated for any length of time (States consider incarceration as voluntary unemployment and incarcerated persons can have their wages garnished to repay child support debt.)
Child support orders must be automatically terminated at the request of custodial parents.
Re-abolish debtor’s prisons as a punishment for parents that are too poor to afford child support debt.
Remove time limits that prohibit men from rescinding paternity in all states.
Hold the state liable to repay any money collected in cases of paternity fraud.
End public humiliation practices to shame parents into paying child support debt.