Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here
Otherwise, follow the link below to join.
To Our Valued Readers –
Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.
For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.
Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.
Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.
Need to set up your free e-Newspaper all-access account? click here.
Non-subscribers
Click here to see your options for becoming a subscriber.
Register to comment
Click here create a free account for posting comments.
Note that free accounts do not include access to premium content on this site.
I am anchor
DES calls deadbeat parent initiative a success
Posted
By Chris Caraveo
Independent Newsmedia
Since Governor Doug Ducey launched the Deadbeat Parent Initiative about two years ago, a total of 91 parents have been located, according to the Arizona Department of Economic Security.
Each Monday the Daily News-Sun publishes its deabeat parents series, featuring four parents wanted or found by the DES for failure to pay child support.
In a summary released Nov. 3 by the DES, 240 deadbeat parents are listed online under its Child Support Evader list, including 13 women and 227 men.
These parents do not represent those with the highest amounts owed or the most egregious circumstances. Instead, they are featured to enlist the help of the general public in locating them so the DCSS can continue its efforts to collect child support on behalf of Arizona families.
According to the DES, 142,000 parent owe more than $1.73 billion in unpaid child support.
Evaders may be located by tips from the public and/or active searches conducted by the Division of Child Support Services (DCSS).
Tips are usually received via phone call or an email to the DCSS Evader Team, the Governor’s Office, or the Clerk of the Court. The agencies document the information and source, and then review them.
By the Numbers
$208,312.26: Total evader payments for 2017
$205,118.95: Total evader payments for 2016
$413,431.21: Historical evader payments to date
$26,001.47: Total evader payments for October 2017
Tasya Peterson, director of communications for the DES, said each outcome is case specific and dependent upon varying factors.
If the evader responds with initial contact, they may choose to make the purge payment to clear their warrant. If law enforcement picks them up and they do not make the purge payment immediately, the court has discretion for next steps.
The purge payment is the amount of money that must be paid toward child support arrearages in order to avoid going to jail for contempt of a support order. Arrears, or arrearages, is money that is owed and that should have been paid earlier.
Ms. Peterson said if the located evader does not have an active child support arrest warrant, the case is referred to the case manager.
The DCSS works with the non-custodial parent to try to remove barriers for non-payment by informing them of available services and support that would assist in removing their barrier(s).
Most barriers are case specific, Ms. Peterson said, and the DCSS encourages non-custodial parents to reach out to the DCSS for assistance.
Conditions for a parent to be listed as a Child Support Evader:
• Court-ordered delinquent support must be in excess of $5,000
• The non-custodial parent is either not located or has shown excessive and deliberate disregard for his or her responsibilities
• The non-custodial parent must be in arrears an accumulated 12 months of child support.
• The non-custodial parent has not made any payments in the last six months
• The non-custodial parent is not involved in bankruptcy proceedings or receiving welfare benefits
• DCSS is provided with a photo of the noncustodial parent
* All eligibility criteria may not be met if evader’s case may be egregious in nature.
Since the launch of the initiative, the DCSS has seen an increase of payments from parents who were previously delinquent.
According to the DES, one evader who owed more than $230,000 for three cases involving four children was located due to a tip received. For years, this individual eluded the DES Division of Child Support Services locate team. The DES credited exposure on the website to the location of the evader.
One evader, since being placed on the website, has been making regular payments and was able to reach the purge amount set of $5,000.
Another evader had not made a payment since April 2012 with arrears totaling more than $100,000. A child support arrest warrant was issued in 2014. This individual was able to reach the purge amount of $7,500.
Pursuant to A.R.S. § 25-526, the DCSS is required to post information quarterly on the Internet identifying at least 10 parents for whom an arrest warrant has been issued for non-payment of child support.
Editor’s note: Pick up a Monday edition of the Daily News-Sun for the Deabeat Parents Wanted series (usually runs on Page 4).
If you have information regarding any of these individuals, contact:
• DCSS Customer Service: 602-252-4045 or toll free 1-800-882-4151
