Seattle Press on Line - Child support, databases, and you

Law & Technology

Law and Technology

Child support, databases, and you—yes, even if you don’t have kids

By Linda Ackerman

Mar 14, 2002 -- International fares are so low these days—how can you resist a round trip to London for $300? Your passport’s expired, so you mail in an expedited renewal application and expect to have your passport in two weeks, book a ticket for three weeks ahead and start planning what you’ll do in London. You’re shocked to get a letter that your passport renewal has been denied. Why? Because you owe child support.

Deadbeat Parents Will Pay

This is a striking example of how technology interacts with the law even in apparently low-tech areas such as child support; and it’s interesting to look at this in more detail because the same issues occur in many other areas.

The 1996 Welfare Reform Act aggressively uses database and matching technology to find deadbeat parents and make them pay. Enforcement is by way of direct attachment of wages, bank accounts, unemployment insurance, and tax refunds. You can be coerced to pay by suspension of a privilege such as a professional license or passport—in fact, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that this is constitutional.

All indications are that the system works. Child support collection is up 50 percent, from $12 billion in 1996 to $18 billion in 2000. And make no mistake about it: We should be collecting child support from parents who refuse to pay.

But what about the costs? In order to accomplish this, a massive amount of information is being stored about every person in the U.S. who works or collects unemployment—regardless of whether they have kids, let alone owe child support. This information is starting to be used for other purposes as well; where should the line be drawn?

For more info:

Health and Human Services press release on NDNH and FCR, including rates of passport denials: http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2001pres/20010117a.html

Seattle Post-Intelligencer editorial about booting cars of delinquent payers:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/booted.shtml

Washington’s “most wanted” delinquent child support payers:
http://www.wa.gov/mostwanted/

How Child Support Collection Works

The 1996 Welfare Reform Act created two huge databases to track information about employment and child support: National Directory of New Hires (NDNH) and Federal Case Registry (FCR). The NDNH and FCR match data continuously—with each other and with the Social Security, IRS, Defense Department, and Veterans Administration databases. Matches are reported to state agencies, which then report them to employers (to dock wages), to financial institutions (to dock accounts), and to state professional and recreational licensing agencies (to hold up your driver’s license, for example).

Or your passport: When you apply for a passport, the State Department matches your social security number and birth date against the NDNH/FCR list of delinquent child support payers.

There are individual state variations too. Washington has a Web site for “most wanted” child support nonpayers, with the “deadbeat’s” name, photo, and amount of support owed (see sidebar). Virginia clamps a Denver boot on deadbeat parents’ cars (see sidebar).

Databases. . . and You

Just what information is in these databases?

If you work (or collect unemployment), you’re in the NDNH: your name, address, and social security number. Within 20 days of the hire, your employer must report this to the Washington Division of Child Support (DCS), along with your quarterly income. Altogether, the NDNH holds more than 120 million new hire records, 1.1 billion quarterly wage records, and 49 million unemployment insurance records.

The FCR contains information about every parent and child involved in any child support case. It’s smaller than the NDNH; at the end of 1999, it has “only” 12 million support cases involving 25 million individual participants. For every parent and child in each case, the FCR includes name, social security number, date of birth, a family violence indicator, and amount of support owed.

In addition, state agencies administer their own databases which have copies of this information.

Although the contents of these databases are not public, as with any other database of valuable personal information, a security breach—or a misbehaving employee—could expose it. If you’re a regular reader of this column, you can probably think of issues related to other of the Fair Information Practices as well; for example, consider access: How do people check to see whether incorrect information is stored about them in one of these databases?

Data Temptations

Databases so comprehensive, current, and full of valuable personal information attract others who want to use the data. Originally, the data was only intended for child support collection; one current exception allows the Department of Education to track students who default on federal student loans.

With the Welfare Act up for renewal this year, be alert to attempts to expand these databases’ use. For example, private child support collection agencies—which charge between 25-35 percent of the amount collected—want access to the databases (see sidebar). [This is particularly troublesome because many privacy protections and due process restraints that apply to government don’t carry over into the private sector.]

This pattern occurs in many other areas besides child support. Technology makes it possible to collect and store information about everybody, and matching can be used in many cases to identify people who appear to be misbehaving. We as a society clearly haven’t discussed the appropriate balance—in many cases, people don’t even know this information is being collected about them. Moreover, once the information is collected, there’s a temptation to use it for other purposes; where should we draw the line?

Linda Ackerman is a privacy advocate and staff counsel with Privacyactivism.org.

Reader Comments

Discuss this article in the forums!

Rhonda Salanon Jan 23, 2003 Blue Bell, Pa Full time mother
   Mother of two,in process of divorce. Ex husband to be has worked fulltime since 1976,till April 2002. His last yearly salary was 90,000. Lost job in April 2002,and claims he cant find a job.Collecting unemployment since April 2002,will expire April 2003.Help! What rights do I have?

caroline j Apr 16, 2003 monroe, nc teacher
   thanks for the info. My ex- husband just moved from Wisconsin to your state and this info was good for me to know.

Deborah Ensor Jul 08, 2003 Oak Harbor dept of defense
   Divorced in 1999. Ex was legal guardian of two children, 16 & 13. I paid child support from May until Dec of that year. Children moved back with me after stepmother threatened to kill them. I paid a lawyer 2500 to modify child support papers. I have never received any money to this date. When checking last year with the county court house, the lady there said the case number was never filed. What can I do? I still have the younger one and have been struggling with two jobs and trying to better myself by going to college on line. Please help!

Kim Paulson Sep 25, 2003 Puyallup, Wa. housecleaner
   Mother of three, ex-husband moved to Ca. He says he won't pay because he is bi-polar and can't work. Yet he has been working every daay for two years under the table, because he says "they" will take it all if he gets a real job. He's remaried to a gal w/a little boy he supports. what can I do?

shelly rogers Oct 03, 2003 now ITALY inbetween
   My ex husband is behind on his child support, and refuses to pay his share (61%) of our sons medical. My ex lives in WA state. What can I do? Please help. He was accused of embezzlement last year, but has somehow weasled out of the criminal charge, still up for the civil...and now he is threatening me that he will take over the deduction of our son for taxes. My son lives full time with me and it is in our divorce that i take the tax credit...HELP!

lanette duchesneau Jan 21, 2004 bremerton wa bussiness owner
   i depended on support enforcement to collect.I filled all the papers out sent it in got a case manager named mr. montgomery who didn't do his job my ex got tax return. when i contacted him on his lack of concern he had no solution but to start all over no money this year for me. thanks support enforcement.

Joanna S. Feb 25, 2004 Woodinville, WA Customer Service
   I work extremely hard to support my young son all alone. His father is a total deadbeat who does nothing to help with either caring for or finacially supporting our son. To make matters worse when he does actually have a legal job (which is only a few months out of the year)his empolyers either do not respond to DSHS's requests to dock his wages or they do not deduct for the proper amounts. While it is required that they comply with the enforcement laws, there doesn't seem to be much done about those employers who do not. It sickens me that my son's father does everything he can to avoid paying child support, but it is ten times worse to have him working and still get nothing because the employers are too lazy to fill out the paperwork or are purposely putting it off because they listen to his pathetic sob stories where he is the one who is being victimized. The only one here who is being victimized here is my son. My only wish is that they start to do more about penalizing employers who are non compliant and throw more deadbeat dads in jail where they belong. That means you, Joe.

brandi leslie Apr 07, 2004 snohomish county disabled
   My ex is the father of my 3 children, he also has 4 from another marriage and one from a relationship and who know's how many more and none of us recieve child-support. His mom lies about knowing where he is and doesn't even recognize my children. Child support never catches up with him and he is always getting away even when he is right under their noses. I am disabled and trying to support "our" children and I really need that money. I am extremely frustrated at the lack of work DSHS is doing on this case. He has been having kids for almost 30yrs and has yet to stop and yet to pay for any of them. This must stop.

Michelle fetherling Apr 27, 2004 Fairfield, illiinois waitress
   deadbeat dad quit job after he paid child supp after 2 yrs.and has a job and Illinois child supp offices can't find his employer.He told us he has a job,but I don't know where.Thankx George.Michelle

SHERRIE DOCKERY Jul 28, 2004 NEW JERSY State Employee
   I have a(n) ex who went into the service in 1997 a year before his twin boys were born, for the last three years I have recieved child support payments. Then suddenly the support stopped. Mr. Ex got smart and decided to stay over in ITALY where he has been station for the last 6 years. The State of New Jersey has a system called Federal Parent Locator Service located on there NJCS Website, but what can I do in the mean time until he makes that mistake to either renew his passport or try to come back to the United States.

Ron Mcclendon May 15, 2005 Seattle Electrician
   Iam A father, 1 Son 12 yrs old, I have paid my child support from day one, Having the type of job that I have I must have A drivers License and being that my job is somewhat seasonal, Iam not working all the time, and since 9/11 the work has killed us, I havn't worked since august, cant pay child support right now my ex has called and told enforcement that she understands and its not a priority right now, she will get her $$$ is time, sooner or later, but enforcement wants to suspend my drivers license, well they do that Ill never go back to work it is required to have a license as an electrician, so what good is all that going to do, suspend it, dont work, no one gets any money than explain that sense to me????? than they out you in jail no the mother will not recieve anything as long as they are in jail.....Wow the system need to change....Yes it is different for dads who avoid it....But the ones trying are getting screwed, there needs to be a change...And yes I have paid my child support loyaly for 8 yrs....Lets think about what is wrong with this....

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