Passport Denial Program Collecting Big Payments for Back Child Support

Sarah A.
Sarah A., Yahoo! Contributor Network
Aug 21, 2007 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."
Do you need a passport? If so, you might find yourself paying big if you owe back child support. That's because the State Department has the right to deny passports to noncustodial parents who owe $2,500 or more in back child support. Only once the support is paid will the parents be able to reapply for their passports. Due to the new passport requirements and the overwhelming number of people now needing them, the State Department has uncovered several thousand parents who owe back support, forcing them to pay millions.

The government has several tools enabling it to collect overdue child support. The passport denial program is just one of these several tools. Last year, child support collections exceeded $24 billion, the largest portion coming from withholding the parent's paycheck. Other forms of collecting child support include seizing unemployment insurance, income tax, and lottery winnings. The money collected through the passport denial program, although small in comparison to other methods, is extremely important. Margot Bean, commissioner for the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement, told the Associated Press, "We often get payments of over $100,000. For whatever reason, this was the only way we could get the money."

Officials believe that the collections from the program are likely to more than double this year. This is likely due to the new laws now requiring millions of people to have passports to fly to Mexico and Canada as well as the Caribbean and South America. As of August 2007, collections exceeded $22.5 million, last year's grand total for the entire year. The increase in collections can also be attributed to the drop in the minimum back child support due before it is reported. In the past, the minimum was $5,000 which has since been dropped to $2,500. That resulted in more than four-hundred thousand cases subsequently being submitted to the agency. Collections are expected to again increase by next year or early 2009 because that is when the passport requirements will also take effect for land and sea travelers.

For many, the program and payments are a life-saver. Teresa Markley of Tacoma, Washington was able to obtain $24,000 because of the program. She struggled for years trying to make ends meet and even had to go on welfare for a brief time to help pay bills. "What it means to me now is just to have some validation for the suffering I went through," she said to the Associated Press. Jeanette Dean of Seattle, Washington also had trouble supporting her family. She found herself tapping into her retirement and even cashing her son's savings bond just to pay for necessities. Because of the program, she was able to collect the $36,000 owed to her in back child support. "It has given back to having a normal life versus struggling to pay dental bills and hospitals bills and things like that," Dean reported to the Associated Press.

The program has been quite a success. Sometimes, it is the only way to get the parents to pay the support they owe. Adolfo Capestany's, spokesman for the state of Washington's Division of Child Support, explained to the Associated Press, "For us, it's been amazing to see how people who owe back child support seem to be able to come up with good chunks of money when it involves needing their passport. "Folks will do anything to get that passport, so it is a good collection tool."

Source

Associated Press

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/passports_child_support

Published by Sarah A.

I am currently a SAHM/WAHM mother of three young children. Writing is a passion of mine. I can somewhat be considered a "jack of all trades," but I am most knowledgable and interested in the healthcare field.  View profile

7 Comments

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  • Laughing2/9/2011

    Operating with the oxymoron. . . "Government Intelligence"

    So. . .I really don't NEED a passport. . but it WOULD have helped me pay my arreage off sooner. . therefore limiting the $$ lost by the state due to inflation. However if their dumbass enough to be stubborn and idiotic. I continue my $150 a month to pay the arrearage. Now. . .I'll DIE before it's ever paid off, . . . and the real sweet kicker. . .it's interest free so every month they want to act the ass is that much less I actually end up paying due to the reducing value of the dollar. In the end, I'll end up saving $1000's. . .ROFLMAO!!

  • Duane6/28/2010

    According to Our Present Constitution of the United States Where by our 13 Admendment States "causing or threatening to cause serious harm to any person;
    physically restraining or threatening to physically restrain another person;
    abusing or threatening to abuse the law or legal process;
    knowingly destroying, concealing, removing, confiscating or possessing any actual or purported passport or other immigration document, or any other actual or purported government identification document, of another person;
    blackmail;
    causing or threatening to cause financial harm to any person—i.e., using financial control over a person." Where Child Support Athorities are taking this from us.Slavery was abolished.... Also why is it that our For Fathers based most of our Present Constitution from the form of Common Law? where as in Common Law no outside agencies shall have the power to enforce any such acts or laws for they will be null an void.

  • unknow10/1/2009

    I think this is a great idea to get parents(woman or man)to pay what they owe. Its up to man and woman to provide for the child they created together. Its sad that someone can be upset about paying to provide for their child or children. The debt should have been paid in the first place before it got to be to much.

  • TomTom9/30/2008

    This woman who says she suffered so much..is a cry baby, raising a baby. Did she not think about this when she spread her legs? did she get raped?, no. she lets this guy get her pregnant, she as a woman had the final say as to if the child was to be born or not, bottom line IT WAS HER CHOICE! did she not know that marriage is a 50/50 deal. there is a very good chance the marriage will end. what did she plan? Did she plan? NO ! because the DA and the stupid laws make women dependent on child support for their absence of planning their life as an adult, a mature adult. There is a good chance you will get in a car accident so you have car insurance, right? this means you thought and planned. You are more likely to get divorce than stay married, right? did you plan for this ? NO ! because the DA will save you, so that your uneducated, unskilled self can play the damsel in distress part. owe poor me, poor me Mr. DA I am on the streets, I have no food. Bull. If you would have planned and had

  • Tomknowsmorethanyou9/30/2008

    This is Bull !!!!! Just a bitter old woman, that thinks child support payments will change her life, make it easier and up her current lifestyle. It will not. The DA collects less than it cost to operate the child support division, in all States. If it were a business it would be bankrupt. The State Department has nothing to do with collecting child support, it just send the people who owe to the DA. They try to collect but they don't do anything but start a payment plan. The DA is stupid and the mothers that cry are too. Why? because you cannot get blood from a turnip! They destroy the fathers credit, they take away his license to drive and to work. Then, they demand payment in full! Are you serious! If they were smart they would say, what can we do to help you get more money to pay what you owe? lets work together. But they don't. The mothers know this they just use the DA to drive a nail into the neck of the father for leaving them. Like they had no choice?

  • patrick 8/31/2007

    This is BS!!!! I pay child support out of my paycheck every two weeks and I ONLY owe $2,298.38 and the still will not release my passport!!! WHY????

  • Sophie8/22/2007

    I hadn't heard of this method of collecting back child support. It certainly seems to have worked.
    Sophie

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