JoAnne FavorsPeople go to jail or lose their driver's license because they don't understand how the child support system works, says state Rep. JoAnne Favors, founder of the Tennessee Intergenerational Political Network (TIPNET).
So TIPNET has assembled representatives from Maximus Child Support Services and the judicial system to share information about the child support process in a public session that starts at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Orchard Knob Missionary Baptist Church.
"It will help to prevent some of the incarcerations," said Favors. "Sometimes they've been giving the custodial parents a check, but that won't work if they've been instructed to bring it to child support."
Instead of focusing on child support complaints as forums have in the past, this meeting will include six presentations by people who work with child support and the judicial system.
"We want people to be better educated on child support policies," said Kelvin Scott, who assisted Favors and TIPNET in organizing the forum.
The Tennessee Department of Human Services counts 21,500 active child support cases in Hamilton County as of September 2014.
Favors said her goal is to make sure that children get financial support, but with realistic expectations set for the non-custodial parent.
"You can't expect a person to provide payments and then they're unable to take care of themselves as far as being homeless," she said.
Across the country, one in 28 children has a parent in jail, and one in nine black children has a parent incarcerated with no ability to pay child support, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's Office of Child Support Enforcement. As a result, the average incarcerated parent with a child support case is $10,000 in arrears when entering state prison, and leaves $20,000 in arrears. The debt may hinder the parent's ability to get housing and employment when released from prison, the report, "Project to Avoid Increasing Delinquencies," states.
One local father of a 9-year-old boy is living that reality. The father, 31, asked to remain anonymous in order to protect his son, who shares his name.
The father said he plans to attend tomorrow's session.
He voluntarily reported himself to child support, but has been shocked by experiences he's had since then, like the system saying he was automatically behind in payments because he reported himself at the end of the month instead of the first.
He was also surprised when child support took his entire check, without any warning, to compensate for payments he'd missed when he had no job, he said.
He wants to support his son, but first he has to have to a job, he said. And that's not easy for people like him who have felony records, he said.
Contact staff writer Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.