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Sign
the NCCSO’s "Petition from Custodial Parents" that
will be sent by NCCSO to the President of the United States
and each State Governor during NATIONAL CHILD SUPPORT
AWARENESS MONTH - AUGUST 2007. This petition urges
these elected officials to help parents who are owed child
support by improving the nation’s child support enforcement
efforts.
A
copy of the letter to be sent is included below the form.
August
2007
Dear
President Bush and State Governors,
The
month of August is National Child Support Enforcement Month.
This makes it a particularly appropriate time to remind
our national and state leaders about the plight of those
who continue to struggle to obtain their unpaid child support.
As
a citizen who is concerned about the national epidemic
of unpaid child support in this country, which currently
amounts to more than $90 billion, I am urging you and other
government leaders to take action to help stop this national
tragedy!
While
the crisis of uncollected child support continues to grow,
the government’s child support enforcement program
lacks the resources necessary to help more than about one-third
of families owed child support.
During
these tough economic times, making cuts to government programs
is a tempting option. However, services offered by state
IV-D programs are already suffering at their current budgets.
As a nation, we cannot continue to make families who need
their child support the casualties of governmental budget
crises.
There are thousands of private attorneys and private enforcement agencies that
could provide parents with an “option” and help supplement the
government’s own child support enforcement program. However, in order
for these private options to be effective and fully available to parents, new
federal and state laws and policies must be enacted. These laws should authorize
private enforcement providers to fully utilize all available child support
enforcement measures to help parents who hire them collect child support.
I
believe that ALL children should
receive the child support they are owed.
I
believe that NON-CUSTODIAL parents
should be held accountable for the payment of their child
support.
I
believe that CUSTODIAL PARENTS should
have effective enforcement options in the collection
of their child support.
I
believe that the STATE AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENTS should
ensure that child support enforcement options are available
and effective.
Please help us by:
(1)
ensuring that government child support agencies have
the funding necessary to help more families collect their
child support; and
(2)
promoting changes to federal and state laws and policies
in order to give more effective child support enforcement
processes to private attorneys and private enforcement
agencies who can help custodial parents who are not being
served by under-resourced government agencies.
Sincerely,
NCCSO Members
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