Deadbeat parents should face the same shame as drunk drivers

"One for the road."

It's probably been a long time since you've heard that dangerous phrase.

The perception of the crime of drunk driving has undergone a profound social change in the past two decades. Drunk driving used to be thought of as barely illegal, something that could "happen" to anyone, like catching a cold. Now, people revile drunk drivers and regard the crime with the seriousness it deserves.

This happened because everyone was sick to death of drunk driving -- the injuries, the fatalities, the wrecked families, the ruined lives, the sheer destructive stupidity of the crime.

Legislators passed tougher laws. Police made more arrests. District attorneys prosecuted more cases. Judges handed down more convictions. Arrests jumped; injuries and deaths plummeted.

Drunk drivers were finally treated as the dangerous criminals they are.

Now, think about another kind of criminal -- one whose crimes target children exclusively. Not just any children. Their own children.

This is a criminal who lets children go hungry, go without needed medical care, live in squalor, go to school in worn-out clothes, miss out on many of the joys of childhood because there's simply not enough money.

That's precisely what parents who fail to pay their court-ordered child support do.

We're not talking about parents who cannot pay their child support because they're in prison or in jail, on welfare themselves or unemployed. That accounts for about 13 percent of the California child support caseload of 2.2 million, according to a survey by the California District Attorneys Association.

We're talking about parents who can pay their child support but do not want to and think they do not have to. These are people who think it's all right to abandon their own kids, not only physically and emotionally but financially.

California's 58 elected district attorneys hope that this state is on the verge of the same profound social change in the way people view deadbeat parents that made drunk drivers into pariahs.

Three tried-and-true methods make a real change in public attitude. None works alone; you have to have all three. We're making real progress with the first two; we still need help on the third.

-- Strict enforcement of tough laws.

-- Public education.

-- Public outrage.

Enforcement

California's district attorneys have some effective new tools to yank child support money out of recalcitrant parents. They can pull driver's licenses, attach wages, seize property and sell it and take lottery winnings and inheritance, among other methods. They can and do prosecute deadbeat parents criminally.

In fact, the district attorneys have used these tools to great advantage, racking up a 54 percent increase in collections from fiscal year 1991-92 to 1995-96. They collected more than a billion dollars from absent parents in the last fiscal year, the largest single jump in 13 years.

The district attorneys want even stronger law to help collections including charging serious cases of non-support as a felony the first time around, instead of having to wait for a second conviction. They want an expanded new employee registry, simplified ways to serve legal papers and specific kinds of reporting by financial institutions, among other reforms.

Public education

People need to know the seriousness of this crime. They need to know the damage it causes to families and the vicious message it sends to children about their own worth. They need to learn to think of these deadbeats as criminals, not as upstanding people who just happen to stiff their own children.

Many do understand this, but most have not thought about it much. A lot of good work is being done by child advocates and by district attorneys themselves. Print and broadcast journalists are starting to get the message and cover the story.

Public outrage

But where is the widespread public outrage? Why do many people think of paying child support as an option, not a legal and ethical obligation? Consider some of the excuses deadbeats have used when being compelled to support their children:

"But I have such high car payments; how can I pay child support?"

"But it was just a one-night stand."

"But I have a legitimate family now."

The mindset that these statements illuminate is even more dangerous when you consider the locomotive coming down the tracks which will make this entire issue not just serious but frightening in its social implications.

The locomotive's name is welfare reform. The welfare systemthat stepped in when the absent parent stepped out will be dramatically changed in just a few months. Child support will be the key to financial survival for many single-parent families. Children will need the financial support of both parents as never before.

California's district attorneys are committed to collecting support for the children of this state. Legislators are passing many of the necessary reforms and actively considering others. Child advocates are at work. Educational efforts are in effect from Oregon to the Mexican border.

Californians have a long history of being sickened by crimes against children. Residents of this state need to become sick to death of the outrageous damage that non-paying parents inflict on their children. Their own children. The future of the state of California.