Truth-telling Missouri child support auditor Susan Montee (pictured) is under fire from the child support industry after revealing her finding that 27% of the state's 240,000 child support cases have incorrect balances. She points out that when child support transferred cases from an old computer system to a new one nearly a decade ago, many of their figures were incorrect, and now--nearly a decade later--they still have not corrected them.

According to Montee's figures, 65,000 cases have incorrect balances, some with phony arrearages of several hundred thousand dollars.

Director of Missouri Family Support Division Janel Luck has struck back at Montee, calling her "highly irresponsible" and accusing her of "misleading the public." As I've pointed out on numerous occasions, child support enforcement agencies are notorious for their computer errors and bureaucratic bungling. Many innocent fathers have been wrongly targeted for enforcement action--including driver license suspensions and jail--as a result. Frankly, if anything, the 27% figure seems low.

To learn more about the Missouri controversy, read and/or watch the KOMU TV report by clicking here.

KOMU reporter Erica Bennett handled the story--if you're concerned about this issue, or if you are a child support obligor in Missouri who believes he has been saddled with an incorrect arrearage, I suggest you contact her by clicking here.

Also, see my recent blog post Ponder This the Next Time You Hear Some Chest-Thumping DA Pledge to Crack Down on 'Deadbeat Dads' (Part I).

Thanks to child support expert Jane Spies of the National Family Justice Association for sending me the article. Jane discusses problems with the child support system in her recent article The Myth of the Successful Child Support System.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 20th, 2007 at 3:11 pm and is filed under Child Support/Child Support Enforcement. You can trackback from your own site.