tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21101879554457771242024-03-05T22:15:11.012-05:00Dads of MichiganDADS of Michigan is affiliated with DADS America and West Michigan DADs. Fatherhood is the most important job a person can have.Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09005103956367713473noreply@blogger.comBlogger119125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2110187955445777124.post-41371240189632677492012-03-12T10:11:00.000-04:002012-03-12T10:11:41.885-04:00Open letter to my Brothers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">You just can not have your cake and eat it too. There was a time when we wrote we have been doing this for thirty years, then it became forty…the anti-patriarchy movement began in the age of enlightenment over one hundred years ago. Current American anti-family, anti-father, anti-children public policy is at least fifty years old.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">People generally agree about the concept of equality: a simple beam scale where both, tables or dishes, are equally weighted. Fathers know their children need them. We have had the peer reviewed empirical evidence that demonstrates that for four decades.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Carnell Smith drew attention to Paternity Fraud two decades ago, now it is the subject of popular television shows every morning Monday through Friday in America. We know children’s formative years are at age one day to eleven years old. We have been through the decade of the infamous Grand Class Action debacle. After being extant in the English language we now know the word misandry exists and has existed for centuries.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If females are equal they can do their own work. If we are all equal women can defend themselves. Women have enormous decentric networks of advocacies and yet there are men who would first complain about their plight and then the plight of their children and then go defend the feminists’ advocacies…still you just can not have your cake and eat it too.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There are some males who have difficulty saying brother, some males still have no clue what misandry is, and, sadly males seem reluctant to stand shoulder to shoulder…after about a half century of anti-father, anti-children, anti-family, anti-male sentiment and public policy.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We are not alone, most children are raised in single mother homes, this is not new, we have known much for decades: we have failed to act.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Here are some interesting URL’s somebody may wish to know about:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://www.antimisandry.com/"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">http://www.antimisandry.com</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://dadsofmichigan.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri;">http://dadsofmichigan.blogspot.com/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://www.fatherhood.org/"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.fatherhood.org/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://westmichigandad.wordpress.com/"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri;">http://westmichigandad.wordpress.com/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://www.michaelgurian.com/"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.michaelgurian.com/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://fathers.com/"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri;">http://fathers.com/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://www.mediaradar.org/"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.mediaradar.org/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://www.saveservices.org/"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.saveservices.org/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://www.dads.org/"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.dads.org/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Most men were boys first, most men have Dads, most daughters have Dads, not all women are feminists, skanks, whores, sociopaths or sluts: some women though wish to promote slut walks.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Shoulder to shoulder brothers, I realize you are special but, our children need us to do the heavy lifting if it is not too much trouble to you.</span></div><script type="text/javascript">
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You can not promote Fatherhood by attacking DADS. You can not promote children by excluding Fathers: you can not have it both ways.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">From the OED</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Slut</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">n</i>. a slovenly or promiscuous woman</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Promiscuous</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">adj.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1 having or characterized by many transient sexual relationships: she’s a wild, promiscuous, good time girl I promiscuous behavior</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2 demonstrating or implying an unselective approach; indiscriminate or casual</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SlutWalk"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SlutWalk</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://www.slutwalktoronto.com/"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">http://www.slutwalktoronto.com/</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Slutwalk&qpvt=Slutwalk&FORM=VQFRAT"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Slutwalk&qpvt=Slutwalk&FORM=VQFRAT</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://slutwalknyc.com/"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">http://slutwalknyc.com/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://www.slutwalkchicago.org/"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">http://www.slutwalkchicago.org/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/SlutWalk"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">http://www.facebook.com/SlutWalk</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/130720908.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/130720908.html</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://www.slutwalkminneapolis.org/"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">http://www.slutwalkminneapolis.org/</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/slutwalk_protest_hits_union_cover_ILki2y0w5iDybwYXL0awvJ"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/slutwalk_protest_hits_union_cover_ILki2y0w5iDybwYXL0awvJ</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/20/slutwalk-united-states-city_n_851725.html"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/20/slutwalk-united-states-city_n_851725.html</span></a></div><span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42927752/ns/us_news-life/t/cops-rape-comment-sparks-wave-slutwalks/">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42927752/ns/us_news-life/t/cops-rape-comment-sparks-wave-slutwalks/</a></span><script type="text/javascript">
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</div><div closure_uid_zf8sd7="153"><div closure_uid_zajx15="142"><a href="http://www.fox17online.com/videobeta/1a0dca9d-e841-4b76-849d-6d671138c6f1/News/A-Celebration-Of-Fathers-At-Rosa-Parks-Circle-07-31-11">http://www.fox17online.com/videobeta/1a0dca9d-e841-4b76-849d-6d671138c6f1/News/A-Celebration-Of-Fathers-At-Rosa-Parks-Circle-07-31-11</a></div></div></div><div closure_uid_imn4ed="143"></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_m8ti6u="175" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 1.5pt 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"></div></span></span></span></h2><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: #292727; font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan USA</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #292727; font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It was a celebration of fathers.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #292727; font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sunday Rosa Parks Circle in downtown Grand Rapids was packed with families singing, dancing, and praying for a commitment to fatherhood.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #292727; font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Revolution Christian Ministries, Kentwood Community Church, and Grand Rapids First teamed up to launch what they call "Fathers in the Circle".</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #292727; font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The event was a local community outreach initiative to encourage, empower, and support fathers being active in the family lifestyle.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #292727; font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"We're here to show support to the men of the community,” participant, Linda Kinde said. “And to show them that we love them and that we want them to be all the man that they can be."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #292727; font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hundreds gathered to promote that sentiment.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #292727; font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It was an especially important day for Jerdonn Thomas of Grand Rapids, who believes more men in the community need to step in and take responsibility for their actions and for their children.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #292727; font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"I think it is a problem in our community especially with the Black culture in our community,” Thomas said. "It's important because you need a father in your life."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #292727; font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The free, family friendly event also featured a public declaration of fatherhood.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #292727; font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"It looked like they were coming together and making some new commitments to take hold of their roles as fathers in the house and that's a good thing,” Dick Rolfe, CEO of the Dove Foundation said. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18pt; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #292727; font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Many hope the message spreads nationwide.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_m8ti6u="190" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://www.fox17online.com/news/fox17-fathers-celebrated-in-rosa-parks-circle-with-singing-dancing-prayer-and-ice-cream-20110731,0,6936728.story"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.fox17online.com/news/fox17-fathers-celebrated-in-rosa-parks-circle-with-singing-dancing-prayer-and-ice-cream-20110731,0,6936728.story</span></a></div><script type="text/javascript">
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</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">February 7, 2001</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 13pt;">A Response to and Critique of</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 13pt;">"Economic Basis for Updated Child Support</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Schedule, Commonwealth of Kentucky,</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 13pt;">September 1, 2000" by</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Policy Studies, Incorporated,</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Denver, CO</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Submitted to:</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Commonwealth of Kentucky</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Cabinet for Families and Children</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Department for Community Based Services</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 13pt;">Division of Child Support</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 13pt;">P.O. Box 2150</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Frankfort, KY 40602</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Summary</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Neither the current version of the income shares child support guideline in use in Kentucky nor</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the version proposed by Policy Studies, Incorporated has a sound economic foundation. Neither</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">guideline meets equal protection standards. As an alternative, a cost shares child support</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">guideline has been developed that has a more sound and rational economic basis and meets equal</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">protection standards. Importantly, the cost shares methodology closely tracks the historical</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">practices of family court judges in the determination of child support awards. Close review of</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the methodology should lead to rapid acceptance by the judiciary—especially given the sound,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">historical basis for this guideline.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The study, in PDF form, is here:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://westmichigandad.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/ky_responsetopsi-rogers.pdf">http://westmichigandad.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/ky_responsetopsi-rogers.pdf</a></span></div><div closure_uid_1nqy3f="151"><script type="text/javascript">
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<tr style="height: 27.35pt; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;"><td rowspan="5" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; height: 27.35pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqSV_jMGOgnz8jV0yKd65TawzIAGPaNHlclxKR0Pt7E9tH0VC-bjyfz_FeAJc6SAu_6LRmaUcfCSuIteMUraDmbTI26GJz2YbmDDgOrdJX7patkN28HALKiMu3sb93uae37Fn0pFXT4-8b/s1600/The+wonder+of+Girls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqSV_jMGOgnz8jV0yKd65TawzIAGPaNHlclxKR0Pt7E9tH0VC-bjyfz_FeAJc6SAu_6LRmaUcfCSuIteMUraDmbTI26GJz2YbmDDgOrdJX7patkN28HALKiMu3sb93uae37Fn0pFXT4-8b/s1600/The+wonder+of+Girls.jpg" t$="true" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_od8usu="164" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div></td><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; height: 27.35pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_od8usu="163" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></b></span></div></td></tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_od8usu="161" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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<tr style="height: 27.35pt; mso-yfti-irow: 2;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; height: 27.35pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">New York, New York USA : Simon & Schuster, © 2003</span></div></td></tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Book 352 pp</span></div></td><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ISBN-13: 9780743417037<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ISBN: 0743417038</span></span></b></div></td></tr>
<tr style="height: 97pt; mso-yfti-irow: 6; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;"><td colspan="2" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; height: 97pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 6.65in;" valign="top" width="638"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Synopsis</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: #8064a2; font-size: 10pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #8064A2; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent4; mso-themecolor: accent4;">T</span></i></b><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">he Wonder of Girls</span></i><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> respects the equal status of girls and women while acknowledging their nature as complex and distinct from men.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #8064a2; font-size: 10pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #8064A2; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent4; mso-themecolor: accent4;">A</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">s a mother of a 10,9 and 5 year old girls, this is a great book, the more I read the more I get to understand my kids. I'm not done reading it, but let me tell you something; I carry it with me everywhere I go.</span></i><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> – anonymous</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #8064a2; font-size: 10pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #8064A2; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent4; mso-themecolor: accent4;">T</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">herapist Gurian probes the unique aspects of girls' emotional, social and physical development in a follow-up to his bestselling The Wonder of Boys. First, though, he takes a few stabs at feminism, arguing that several of its theories (which, it must be noted, he incorrectly oversimplifies) need to be revised or even discarded by parents seeking to raise healthy girls. But Gurian's trademark is examining how biology impacts behavior. Biological matters hormones, brain differences (girls' brains are "more broadly active" than boys' and have 15% more blood flow) ultimately define girls' and boys' journeys through childhood and adolescence, Gurian argues. Even a girl's drop in self-esteem during adolescence is a "natural," biological phenomenon rather than a result of negative cultural influences. Feminists, he argues, have ignored the biological differences in order to successfully compete with men in the workplace; in so doing, they have denied or downplayed a girl's desire for intimacy and the experience of motherhood. Gurian urges parents to use a new model in raising girls (he calls it "Womanism") in which motherhood is a "season" when careers must be adjusted or put on hold. The author boldly suggests that parents prepare their daughters for the sacrifices of motherhood, and ensure that girls establish a three-family system (the nuclear family, the extended family and institutions such as church or school) that will meet their need for intimate relationships. Expect Gurian's arguments to stir controversy and inspire thought. (Jan.) Forecast: Gurian's success with The Wonder of Boys and other parenting titles should make this an easy sell, though some readers may object to what feels like a rejection of feminist tenets. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.</span></i><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> – Publisher’s Weekly</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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It <i>is</i> a huge discrepancy. It’s also an exquisite example of what journalist Charles Seife has dubbed “proofiness.” Proofiness is the use of misleading statistics to confirm what you already believe. Indeed, the 75-cent meme depends on a panoply of apple-to-orange comparisons that support a variety of feminist policy initiatives, from the Paycheck Fairness Act to universal child care, while telling us next to nothing about the well-being of women.<br />
This isn’t to say that all is gender-equal in the labor market. It is not. It also isn’t to imply that discrimination against women doesn’t exist or that employers shouldn’t get more creative in adapting to the large number of mothers in the workplace. It does and they should. But by severely overstating and sensationalizing what is a universal predicament (I’m looking at you, Sweden and Iceland!), proofers encourage resentment-fueled demands that no government anywhere has ever fulfilled—and that no government ever will.<br />
<span class="cap">L</span>et’s begin by unpacking that 75-cent statistic, which actually varies from 75 to about 81, depending on the year and the study. The figure is based on the average earnings of full-time, year-round (FTYR) workers, usually defined as those who work 35 hours a week or more.<br />
But consider the mischief contained in that “or more.” It makes the full-time category embrace everyone from a clerk who arrives at her desk at 9 <span class="smallcap">am</span> and leaves promptly at 4 <span class="smallcap">pm</span> to a trial lawyer who eats dinner four nights a week—and lunch on weekends—at his desk. I assume, in this case, that the clerk is a woman and the lawyer a man for the simple reason that—and here is an average that proofers rarely mention—full-time men work more hours than full-time women do. In 2007, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 27 percent of male full-time workers had workweeks of 41 or more hours, compared with 15 percent of female full-time workers; meanwhile, just 4 percent of full-time men worked 35 to 39 hours a week, while 12 percent of women did. Since FTYR men work more than FTYR women do, it shouldn’t be surprising that the men, on average, earn more.<br />
The way proofers finesse “full-time” can be a wonder to behold. Take a recent article in the <i>Washington Post</i> by Mariko Chang, author of a forthcoming book on the wealth gap between women and men. Chang cites a wage difference between “full-time” male and female pharmacists to show how “even when they work in the same occupation, men earn more.” A moment’s Googling led me to a 2001 study in the <i>Journal of the American Pharmacists Association</i> concluding that male pharmacists worked 44.1 hours a week, on average, while females worked 37.2 hours. That study is a bit dated, but it’s a good guess that things haven’t changed much in the last decade. According to a 2009 article in the <i>American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education</i>, female pharmacists’ preference for reduced work hours is enough to lead to an industry labor shortage.<br />
The other arena of mischief contained in the 75-cent statistic lies in the seemingly harmless term “occupation.” Everyone knows that a CEO makes more than a secretary and that a computer scientist makes more than a nurse. And most people wouldn’t be shocked to hear that secretaries and nurses are likely to be women, while CEOs and computer scientists are likely to be men. That obviously explains much of the wage gap.<br />
But proofers often make the claim that women earn less than men <i>doing the exact same job</i>. They can’t possibly know that. The Labor Department’s occupational categories can be so large that a woman could drive a truck through them. Among “physicians and surgeons,” for example, women make only 64.2 percent of what men make. Outrageous, right? Not if you consider that there are dozens of specialties in medicine: some, like cardiac surgery, require years of extra training, grueling hours, and life-and-death procedures; others, like pediatrics, are less demanding and consequently less highly rewarded. Only 16 percent of surgeons, but a full 50 percent of pediatricians, are women. So the statement that female doctors make only 64.2 percent of what men make is really on the order of a tautology, much like saying that a surgeon working 50 hours a week makes significantly more than a pediatrician working 37.<br />
<div closure_uid_jwrwub="175">A good example of how proofers get away with using the rogue term “occupation” is <i>Behind the Pay Gap</i>, a widely quoted 2007 study from the <em><span style="color: #990000;">American Association of University Women</span></em> whose executive summary informs us in its second paragraph that “one year out of college, women working full time earn only 80 percent as much as their male colleagues earn.” The report divides the labor force into 11 extremely broad occupations determined by the Department of Education. So ten years after graduation, we learn, women who go into “business” earn considerably less than their male counterparts do. But the businessman could be an associate at Morgan Stanley who majored in econ, while the businesswoman could be a human-relations manager at Foot Locker who took a lot of psych courses. You don’t read until the end of the summary—a point at which many readers will have already Tweeted their indignation—that when you control for such factors as education and hours worked, there’s actually just a 5 percent pay gap. But the <em><span style="color: #990000;">AAUW</span></em> isn’t going to begin a report with the statement that women earn 95 percent of what their male counterparts earn, is it?</div><span class="cap">N</span>ow, while a 5 percent gap will never lead to a million-woman march on Washington, it’s not peanuts. Over a year, it can add up to real money, and over decades in the labor force, it can mean the difference between retirement in a Boca Raton co-op and a studio apartment in the inner suburbs. Many studies have examined the subject, and a consensus has emerged that when you control for what researchers call “observable” differences—not just hours worked and occupation, but also marital and parental status, experience, college major, and industry—there is still a small unexplained wage gap between men and women. Two Cornell economists, Francine Blau and Lawrence Kahn, place the number at about 9 cents per dollar. In 2009, the CONSAD Research Corporation, under the auspices of the Labor Department, located the gap a little lower, at 4.8 to 7.1 percent.<br />
So what do we make of what, for simplicity’s sake, we’ll call the 7 percent gap? You can’t rule out discrimination, whether deliberate or unconscious. Many women say that male bosses are more comfortable dealing with male workers, especially when the job involves late-night meetings and business conferences in Hawaii. This should become a smaller problem over time, as younger men used to coed dorms and female roommates become managers and, of course, as women themselves move into higher management positions. It’s also possible that male managers fear that a female candidate for promotion, however capable, will be more distracted by family matters than a male would be. They might assume that women are less able to handle competition and pressure. It’s even possible that female managers think such things, too.<br />
No, you can’t rule out discrimination. Neither can you rule out other, equally plausible explanations for the 7 percent gap. The data available to researchers may not be precise; for instance, it’s extremely difficult to find accurate measures of work experience. There’s also a popular theory that women are less aggressive than men when it comes to negotiating salaries.<br />
The point is that we don’t know the reason—or, more likely, reasons—for the 7 percent gap. What we do know is that making discrimination the default explanation for a wage gap, as proofers want us to do, leads us down some weird rabbit holes. Asian men and women earn more than white men and women do, says the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Does that mean that whites are discriminated against in favor of Asians? Female cafeteria attendants earn more than male ones do. Are men discriminated against in that field? Women who work in construction earn almost exactly what men in the field do, while women in education earn considerably less. The logic of default discrimination would lead us to conclude that construction workers are more open to having female colleagues than educators are. With all due respect to the construction workers, that seems unlikely.<br />
<div style="margin: 18px 0px 10px;"><img alt="Graph by Robert Pizzo" src="http://www.city-journal.org/assets/images/21_3-kh.gif" /></div><span class="cap">S</span>o why do women work fewer hours, choose less demanding jobs, and then earn less than men do? The answer is obvious: kids. A number of researchers have found that if you consider only childless women, the wage gap disappears. June O’Neill, an economist who has probably studied wage gaps as much as anyone alive, has found that single, childless women make about 8 percent more than single, childless men do (though the advantage vanishes when you factor in education). Using Census Bureau data of pay levels in 147 of the nation’s 150 largest cities, the research firm Reach Advisors recently showed that single, childless working women under 30 earned 8 percent more than their male counterparts did.<br />
That’s likely to change as soon as the children arrive. Mothers, particularly those with young children, take more time off from work; even when they are working, they’re on the job less. <i>Behind the Pay Gap</i> found that “among women who graduated from college in 1992–93, more than one-fifth (23 percent) of mothers were out of the work force in 2003, and another 17 percent were working part time,” compared with under 2 percent of fathers in each case. Other studies show consistently that the first child significantly reduces a woman’s earnings and that the second child cuts them even further.<br />
The most compelling research into the impact of children on women’s careers and earnings—one that also casts light on why women are a rarity at the highest levels of the corporate and financial world—comes from a 2010 article in the <i>American Economic Journal</i> by Marianne Bertrand of the University of Chicago and Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz of Harvard. The authors selected nearly 2,500 MBAs who graduated between 1990 and 2006 from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and followed them as they made their way through the early stages of their careers. If there were discrimination to be found here, Goldin would be your woman. She is coauthor of a renowned 2000 study showing that blind auditions significantly increased the likelihood that an orchestra would hire female musicians.<br />
Here’s what the authors found: right after graduation, men and women had nearly identical earnings and working hours. Over the next ten years, however, women fell way behind. Survey questions revealed three reasons for this. First and least important, men had taken more finance courses and received better grades in those courses, while women had taken more marketing classes. Second, women had more career interruptions. Third and most important, mothers worked fewer hours. “The careers of MBA mothers slow down substantially within a few years of first birth,” the authors wrote. Though 90 percent of women were employed full-time and year-round immediately following graduation, that was the case with only 80 percent five years out, 70 percent nine years out, and 62 percent ten or more years out—and only about half of women with children were working full-time ten years after graduation. By contrast, almost all the male grads were working full-time and year-round. Furthermore, MBA mothers, especially those with higher-earning spouses, “actively chose” family-friendly workplaces that would allow them to avoid long hours, even if it meant lowering their chances to climb the greasy pole.<br />
In other words, these female MBAs bought tickets for what is commonly called the “mommy track.” A little over 20 years ago, the <i>Harvard Business Review</i> published an article by Felice Schwartz proposing that businesses make room for the many, though not all, women who would want to trade some ambition and earnings for more flexibility and time with their children. Dismissed as the “mommy track,” the idea was reviled by those who worried that it gave employers permission to discriminate and that it encouraged women to downsize their aspirations.<br />
But as Virginia Postrel noted in a recent <i>Wall Street Journal</i> article, Schwartz had it right. When working mothers can, they tend to spend less time at work. That explains all those female pharmacists looking for reduced hours. It explains why female lawyers are twice as likely as men to go into public-interest law, in which hours are less brutal than in the partner track at Sullivan & Cromwell. Female medical students tell researchers that they’re choosing not to become surgeons because of “lifestyle issues,” which seems to be a euphemism for wanting more time with the kids. Thirty-three percent of female pediatricians are part-timers—and that’s not because they want more time to play golf.<br />
<span class="cap">I</span>n the literature on the pay gap and in the media more generally, this state of affairs typically leads to cries of injustice. The presumption is that women pursue reduced or flexible hours because men refuse to take equal responsibility for the children and because the United States does not have “family-friendly policies.” Child care is frequently described as a burden to women, a patriarchal imposition on their ambitions, and a source of profound inequity. But is this attitude accurate? Do women <i>want</i> to be working more, if only the kids—and their useless husbands—would let them? And do we know that more government support would enable them to do so and close the wage gap?<br />
Actually, there is no evidence for either of these propositions. If women work fewer hours than men do, it appears to be because they want it that way. About two-thirds of the part-time workforce in the United States is female. According to a 2007 Pew Research survey, only 21 percent of working mothers with minor children want to be in the office full-time. Sixty percent say that they would prefer to work part-time, and 19 percent would like to give up their jobs altogether. For working fathers, the numbers are reversed: 72 percent want to work full-time and 12 percent part-time.<br />
In fact, women choose fewer hours—despite the resulting gap in earnings—all over the world. That includes countries with generous family leave and child-care policies. Look at Iceland, recently crowned the world’s most egalitarian nation by the World Economic Forum. The country boasts a female prime minister, a law requiring that the boards of midsize and larger businesses be at least 40 percent female, excellent public child care, and a family leave policy that would make NOW members swoon. Yet despite successful efforts to get men to take paternity leave, Icelandic women still take considerably more time off than men do. They also are far more likely to work part-time. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), this queen of women-friendly countries has a bigger wage gap—women make 62 percent of what men do—than the United States does.<br />
Sweden, in many people’s minds the world’s gender utopia, also has a de facto mommy track. Sweden has one of the highest proportions of working women in the world and a commitment to gender parity that’s close to a national religion. In addition to child care, the country offers paid parental leave that includes two months specifically reserved for fathers. Yet moms still take four times as much leave as dads do. (Women are also more likely to be in lower-paid public-sector jobs; according to sociologist Linda Haas, Sweden has “one of the most sex-segregated labor markets in the world.”) Far more women than men work part-time; almost <i>half</i> of all mothers are on the job 30 hours a week or less. The gender wage gap among full-time workers in Sweden is 15 percent. That’s lower than in the United States, at least according to the flawed data we have, but it’s hardly the feminist Promised Land.<br />
The list goes on. In the Netherlands, over 70 percent of women work part-time and say that they want it that way. According to the Netherlands Institute for Social Research, surveys found that only 4 percent of female part-timers wish that they had full-time jobs. In the United Kingdom, half of female GPs work part-time, and the National Health Service is scrambling to cope with a dearth of doctor hours. Interestingly enough, countries with higher GDPs tend to have the highest percentage of women in part-time work. In fact, the OECD reports that in many of its richest countries, including Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Germany, the U.K., and the U.S., the percentage of the female workforce in part-time positions has gone <i>up</i> over the last decade.<br />
So it makes no sense to think of either the mommy track or the resulting wage differential as an injustice to women. Less time at work, whether in the form of part-time jobs or fewer full-time hours, is what many women want and what those who can afford it tend to choose. Feminists can object till the Singularity arrives that women are “socialized” to think that they have to be the primary parent. But after decades of feminism and Nordic engineering, the continuing female tropism toward shorter work hours suggests that that view is either false or irrelevant. Even the determined Swedes haven’t been able to get women to stick around the office.<br />
<span class="cap">T</span>hat doesn’t mean that the mommy track doesn’t present a problem, particularly in a culture in which close to half of all marriages break down. A woman can have a baby, decide to reduce her hours and her pay, forgo a pension, and then, ten years later, watch her husband run off with the Pilates instructor. The problem isn’t what it used to be when women had fewer degrees and less work experience during their childless years; women today are in better shape to jump-start their careers if need be. The risk remains, however.<br />
It’s not at all clear how to solve this problem or even if there is a solution, especially during these fiscally challenged days. But one thing is clear: the wage-gap debate ought to begin with the mommy track, not with proofy statistics.<br />
<i>Kay S. Hymowitz is a contributing editor of </i>City Journal<i>, the William E. Simon Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and the author of </i>Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has Turned Men into Boys.</div><script type="text/javascript">
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<tr style="height: 27.35pt; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;"><td rowspan="5" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; height: 27.35pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNQwxDIeSFre6CwR_UMd3GGzfKgx88T-bxOCtXqI9_Xeq-xAgGlmG6ZCle5ub_8_I454fNFVe5JzNOJB-PDVm9bsVwx2rIWtl83XLr7SkqKP4oCEhuGCX4F-F0s-m_70w7tes9bRuVU0K7/s1600/The+Wonder+of+Boys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNQwxDIeSFre6CwR_UMd3GGzfKgx88T-bxOCtXqI9_Xeq-xAgGlmG6ZCle5ub_8_I454fNFVe5JzNOJB-PDVm9bsVwx2rIWtl83XLr7SkqKP4oCEhuGCX4F-F0s-m_70w7tes9bRuVU0K7/s1600/The+Wonder+of+Boys.jpg" t$="true" /></a></div><div closure_uid_q0ad6i="166"><br />
</div></div></td><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; height: 27.35pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div closure_uid_q0ad6i="211"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Wonder of Boys: What Parents, Mentors and Educators Can Do to Shape Boys into Exceptional Men</span></span></b></div></div></td></tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Gurian, Michael Ph.D.</b> </span></div></td></tr>
<tr style="height: 27.35pt; mso-yfti-irow: 2;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; height: 27.35pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Westminster, London, UK : Penguin Group, © 2006</span></div></td></tr>
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<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Book 320 pp</span></div></td><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ISBN-13: 9781585425280<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ISBN: 1585425281</span></span></b></div></td></tr>
<tr style="height: 97pt; mso-yfti-irow: 6; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;"><td colspan="2" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; height: 97pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 6.65in;" valign="top" width="638"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Synopsis</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #8064a2; font-size: 10pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #8064A2; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent4; mso-themecolor: accent4;">A</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> developmental guide for understanding the unique needs of boys, including practical advice for raising them.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #8064a2; font-size: 10pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #8064A2; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent4; mso-themecolor: accent4;">I </span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was quite an eye opener for me as a woman raising a son. It has profoundly effected my decisions in his upbringing and how I have related to him at different ages. I recommend this book, particularly to mothers.</span></i><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> – capriccio</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #8064a2; font-size: 10pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #8064A2; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent4; mso-themecolor: accent4;">Y</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">es, boys and girls are different, says Washington state family therapist Gurian (Mothers, Sons and Lovers), urging that society learn how to deal creatively with gender-specific needs. In considering the cultural effects of heightened gender consciousness, Gurian warns of the dangers of "enmeshing male development with a female culture in transition." Outlining biological differences, he explains that boys are "hard-wired" to possess certain traits. Because of male brain chemistry and the hormone testosterone, boys are apt, for example, to relish risk-taking and to be physically aggressive and competitive (violence, he claims is not hard-wired, but learned through culture). What Gurian adds to this generally recognized background material is a persuasive summons to society, specifically parents, educators and communities, to unite to channel these traits in positive directions. Sports, for instance, allow competition but also teach responsibility. Work, nature study, music and spiritual pursuits are other positive channels. Gurian, who has also lived in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, suggests that we in the U.S. have grown away from beneficial rites of passage and toward "isolated, tremulous, family systems." In this shift, he contends, boys have been abandoned, and he urges <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #8064a2; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #8064A2; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent4; mso-themecolor: accent4;">that society reclaim responsibility for the moral and spiritual upbringing of young males, with guidance offered by elder mentors</span></b><span style="color: #8064a2; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #8064A2; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent4; mso-themecolor: accent4;"> </span>and support coming from extended family or community. Writing in a calm, compassionate voice, Gurian delivers a compelling call to action. 50,000 first printing; author tour. (Oct.)</span></i><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> – Publisher’s Weekly</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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<tr style="height: 27.35pt; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;"><td rowspan="5" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; height: 27.35pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKuolOs-Lr8japrQ3GCoHs2LIRmtpf3JF02bzaYDC_Pxs1hR2QZqmVykxQcUnHbn7iV5mG0PAUQwRocOP_QaVSMExf-s_y8TA9M-FXQF8Z_Ljy-yOg8WZ2_nHimGPJWyrJ8RyILwbIX8T6/s1600/The+Webbs.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKuolOs-Lr8japrQ3GCoHs2LIRmtpf3JF02bzaYDC_Pxs1hR2QZqmVykxQcUnHbn7iV5mG0PAUQwRocOP_QaVSMExf-s_y8TA9M-FXQF8Z_Ljy-yOg8WZ2_nHimGPJWyrJ8RyILwbIX8T6/s1600/The+Webbs.bmp" t$="true" /></a></div><div closure_uid_oss6rq="167"><br />
</div></div></td><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; height: 27.35pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_oss6rq="153" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Webbs, Fabianism and Feminism: Fabianism and the Political Economy of Everyday Life</span></span></b></div></td></tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Beilharz, Peter</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(1953 - ) & <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Nyland, Chris</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div></td></tr>
<tr style="height: 27.35pt; mso-yfti-irow: 2;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; height: 27.35pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Farnham, Surrey UK : Ashgate Publishing, © 1998</span></div></td></tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div></td></tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div></td></tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Book 182 pp</span></div></td><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ISBN-13: 9781840143072<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ISBN: 184014307X</span></span></b></div></td></tr>
<tr style="height: 97pt; mso-yfti-irow: 6; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;"><td colspan="2" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; height: 97pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 6.65in;" valign="top" width="638"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Synopsis</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #8064a2; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #8064A2; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent4; mso-themecolor: accent4;">S</span></b><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">even essays that five authors have written and published over the past decade look at Fabianism, the leftist political thought and movement that scholars and activists now generally consider ordinary and uninteresting, and the remarkable British sisters who advocated it around the turn of the century. The political economy of everyday life, the Webbs and the rights of women, the Fabian Women's Group, the National Standard for Manual Handling, and Fabianism and Marxism are among the perspectives presented. No index. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.</i></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=daofmi-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=184014307X&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe></div></td></tr>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">INTRODUCTION</span></u></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Part 1</span></u></b><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> presents an overview of Dr. Robert Williams’ influence over the development of the child support system across the United States, and his concurrent start up and operation of a company while a key consultant with the government working exclusively in the creation of public policy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A chronology of activity during this time (1983-1990) is included.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Williams has been and continues to consult with States regarding child support policy and enforcement.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Part 2</span></u></b><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> focuses on the “Income Shares” model originated by Williams in the 1980’s, and the underlying national economic data sources that he uses to feed it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As of this writing at least 31 states use this model and the underlying economics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of the presumptions used in states using other models come philosophically from the same thinking advocated by him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This section will discuss the fundamental flaws of the model, as well as the failure of the underlying economics that ultimately lead to support obligation numbers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">As you will see, Williams clearly drove the elements of today’s child support system, concurrently creating a company that could exploit the very programs he was helping to establish. The company, Policy Studies, Incorporated of Denver, essentially brags about this in their company promotional material.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His model and the<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>underlying economics fall far short in trying to result in equitable and reasonable child support for our nation’s children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Financial considerations are given total weight based on a flawed process, while emotional child support is ignored.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The latter is not a “free good”, and by ignoring the reality that there are two parents now in two households, our children suffer.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I want to thank Roger Gay and Greg Palumbo for their contributions and advice on the content of this paper.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">_______________________________________________________________</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">*Jim Johnston is a joint custodial parent of two children in Wichita, Kansas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s the Chair of a local group called KIDSVIEW, working to maximize dual parent involvement in their children’s lives outside the intact family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are working hard at changing legislation in Kansas regarding custody and support, and nationally by lobbying their Congressional delegation on the need for gender neutrality in legislation dealing with children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In February of this year Johnston was appointed by the Chief Justice of the Kansas Supreme Court to serve on the Child Support Guidelines Advisory Committee.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He can be contacted at (316) 685-6297, or via e-mail at jjohns1043@aol.com.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i></span></div><div closure_uid_u29gwf="149"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br clear="all" style="page-break-before: always;" /></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>PART 1:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>DR. ROBERT WILLIAMS AND HIS INFLUENCE ON TODAY’S CHILD SUPPORT SYSTEM.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A QUESTION OF ETHICS?</u></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">As anyone familiar with domestic law would know, child support in the United States is a growing multi-billion dollar public policy issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much controversy surrounds it, from determination of the amounts owed and by whom, as well as the punitive enforcement measures being undertaken at local, state, and federal levels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Below I detail information about one man’s efforts at influencing, establishing, and ultimately exploiting this lucrative “industry”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dr. Robert Williams, founder and primary owner of a privately held business in Denver, Policy Studies, Inc., has cleverly manipulated and in effect, set up the child support mechanisms throughout the US, working within the federal and various state governments, creating a market from which he has been and continues to profit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He clearly is the “father” of current US child support public policy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His efforts have cost federal and state taxpayers billions of dollars, without appreciably improving the lot of children in spite of the rhetoric to the contrary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, many would argue that in the process, he is harming children through establishment of an overall approach that is out of control, disables noncustodial parents from meaningful involvement with their children, and overall, misses the reality of what child support should truly be.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 0.25in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1. <span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Williams consulted with the US Health and Human Services (HHS) agency’s Office of Child Support Enforcement from 1983-1990, directing research and technical assistance for the federally funded Child Support Guidelines Project.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During this time, a federally-driven approach was developed in Washington that has lead to significantly increased child support obligations owed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Dramatic new legislation was passed in Washington in 1984 and in 1988 that he clearly influenced).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He consulted with many States as well, and continues to do so today.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 0.25in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2. <span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In 1984, one year after establishing his influence with the government,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Williams started Policy Studies, Incorporated in Denver with 3 employees.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 0.25in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3. <span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In 1987, for use in consulting with HHS and the various States,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Williams developed and introduced a model for child support guidelines called “Income Shares”, now used in some form in at least 31 states.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has lead to significantly increased child support obligations (using extremely flawed expenditure data gathered from intact families - SEE PART 2) while providing no built in consideration for “credits” for the expenses related to a child’s time spent with their involved other (noncustodial) parent.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 0.25in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4. <span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Policy Studies’ two biggest lines of business is in general guidelines development consulting with States based upon the Williams model, and the other is to provide child support collections.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In mid-1997, his company had some 500 employees, with over $21 million in revenues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While consulting he urges adoption of a model (costing large consulting fees in the process, <br clear="all" style="page-break-before: always;" />reimbursed at least 67% by federal tax dollars to the state per US public policy) that leads to dramatically increased child support with little or no credits, thereby creating a hardship on noncustodial parents struggling to remain involved with their children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This results in an increased pool of potential child support obligation owed, and increased arrearage for his collection division to exploit.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">It is clear that Williams has not only influenced policy through his involvement with the agency responsible for child support enforcement, but with his inside knowledge has developed a consulting business and collection agency targeting privatization opportunities with those he has consulted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1996, his company had the greatest number of child support enforcement contracts, covering numerous counties in seven States, of any of the private companies that held State contracts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reimbursement to his company for child support enforcement ranges from 10-32% of what the company collects according to the General Accounting Office (HEHS97-4).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And according to company promotional literature, they currently operate 31 privatized service locations in 15 states.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The conflict of interest between Williams’ consulting to raise child support guidelines and his company’s private Child Support Enforcement activities should be apparent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It should also be apparent that any raises in the child support guideline he obtains in any State can be used as leverage for raising the child support guidelines in another State where he has private child support contracts today, or where he may have them tomorrow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has continued acting as the pied piper for raising child support guidelines nationally, where he and his company profits.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Adding insult to injury, while the “father” of today’s child support public policy continues to profit from his past unique opportunity of influence, the basis of his consulting utilized in most of the Country is statistically, economically, and intellectually flawed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The end result is a much costlier approach to child support enforcement to US taxpayers, but more importantly, it continues to drive an ever-widening wedge between children and the parent obligated to paying financial child support.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This will be discussed in substantial detail in Part 2.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">A CHRONOLOGY OF WILLIAMS’ EFFORTS ALONG WITH COINCIDENT AND SIGNIFICANT FEDERAL POLICY CHANGE DURING HIS CONSULTING TENURE WITH HHS (1983-1990</span></u></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">):</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 21.25pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">1983-1990: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Williams is hired and retained as a consultant by Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C. in order to drive establishment of uniform child support guidelines for the states (federal Child Support Guidelines Project).</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 21.25pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">1984:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Williams starts “Policy Studies, Incorporated”, in Denver, Colorado.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 21.25pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">1984:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Child Support Enforcement amendments of 1984 (Public Law 98-378) extended the research and demonstration authority in section 1115 of <br clear="all" style="page-break-before: always;" />the Social Security Act to the Child Support Enforcement Program. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It featured provisions that required improvements in State/local CS Enforcement Programs in 4 major areas:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 0.75in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1. <span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Mandatory Enforcement Practices</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 0.75in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2. <span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Improved Interstate Enforcement</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 0.75in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3. <span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Equal Services for Welfare and Non-AFDC Families</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 0.75in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4. <span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Other Provisions for the States including:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">- Collecting spousal support as well where both are due in a case;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">- Establishment of State Commissions to study the operation of the State’s child support system and report findings to the State’s Governor;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 1in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">- Formulate guidelines for determining child support obligation amounts and distribute the guidelines to judges and other individuals who possess authority to establish obligation amounts</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">1986:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986 passed (Public Law 99-509).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It included a child support enforcement amendment prohibiting the retroactive modification of child support awards.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">1987:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Williams’ “Income Shares” Model is developed and promoted to various States.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was introduced in his report<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, “Development of Guidelines for Child Support Orders: Advisory Panel Recommendations and Final Report</i>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Child Support Enforcement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to this report, the intent was to increase “child support” awards dramatically above what existed according to established state child support laws.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">1988:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Family Support Act of 1988 (Public Law 100-485) passed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It emphasized the duties of parents to work and support their children and in particular, emphasized child support enforcement as the first line of defense against welfare dependence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The key child support provisions include:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 0.75in; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><u><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Guidelines for Child Support Awards</span></u><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> - Judges and other officials are required to use state guidelines for child support unless they rebut the guidelines by a written finding that applying them would be unjust or inappropriate in a particular case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>States must review the guidelines for awards every four years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 0.75in; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><u><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Establishment of Paternity</span></u><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> - Federal standards are established by formula.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Federal matching rate for laboratory testing to establish paternity is set at 90%.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 0.75in; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><u><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Requirement for Automated Tracking and Monitoring System</span></u><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> - Each State is required to have a fully operative statewide system in place by October 1, 1995, and states had 90% matching by the Federal government.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 0.75in; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo7; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><u><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Interstate Enforcement</span></u><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> - A Commission on Interstate Child Support was created to hold national conferences by October 1, 1990 to make improvement recommendations.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">PART 2:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A REVIEW OF THE WILLIAMS-INSPIRED “INCOME SHARES” MODEL, AND PROBLEMS INHERENT IN THE UNDERLYING ECONOMICS</span></u></b><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">My state of residence is Kansas, which is a joint custody preference state by statute (meaning legal decision making, not necessarily shared physical custody).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well over 80% of the cases result in joint custody awards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is only logical that the most significant reason a judge would order joint custody, or short of that, some degree of visitation,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>would be a recognition that both parents are going to maintain some degree of involvement with their child post separation and divorce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In those situations, legislatures and/or courts are<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>stating that it is in the child’s best interests to have such involvement with both parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet as will be described below, the financial child support schedules of most state guidelines are derived from data collected from overall expenditures made by intact family households throughout the country, with minimal state-specific participation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to federal law, all relevant costs of raising the child in that state are to be taken into account by the state model used to develop the support obligation schedules, creating a rebuttable presumption.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without including direct costs incurred by the second involved parent specifically in the guideline economics, such costs have not been considered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(They are in fact, left totally to the discretion of the court, with little guidance on how to consider them in determining an appropriate and just child support award.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">When one fully grasps the economic methodology used in today’s guideline development, there becomes a recognition that it is impossible to really know what guideline numbers are appropriate or what assumptions are used to determine state-specific child support obligations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only through getting at just those things would states be consistent with the tone of the 1996 report from the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) where they said, </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Surprisingly, few States reviewed their core guideline model or methodology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather, guideline reviews focused on issues relating to income, adjustments to income, adjustments to the guideline amount, and deviations from the guideline amount</i>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">What is needed is to get outside the paradigm that existing models (using the same “economic studies”) are the only way of determining appropriate and just child support awards in each state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reality is that the base economic studies used in child support schedule development were not planned for nor conducted with child support considerations in mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather, they were designed for significantly different purposes, never intended to be specifically applied to individual situations such as child support.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Highlighting this fact is that none of the studies measure what federal law says we need to do in each state, and that is to fully understand the impact on both parents’ ability to continue to provide for their children in two separate households, fully considering the involved second parent’s expenses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics which gathers the base expenditure data used in the “Income-Shares” model espoused by Williams, actually cautions against the use of such generalized data to apply to any individual situation, exactly what is done in the vast majority of the states, including Kansas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most states have also been reviewing the logic of their child support guidelines based entirely within the bounds of the guideline logic itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over time, it is likely in each state that one can’t tell for certain what assumptions have truly been included in the model or not, each of which directly affects the child support schedule values.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often, the state review committee has simply gone back to see if the modified guidelines still conform to the original developer’s personal preferences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the 14 years since the federal government mandated development of statewide child support guidelines, additional research has been conducted, including new scientific approaches that solve many of the problems both in the baseline data used in state child support models, as well as in the models themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The flaws inherent in the current child support estimate methodologies are being addressed in this research.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These should be fully explored consistent with what the OCSE urges be done regarding methodology review.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">THE FLAWED INCOME SHARES MODEL</span></u></b><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The “Income Shares” model is currently used for child support guidelines development in at least 31 states as of this writing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Additionally, most of the other states utilize the same underlying economics used in this model for their particular state guidelines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This model was developed in 1987 by Williams, and was introduced in his report<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, “Development of Guidelines for Child Support Orders: Advisory Panel Recommendations and Final Report</i>.” for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Child Support Enforcement, where as noted previously, he was a paid consultant driving the development of uniform guidelines throughout the country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next year, Congress passed The Family Support Act of 1988 (Pub. L. No. 100-485) which mandated that states implement presumptive, rather than advisory, child support guidelines, giving the states only one year to do so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Virtually all states met the congressional deadline with such guidelines in place by October 1989.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It appears obvious that due to the short deadline required of the states to comply with this new law, most conveniently opted for the very model being espoused by the agency overlooking the whole program, the Income Shares model.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Williams describes his model in the Health and Human Services publication, “<u>Child Support Guidelines: The Next Generation</u>”, published in April 1994:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Income Shares model is based on the concept that the child should receive the same proportion of parental income that he or she would have received if the parents lived together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A basic child support obligation is computed based on the combined income of the parents (REPLICATING TOTAL INCOME IN AN INTACT HOUSEHOLD)</i> {emphasis added}.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This basic obligation comes from a table which is derived from economic estimates of child-rearing expenditures, minus average amounts for health insurance, child care, and child’s extraordinary medical expenses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The basic child support obligation is divided between the parents in proportion to their relative incomes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pro-rated shares of child care and extraordinary medical expenses are added to each parent’s basic obligation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>IF ONE PARENT HAS CUSTODY, THE AMOUNT CALCULATED FOR THAT PARENT IS PRESUMED TO BE SPENT DIRECTLY ON THE CHILD.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>FOR THE NONCUSTODIAL PARENT, THE CALCULATED AMOUNT ESTABLISHES THE LEVEL OF CHILD SUPPORT </i>{emphasis added}<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.”</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">He continues, </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Income Shares model was developed by the staff of the Child Support Guidelines Project, which was funded by the U.S. Office of Child Support Enforcement and administered by the National Center for State Courts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It utilizes several concepts from the earlier Washington (State) Uniform Child Support Guidelines, but diverges in basing its numerical parameters explicitly on a different and more recent body of economic analysis.”</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The reader is urged to keep in mind a few key points from Williams’ description of his Income Shares model as they will be addressed in the balance of this paper.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 0.75in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo8; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The “model is based on the concept that the child <u>should</u> receive the same proportion of parental income that he or she would have “<u>theoretically</u>” received if the parents lived together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is designed to “<u>theoretically replicate total income in an intact household</u>”.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 0.75in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo9; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">No consideration is provided for the reality of additional expenses that occurs in an involved second parent’s household, which is necessitated by the simple and obvious fact that the parents no longer live together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u>Only one household matters</u>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 0.75in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo10; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Health insurance, child care, and extraordinary medical expenses are typically added on to the obligation after the basic amount is calculated.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 0.75in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The one parent with sole custody, or the one parent with primary residency in states with joint custody, receives the child support payment, and it is “<u>presumed</u>” that the money is spent directly on the child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u>No accountability</u>, something that occurs in virtually all other financial “trust” situations which child support certainly is, is required of the receiving parent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The full weight of local, state, and federal law however, ensures the accountability of the obligor to pay the recipient.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION</span></u></b><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Federal law requires that awards determined by the application of child support guidelines be rebuttable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It specifies:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A written finding or specific finding on the record that the application of the guidelines would be unjust or inappropriate in a particular case as determined under criteria established by the State, shall be sufficient to rebut the presumption in that case</i>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">It further specifies that guidelines:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">shall be reviewed at least once every 4 years to ensure that their application results in the determination of appropriate child support award amounts</i>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In other words, the table values established within the guidelines are “presumed” to accurately reflect the situation of parents and their children at the various income levels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In theory at least, federal law enables parents the possibility of pointing out to the court why the guideline numbers should not apply in their particular case (rebutting the presumption).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Practice and theory though, are very different.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Economic studies used in the Income Shares model are based on total family expenditures in intact families.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are estimates of spending that might occur if the parents were living together, sharing all the expenses of a single household.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Spending on children in split households has a random relationship to the combined income of the parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The income of both parents can be appropriately considered in the award decision only if that consideration is consistent with the fact that the parents do not live together and therefore do not use their income jointly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Joint income, and table values related to joint income, have no relationship at all to family economic circumstances in the context of a child support award decision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a particular state, even assuming that the sample of data is appropriate (and that is dubious as I will show below), individual case circumstances (those which deviate from the circumstances presumed in developing the guideline, <u>such as separate households and continued dual parent involvement</u>), cannot be adequately considered unless the numeric table is categorically divided (food, clothing, shelter, transportation, entertainment, etc.).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without an explicit and clear conceptual basis for the award, a parent attempting to rebut the presumptive amount on the basis that it is unjust or inappropriate must do so without knowing what just and appropriate means.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The only way to properly apply mathematical decision models within the context of Constitutional justice is to fully disclose the nature of the mathematics, the underlying reasoning, and the assumptions in such a way as to make their review practical in comparison with the circumstances of each case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Currently state committees reviewing the models and the underlying data, the judges making awards using the resultant support schedules, and attorneys and parents living with the results of them, are not able to directly tie the schedule to specific cases.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It literally is impossible!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Federal law (and the Constitution) requires a just and appropriate award in each case, and the goal for states is to construct guidelines that are sufficient to do so in every circumstance to which they are applied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is also required that judges can identify inappropriate and unjust results and that attorneys and parents can argue for deviation when a formula fails.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My state of residence, Kansas, is a joint custody preference state by statute, which logically entails some degree of joint parental involvement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even those states without such a preference generally apply some minimal level of parenting time (visitation).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Separation/divorce inherently means separate households.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, use of the existing guidelines based on intact family expenditures without inclusion of involved noncustodial parent expenditures on children, is inappropriate in all such cases.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Guidelines have continued to fail to take the reality of parenting expenditures of an involved second parent into account.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">BASE DATA USED IN THE “INCOME SHARES” MODEL LEADING TO CHILD SUPPORT SCHEDULES</span></u></b><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Upon joining the State of Kansas Child Support Guidelines Advisory Committee in early 1998, I was advised by a long term member of the Committee to be sure and understand the economics involved in our state’s guidelines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, in an effort to understand our methodology, I researched the data base that feeds the model here to establish the various schedules.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was astounded at what I discovered and shared the information with the rest of the Committee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To my surprise, most of what I shared about the economic methodology used had not been discussed to any degree with the Committee previously.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is probably common in most states.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Most state guidelines utilize expenditure data developed from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) annual Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) in the development of the child support obligation schedules.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It consists of 5,000 household surveys conducted each quarter, totaling 20,000 surveys/year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(The BLS said that the 5,000 surveyed is a staggered pool concept.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The whole annual sample is the same 5,000 households for 3 quarters, and a new 5,000 for a 4<sup>th</sup> quarter.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Recognizing that each state is to have guidelines appropriate to that specific state, I called the regional BLS office in Kansas City, as well as their main office in Washington, and asked how many of the sample actually came from Kansas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All they could tell me was that it was “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">somewhat less than 100 surveys</i>” (with all but a few out of the Kansas City Metro area, and the remaining coming from Lawrence, KS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None came from any other cities in the state, including Wichita which has the largest population in Kansas).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, this state’s guidelines, <br clear="all" style="page-break-before: always;" />to specifically apply to its child support cases, are based upon generalized data, virtually all of which comes from out of state, and again which are derived from intact family expenditures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With this small national sample size, this has to be the case in each state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bigger problem however, is the sample data itself.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The BLS publishes a list of “Frequently Asked Questions” regarding the CES.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Number 15 specifically asks and answers: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>What are some of the Limitations of the Data</u></i>?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Interview and Diary Surveys are sample surveys and are subject to two types of errors, nonsampling and sampling. Nonsampling errors can be attributed to many sources, such as differences in the interpretation of questions, inability or unwillingness of the respondent to provide correct information, mistakes in recording or coding the data obtained, and other errors of collection, response, processing, coverage, and estimation for missing data. THE FULL EXTENT OF NONSAMPLING ERROR IS UNKNOWN.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>(All caps added for emphasis) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sampling errors occur because the survey data are collected from a sample and not from the entire population. Tables with coefficients of variation and other reliability statistics are available on request. However, because the statistics are shown at the detailed item level, the tables are extensive.”</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">“CAUTION SHOULD BE USED IN INTERPRETING THE EXPENDITURE DATA, ESPECIALLY WHEN RELATING AVERAGES TO INDIVIDUAL CIRCUMSTANCES. </span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">(All caps added for emphasis<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The data shown in the published tables are averages for demographic groups of consumer units. Expenditures by individual consumer units may differ from the average even if the characteristics of the group are similar to the individual consumer unit. Income, family size, age of family members, geographic location, and individual tastes and preferences all influence expenditures.</i>”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Along these same lines, Kansas Guidelines review committee economist Dr. Walter Terrell admitted to me in a letter in April 1998 in response to a request for a detailed break out of expenditure areas at various income levels, that:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Given the same total level of spending due to children, the component parts will vary from family to family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is, families, say, with a focus on dental and health care might show above average child spending on these items, and below average spending on children’s clothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This applies to the USDA </i>(United States Department of Agriculture) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">estimated components as well, i.e., no measures of variation are presented for the component parts.”</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“In short, if the total amount of child support that is supposed to be spent due to children is in fact spent for that purpose, then the component <br clear="all" style="page-break-before: always;" />parts are irrelevant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Further, about 75 to 80 per cent of expenditures on children involve jointly consumed goods, e.g., home, auto, utilities, etc…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This further complicates the question of how much is spent (on average) for each spending class.”</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The application of this generalized data currently utilized in Kansas and most other states, both from the federal government agency gathering the baseline data, as well as a committee’s economist, shows no direct relationship with specific circumstances around individual child support scenarios in the state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The BLS explicitly discourages such application of data potentially riddled with nonsampling errors, and an “expert” economist admits that such detail necessary in order to potentially rebut, is not discernible from the model.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is also being pointed out is that there are absolute limits to what can be derived from the CES.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most state guidelines currently in use, stake their entire logic on inferences from the CES.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the CES itself has no way of telling us what the right redistribution of income actually is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is necessary to supplement the statistical work with what the OCSE report has pointed out is missing in state reviews, the fundamental logic of the guidelines must also be further developed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Continuing, the Income Shares model incorporates the CES data as repackaged by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in their report, “Expenditure of Children By Families” which is published each year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From the 5,000 household quarterly CES data, the USDA culls it down based on the following qualifiers:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 0.75in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo12; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1) <span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">One child of own, 17 years of age or younger in the household</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 0.75in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo12; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2) <span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Six or fewer children</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 0.75in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo12; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3) <span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">No other related/unrelated people present in the household</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 0.75in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo12; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4) <span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Complete income reporters (earn taxable wages)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">16,245 Total Survey-Households qualified for 1997 sample (12,850 Husband and Wife households/3,395 Single-parent households).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Only intact husband/wife households are utilized due to sample size limitations</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">There is a two child assumption per Husband-Wife household.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The country is then divided into regions; West/Northeast/South/Midwest, and a general US Rural category.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Kansas for instance, is part of their Midwest Region which also includes:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to the USDA, among the regions, the Midwest is the lowest for child-rearing expenses)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The Expenditure Categories are: Housing; Food; Transportation; Clothing; Healthcare; Child care and education; and Miscellaneous</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The expenditures for <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Clothing</b>, and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Child care</b> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">and education</b> only apply to children and are divided equally between them, and exclude adult-related <br clear="all" style="page-break-before: always;" />expenses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Food</b> expenditures are determined from the USDA Food Plans to allocate among the various family members.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Healthcare </b>expenditures are derived from the National Medical Expenditure Survey, and allocated among the family members by age, etc.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Expenditures for <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Housing</b>,<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> Transportation</b>, and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Miscellaneous</b> goods and services however, are allocated on a <u>per capita basis</u> (divided equally among the members).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This has the effect of minimizing the costs to adult members, while raising the level of expenditures on children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to the USDA, this is done as they say there is no research base for allocating these expenses, and they reject the marginal cost method as well for that reason.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(<u>The study itself however, addresses the marginal cost basis in some detail in the report appendix, referring to actual studies that show that use of the marginal cost basis can reduce <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Housing</b> expenditures by 28-44%, and the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Miscellaneous</b> category by 28%</u>.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The per capita methodology employed for these categories also shows problems when reviewing what is specifically included in these expenditures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For instance, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Miscellaneous</b> specifically includes such things as <u>manicures</u>, <u>make-up</u>, <u>hair styling</u>, <u>health club memberships</u>, <u>country club memberships</u>, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Surely, many of the expensive costs associated with maintaining adults should not be equally distributed amongst all family members including children since they are not costs associated with raising children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Transportation</b> cost share as determined by the USDA included <u>vacation travel expenses</u> as well as <u>automobile transportation expenses</u> that were calculated by subtracting the costs associated with travel to work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is they subtracted the mileage associated with getting to work from the costs of the <u>automobile</u>, <u>insurance</u>, <u>maintenance</u>, etc., and then divided this amount by the number of members in a family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For instance, a car costing $12,000 the day before a baby is added to an expectant family, is allocated at $6,000 for each parent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next day, with baby arrived, the cost of the car attributed to the baby suddenly on the scene is $4,000!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Arguably, the mileage directly associated with transporting children would be more accurate than USDA estimates, which seem to be grossly exaggerated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The same type of treatment occurs for <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Housing</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Using the expectant family example, the day before the baby’s arrival, the cost for housing is divided equally between the two adults.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Upon the baby’s arrival, the cost of housing is suddenly divided equally between the adults and the baby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The child’s “portion” is then summed and used directly in the calculations for state child support guidelines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are these children supposed to be buying their own cars and living in their own apartments?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or are they living in a parent’s residence and being transported sometimes, including family outings to places the parent would be going anyway?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the face of it, it is obvious that such allocations are questionable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These points have not been so obvious in the past because the estimates have <br clear="all" style="page-break-before: always;" />not been separated to the point that anyone on any state review committee understood what the numbers in the guideline mean.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With today’s guidelines and their underlying data, how in the world can parents, attorneys, and judges begin to understand them within the context of due process?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Regionalizing data creates problems as well for the figures used to calculate specific state child support schedules.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tax rates differ in each state, along with differing costs of living.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although the survey says that the measure of expenditures for items is after tax (arguing that it is therefore then held constant across the country), the reality is that the level of income available based on after tax and cost of living differs across the country, let alone each region as income available to spend varies as a result.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(<u>This also highlights an additional area of concern regarding available income for expenditure on children in the noncustodial home, which as established earlier, remains unaccounted for and unmeasured</u>.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">As stated previously, to get to the schedules that have been developed in states using the Income Shares model (and most others as well), the CES data has been utilized to feed the model.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have pointed out many of the problems inherent in that data being used to determine child support schedules.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have also addressed several flaws in the Income Shares model itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First off is that actual expenditures on children by families is not addressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The methodology used to identify family expenditures do not actually track all costs per person through a marginal cost accounting basis, and thus do not reflect true costs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is reported are total “intact” family expenditures, which are then broadly allocated to children, and then which are entered into the state economic model based on the parameters established by the modeler (certainly not any specific individual child support case at hand).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Additionally, <u>the model also fails to account for costs incurred while the noncustodial parent exercises his/her parenting time</u>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lastly, the model purports to accurately reflect what it costs to raise a child in a particular state (such as Kansas in my experience, based on a household expenditure survey sample size consisting of “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">somewhat less than 100</i>” Kansas participants!).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An argument may be made for instance, that since about 30% of Kansas cases involve interstate child support orders, regional and national data is fine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, orders under the jurisdiction of a particular state should be based on what it costs to raise a child specifically in that state as the starting point. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">SUMMARY</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Dr. Robert Williams in my opinion is an absolute genius!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He established himself as chief consultant to the agency responsible for development of child support policy, and successfully manipulated his personal approach to the subject, his <br clear="all" style="page-break-before: always;" />efforts leading to the most significant federal laws dealing with child support today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While clearly a genius, one can easily call into question his ethics, however.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While in his unique and influential position in Washington, he early on concurrently established a private company called Policy Studies, Incorporated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This company grew along with the programs he helped push through in Washington, as well as across the country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was able to “sell” his model through his position to the states while they were under tremendous pressure to come up with an approach under extreme time constraints to comply with federal mandates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This particular model led to significantly higher child support obligations owed, allows for no consideration for involved second parents, and created an increasing pool of potential parents falling into arrears.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Coincidentally, his company is the leader in the child support “collections” business, an industry that requires an increasing pool of potential dollars available to collect, and an increase in potential “defaulters”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the meantime, his company continues to grow exponentially, as he continues to consult with the states about implementing and reestablishing his model, one laden with flaws and inappropriate for use in individual child support cases.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as enforcement continues to be subsidized by federal tax dollars, his collections and involvement in state child support efforts continue to soar.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Nationwide, we must aggressively pursue looking at additional methodologies and economic data gathering that will assure appropriate and just child support awards in each state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Further, states must fully review the fundamental logic leading to child support awards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From there, a full review of available research will better enable them to put forth a full recommendation on what their state-specific guidelines should look like, ultimately allowing each of the parties to a child support case to be better able to exercise their full due process. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Some believe that it might be too costly to conduct state-specific studies, to include data collection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their inclination would be to continue on using the same flawed methodology and data, falling back on the false belief that what we have today is the best we can do. However, this cost is arguably quite negligible compared to the impact of our current approach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To simply continue doing the same old thing would be ignoring our responsibility to be thorough in guideline development and review.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Opening our minds to alternative approaches of child support determinations could prove to be less costly than might be believed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Lastly, I have not mentioned the impact that today’s approach to child support guidelines and enforcement have on our country’s children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Focusing solely on “financial” child support while failing to emphasize “emotional” child support is destroying our children’s lives by depriving them of someone that they desperately need to have involved in their lives, their other parent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u>All credible research shows that for the vast majority of children, the best parent to children <br clear="all" style="page-break-before: always;" />of separation and divorce is quite simply both parents</u>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of seeking out ways of facilitating dual parent involvement, our current public policy has established economic and legal roadblocks, merely because it is easy to “garnish” income.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The end result in this crazy social experiment is increased juvenile suicide, teenage pregnancy, juvenile delinquency, and teenage drug abuse, among many other childhood pathologies, all sharing a common variable in most of these instances, an absent parent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Continued parental involvement of the second parent (the one currently not included in the studies of the true ongoing costs of parenting), does indeed cost money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such involvement is not a free good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This country is beginning to awaken to the damaging effects of having frustrated dual parent involvement for so many years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reforming the child support enforcement public policy from the ground up needs to occur.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only then will we begin to turn the corner in the direction of our country’s most important assets, our children.</span></div><div closure_uid_u29gwf="149"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br clear="all" style="page-break-before: always;" /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">MISCELLANEOUS QUOTES</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">FROM POLICY STUDIES, INCORPORATED PROMOTIONAL LITERATURE OBTAINED IN JUNE 1998</span></u></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">“PSI’S CHILD SUPPORT GUIDELINES EXPERIENCE”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">“Policy Studies, Inc.—PSI—is a national leader in the child support enforcement world, having developed an impressive portfolio of projects spanning technical assistance, privatization, and information technology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since our inception in 1984 we have expanded both in staff and resources, and we now operate 31 privatized service locations throughout the country.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Our experience with child support guidelines began with the federal Child Support Guidelines Project.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since that time, we have consulted with over 40 states, the Navajo Nation, Australia, and Canada on child support guidelines projects.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>…”Our company president, Dr. Robert G. Williams, is recognized as the leading national (and international) expert on child support guidelines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was the Principal Researcher for the federal guidelines project which developed the Income Shares model now used by two-thirds of the states, including Arizona.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only has he provided expert guidance to states using the Income Shares model, but has provided expertise to non-Income Shares states such as Tennessee, Georgia, Delaware, and Hawaii.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">FROM “CHILD SUPPORT GUIDELINES:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>THE NEXT GENERATION” PUBLISHED BY THE US DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, April 1994, page 1.</span></u></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">“Robert G. Williams is President of Policy Studies Inc. in Denver, CO.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He directed research and technical assistance for the federally funded Child Support Guidelines Project from 1983-1990.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dr. Williams has provided technical assistance to more than 40 states in the development and updating of support guidelines.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">FROM DENVER BUSINESS JOURNAL, JUNE 27, 1997 V48 N42</span></u></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">“REFORMS MIGHT BENEFIT CHILD-SUPPORT COMPANY.”</span></u></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">“A Denver company that grew by leaps and bounds because of the national crackdown on “deadbeat dads” stands to profit even more from the welfare-reform legislation approved by Congress and the President last October.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Founded in 1984, Policy Studies Inc has grown from three employees to more than 400, on the heals of child-support enforcement laws.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last year, PSI reported revenues of $21 million.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The company helps government agencies modernize child-enforcement computer systems that find fathers with delinquent child-support payments.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">“Because about one-third of the welfare reform act pertains to child support, PSI president and CEO Bob Williams estimates at least one-quarter of all states will privatize their child support functions - a prediction that bodes well for the company and others like it.”<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</script></div></div>Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09005103956367713473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2110187955445777124.post-31203552016779694112011-07-29T20:19:00.000-04:002011-07-29T20:19:37.131-04:00Hyde-Woolsey Child Support Bill—HR 1488 - written testimony - R. Mark Rogers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: center 3.25in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">R. Mark Rogers</span></b><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2110187955445777124#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: center 3.25in; text-align: center;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Testimony on</span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Hyde-Woolsey Child Support Bill—HR 1488</b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in; text-align: center;">Presented to the </div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Human Resources Subcommittee of the</b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">House Ways and Means Committee</b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in; text-align: center;">March 16, 2000</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Madam Chair and Members of this Committee, thank you for permitting me to speak today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, as a matter of tradition in accord with my employer<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">'</span>s policies regarding employee public statements, I would like to state that the following are my personal views and do not in any way reflect those of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta nor the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Second, I would like to mention my background.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">'</span>m a professional economist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have authored books on analyzing economic data.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, I served as the only economist on the 1998 Georgia Commission on Child Support.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While on that commission I conducted extensive research on child costs and on the history of child support guidelines, and compared guideline impact on custodial and non-custodial parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have been a non-custodial parent since 1991 and have been an advocate for equality for both parents after divorce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over one year ago, one of my two children moved to my household with eventual transfer of custody.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I now can say that I have seen the needs for both custodial and non-custodial parents first hand.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I would like to arrange my comments into several categories: (1) first, and most importantly, broad philosophical and political concerns about this proposed transfer of enforcement authority (2) legal and regulatory issues and, finally (3) implications for proper policy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before beginning, I would like to state that I am completely in favor of appropriate child support enforcement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However,<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> "</span>appropriate" can only be defined in the context of the proper legal framework--including due process, as part of broadly encompassed domestic relations issues, and in the context of implementation using true economics of child costs. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; tab-stops: -.5in;"><u>Broad Issues</u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My first reaction to placing child support enforcement under the jurisdiction of the IRS is that this would be a move that runs counter to the recent and long overdue trend to look at child support enforcement as just one facet of children living in two households.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Putting child support enforcement in an agency that is technically focused on collections alone is not in the best interests of children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After perhaps two decades of educating personnel in DHHS, that department has only in the last few years acknowledged that the whole picture needs to be addressed<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—</span>including non-custodial parent needs and children<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">'</span>s needs in regard to being nurtured by non-custodial parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Visitation access is now recognized as an issue that DHHS should be and is beginning to address.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only a department with a broad focus can properly address such a multifaceted issue of providing the proper legal and enforcement framework for not just financial support but emotional support as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Transfer of child support enforcement to the IRS will likely result in a reversion to the old mode that non-custodial parents are good only for being a checking account for the custodial parent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This non-recognition of the other needs of children is not in children’s best interest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Additionally, the IRS would be viewed by non-custodial parents as being solely concerned about the vested financial interests of custodial parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The IRS would not be viewed as neutral by non-custodial parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given Federal incentives for states to enact various child support enforcement procedures, the IRS also would be seen as a profit center for states with the child support profits being obtained at the expense of non-custodial parents.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The political issue is not a small one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is one that in the long run will have a negative impact on the credibility of the IRS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is generally acknowledged that any government agency will eventually develop close ties with its clientele if there are mutual benefits to reinforcing those relationships.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Should child support enforcement be transferred to the IRS, the IRS would be viewed by custodial parents as their benefactor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Similarly, the IRS would see the political needs of custodial parents, as related to child support, as being in the IRS<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">'</span>s interests in terms of maintaining or expanding its role.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do not believe that it is appropriate for this Congress to set in motion these long-run political developments with the IRS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do not believe it is appropriate for the IRS to eventually attach itself to the politics of custodial mothers, however subtle or not-so-subtle such politics may become.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In an agency solely focused on collections of child support, rather than in an agency that has authority to address the broader issues of visitation access, these inappropriate political ties are more likely to develop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such political ties would be in sharp contrast to current policies of the IRS and also would reduce the credibility of the IRS in its more traditional role of collecting general revenues for the Federal government.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><u>Constitutional Issues</u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>HR 1488 proposes to create a nationwide presumption that child support orders will be enforced by the Internal Revenue Service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In essence, a Federal law will mandate that a Federal agency will presumptively enforce individual state domestic relations orders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is my understanding that under the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that domestic relations issues that are not intertwined with specifically stated Federal issues, that those are matters specifically reserved for the states.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly, there are domestic relations issues that the Federal government can regulate as related to other Federal matters, but the U.S. Supreme Court has continued to hold to a well-defined domestic relations abstention doctrine in which specific domestic relations issues are completely reserved to the states.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Specifically, the Federal government is not given authority for the granting, the issuance or modification of marriages, divorce, award of child support, or of alimony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is spelled out in decisions such as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ankenbrandt v. Richard<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2110187955445777124#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title="">s</a></i>.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2110187955445777124#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>HR 1488 attempts to use Federal statute to presume that the IRS shall enforce and collect child support, which would mean that a Federal agency would become entwined with part of the issuance of domestic relations orders as issued by individual states.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Federal government would be telling states how to issue these domestic relations orders, in part.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>On another constitutional issue, currently, there are 51 different sets of child support guidelines (including Washington, D.C.) but each state enforces its own guidelines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the IRS is given child support enforcement responsibility, will the IRS be open to complaints of violations of equal protection?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words, when a single Federal agency is enforcing child support, why should an obligor in Oregon pay child support based on one guideline and an obligor in Wisconsin based on another if both obligors have similar financial standing and the children similar costs?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Should a single Federal agency enforce very different child support guidelines?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This would be a sharp contrast to collection practices for Federal revenues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly, taxpayers would complain and file suit if the IRS charged tax payers in different states different tax rates.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><u>Legal Issues Regarding Compliance with Federal Regulations</u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Before the IRS is given nationwide responsibility for child support enforcement, a number of key regulatory issues need to be addressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, these issues are the key reasons for an apparent lack of compliance by child support obligors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only should these issues be addressed before the IRS is given child support enforcement authority, but resolving these regulatory issues is likely the best solution for child support compliance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When the Federal government first offered incentive grants for adoption of state-wide guidelines for child support, Congress had the wisdom to establish criteria under Federal regulation that the guidelines should be based upon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of these are and have been found in the general vicinity of 45 CFR 300.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2110187955445777124#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Child support guidelines were to be based on economic data on the cost of raising children within each state, were to take into account the economic necessities of the non-custodial parent, and modifications were to be readily obtained when economic circumstances justified such a modification.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Congress left enforcement of these regulations with DHHS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Additional legislation with the Consumer Credit Protection Act set limits on withholding for child support, to be enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>However, no state has completely complied with these Federal regulations with the effect that states commonly award child support that exceeds the cost of raising children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In turn, many obligors cannot meet their obligations, leaving the impression that the fault with child support arrears is theirs rather than the lack of state compliance with Federal regulations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The problem is that for political considerations and financial gain from Federal incentive monies, states have deliberately chosen to pick and choose which regulations they wanted to comply with and DHHS has chosen to not enforce regulations related to the economic basis of the guidelines and the affordability of the awards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As you likely know, individuals have no right to sue DHHS to enforce its own regulations with the states.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In contrast, if the IRS took over child support enforcement, it would no longer be a situation of states ignoring Federal regulations and states enforcing non-compliant state laws but rather a matter of a Federal agency directly interacting with individual citizens in the implementation of Federal regulations through enforcement of child support guidelines that are supposed to meet Federal regulations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The non-compliance of child support guidelines with Federal regulations could not be ignored as the IRS would likely face immediate legal challenge for enforcing non-compliant regulations<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—</span>the awards based on non-compliant guidelines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Let<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">'</span>s examine how these non-compliant child support guidelines will create regulatory problems for the IRS unless resolved first. Let<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">'</span>s look at one of the more basic regulations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1990, CFR required that states base guidelines on<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—</span>among other factors<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—</span>a non-custodial parent<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">'</span>s basic living needs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many states, however, do not have non-custodial income guaranteed for at least poverty level existence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, Georgia has the same before-tax percentages for child support for an obligor earning $800 a month as for an obligor earning $6,000 per month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An obligor in Georgia (and in many other states) earning modestly above the poverty level is pushed below the poverty level by presumptive child support obligations and is forced to make a choice between eating to survive and not making full payment on child support.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lack of state compliance with CFR creates this alleged deadbeat parent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would the IRS be able to enforce such a guideline when not meeting Federal regulations?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA) sets limits for debtors on garnishment by their employers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wage withholding generally does not exceed 25 percent of after-tax income unless there are child support or alimony withholdings in which case employer withholding can go up to 50 percent of after-tax income (the percentage rises somewhat when there are arrears).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Federal regulations have required states to enact statutes or regulations that employers cannot exceed these percentages for child support withholdings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, Federal regulations do not require that presumptive child support guidelines and awards comply with the CCPA<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—</span>only the withholdings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This means arrears develop when awards exceed CCPA ceilings on withholdings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, a number of states do not constrain child support guidelines to fall under the CCPA ceilings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Georgia, for example, has <u>presumptive</u> awards that exceed CCPA ceilings when the obligor makes as low as $3,100 per month gross for 5 children cases and $4,500 month gross for 4 children cases.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is for a basic award and does not include add-ons, such as medical insurance, which push the gross income levels lower for which presumptive awards exceed CCPA ceilings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Further problems arise when obligor income falls after presumptive awards are set and courts refuse to downward modify obligations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would the IRS be allowed to enforce child support awards that exceed CCPA limits?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Other CCPA issues have not been resolved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most realize that the CCPA sets limits on withholding as a percentage of after-tax income.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Few realize that the CCPA exempts the first<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> "</span>30 times minimum wage" weekly earnings for standard types of debt payment withholdings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is intended to help guarantee subsistence income.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, this exemption does not apply for child support withholdings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no subsistence earnings guarantee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As long as the percent requirement is met, the wage earner can still be left with almost no take home pay after child support withholdings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How can subsistence earnings be protected for one type of creditor but not another?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is the rational basis for this distinction?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will the IRS become embroiled in equal protection issues again because of inconsistencies in the CCPA?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Federal regulations require that child support guidelines be based on economic data.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is intended to ensure that both custodial parents and non-custodial parents are treated fairly in these matters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, no child support guidelines implemented by the states are truly based on data on child costs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some states such as Wisconsin and Georgia simply took welfare case guidelines (fixed before-tax percentages that are high to reflect child costs high share of expenses at low incomes) and applied them to all income situations<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—</span>even in the context of rapidly rising income taxes.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2110187955445777124#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[4]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In these states, it has been documented that in most situations, the custodial parent ends up with a presumptively notably higher standard of living than the non-custodial parent—even when the custodial parent earns significantly less than the non-custodial parent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Supreme Court of Oregon issued an opinion that welfare case guidelines are inappropriate for non-welfare situations.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2110187955445777124#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[5]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will the IRS face constitutional challenges for attempting to enforce guidelines that have no rational economic basis<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—</span>such as welfare percentages applied to high-income cases?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Other states have taken guidelines from studies allegedly based on child costs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So-called income-shares states do not base their guidelines on actual expenditures on child costs but are instead based on indirect measures of child costs. This may come as a shock to some, but income-shares guideline states use guidelines that are based on comparisons of <u>adult</u> consumption of alcohol, tobacco, and adult clothing in intact households<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">—</span>not child expenditures. This methodology estimates the income needed to restore the custodial parent’s standard of living after supporting children by restoring certain discretionary prior adult consumption—specifically for the above-mentioned adult goods.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>This indirect measure is used to award “child support” so as to cover the full cost of raising children and to restore the adult lifestyle to its pre-divorce level for an <u>intact</u> household.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The adult lifestyle-restoration bias has the effect of incorporating an alimony component into child support plus it ignores the added overhead for non-intact families.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In turn, with these types of guidelines the custodial parent at moderately low to moderately high incomes generally has the higher standard of living than the non-custodial parent—assuming that child support can and is paid.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2110187955445777124#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[6]</span></span></span></span></a> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Essentially, we are judging child support compliance on badly estimated and inflated measures of child costs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reports of non-compliance<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>may look especially high for states which do not incorporate self-support reserve<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>components into their guidelines as required by Federal regulations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those states are failing to assure that obligors can actually afford to support themselves while paying presumptive child support awards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Next, the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) requires that all implementations of Federal regulations have a stated “basis and purpose.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without Administrative Procedure Act-compliant guidelines, validity of the orders that the <span style="text-transform: uppercase;">irs</span> seeks to enforce may be subject to Federal court challenges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many states have enacted guidelines without complying with APA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, Georgia’s statements concerning child support guidelines appear to lack any basis showing how the state considered<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“the cost of raising children” as required by Federal Regulations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No economic basis is stated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no explicit economic basis for rebutting the presumptive awards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The state of Georgia expresses no requirement that “child support” monies be used for the benefit of the children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because Georgia gives no guidance—as is required under APA, these transfer payments that are characterized as “child support” may or may not trickle down to the children, but no one–neither the father nor the children–has any standing to sue for an accounting of use of the funds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since many states such as Georgia do not have a stated basis and purpose, the IRS may have difficulty enforcing these guidelines until such time states are forced to comply with APA.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Other complications would arise for the IRS as child support enforcement agent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The IRS would become holder of records for child support cases.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a matter of due process, parties in child support cases enforced by the IRS would be entitled to access to IRS records.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Likely, IRS confidentiality would be compromised as a legal right for parties involved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The IRS clearly would be subject to standard requests for disclosure for court and perhaps FOIA requests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The IRS would regularly be put on the witness stand to disclose its records and practices—including for IRS records for child support purposes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It does not appear that the IRS would be able to continue its current policies of confidentiality should the IRS become chief enforcer for child support.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Before the IRS is assigned child support enforcement duties, these state compliance lapses should be addressed so as to prevent embroiling the IRS in conflicts grounded in failures to comply with Federal regulations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More importantly, forcing states to comply with current Federal regulations would solve most of the child support enforcement problems and preclude the need for building a huge and expensive administrative agency within the IRS that would duplicate existing agencies at the state level and at DHHS.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>However, should the IRS be granted this authority, I believe it is important that child support obligors be given a bill of rights analogous to a tax payer bill of rights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve brought a draft version for your consideration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Madame Chair and committee members, thank you for your attentiveness and thank you again for allowing me this opportunity to speak.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If any member has any questions, I will be happy to answer them now or wait upon your bidding.</div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br clear="all" style="page-break-before: always;" /></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">ADDENDUM:</b></div><h1 style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">A CHILD SUPPORT PAYER’S<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>BILL OF RIGHTS</span></h1><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Use of Child Support</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Child support shall be used solely for support of the child, not support of the parent’s lifestyle.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">II.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Calculation of Child Support</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Generally Accepted Cost Accounting Principles shall be employed in developing child support guidelines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Child support estimates shall be based on the incremental cost of supporting a child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those cost estimates shall control the finder of fact in determining the amount of child support to be allocated between the parents.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Individualized estimates of child support to be awarded shall employ Generally Accepted Cost Accounting Principles and shall be based on the incremental costs of supporting the child. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>If a parent has multiple children from multiple marriages, child support shall be calculated only on the incremental cost of supporting each child.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Child support shall not reduce a parent’s income to a level that entitles that parent to any form of need-tested government entitlement.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>A non-parent shall not collect more child support from both parents than either parent would be obliged to pay separately.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">III.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who Shall Pay Child Support</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l10 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Child support may not be imposed on any individual other than the biological father or mother or an adoptive parent. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l10 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>No parent who has been shown by DNA testing to not be the father shall be obliged to pay child support for that child.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">IV.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Payment through a Financial Intermediary</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo6; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Child support shall be treated as any conventional debtor-creditor relationship.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo6; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Separation of duties shall be accomplished by utilizing lockbox, automatic transfer, or other commercial banking services to receive and deposit funds.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo6; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Funds shall be handled in accordance with good fund accounting practice and with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo6; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Child support collection operations shall comply with all statutes and regulations that apply to financial intermediaries in general.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo6; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>All payments received shall be credited to the obligor’s account within two business days and posted as of the date received.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo6; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>The obligor may direct application of payments:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The recordkeeper shall apply payments to current and past obligations as directed in writing by the obligor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those writings shall be accepted and acted upon as if they were endorsements to a financial instrument as described in the Uniform Commercial Code whether the obligor pays directly or through some intermediary, e.g., through income deduction.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo6; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>All funds received by a child support receiver or its contractor by 2 PM shall be assembled into a deposit to a commercial bank and physically deposited in that bank the same day. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo6; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>All payments shall be disbursed within two business days.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo6; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>No child support payment may be deposited to any account where it might be commingled with any funds excepting other child support payments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo6; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">10.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Child support collection activities and workers shall be subject to fiduciary obligations as they apply in general to governmental officers or employees who handle or control funds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All individuals who handle or control funds shall be bonded in the same manner and amounts as other government officials and employees with similar fund handling duties.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo6; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">11.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>An arms-length relationship shall be maintained between the organization that receives, posts, and disburses payments and the organization that enforces collections.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo6; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">12.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Upon inception of any child support order requiring payment through any financial intermediary, and upon any change of organizational address or telephone number of the organization(s) (governmental office or contractor) that maintain(s) records of that payor’s payments received, application of those payments to obligations, and disbursement of payments to the ordered recipient, the obligor shall be notified of the identity of the organization(s) which maintain(s) authoritative records of that information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo6; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">13.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>The obligor shall be notified at inception, and upon any change, of the address for mail and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in-person requests, and phone numbers for telephonic and (if available) facsimile<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>requests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The recordkeeping organization shall accept written requests for information telephonically, by in-person delivery and by facsimile transmission during their entire working day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mail delivery by U.S. Postal Service employees directly to the recordkeeping unit shall be maintained.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo6; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">14.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>The obligor shall, on request, be permitted to inspect and optionally, to copy, a history of posting dates and amounts of child support payments posted, application of those payments to current and past-due obligations, and amounts and dates of payments disbursed to the recipient in the most concise form available to the recordkeeper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For any account paid through income deduction, the recordkeeper shall retain and permit inspection and permit copying at no charge of the employer’s transmittal letters detailing payments remitted on the employee’s behalf. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo6; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">15.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>If the child support recordkeeping organization is unable to provide employer transmittal letters, the employer shall, at the obligor’s request, provide copies of transmittal letters and canceled remittance checks endorsed by the child support receiving organization within 7 working days after the request.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">V.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Collection Operation Audit</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Each such individual child support recordkeeping unit (including all contractors) shall operate in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and individual obligors accounts shall be audited annually applying<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Standards for Audit of Governmental Organizations, Programs, Activities and Functions,” issued by the U.S. Comptroller General and, supplementally, state administrative policies and procedures manuals.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>A separate annual audit shall be performed at each child support recordkeeping location of individual obligor accounts, using those same definitions and requirements. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The audit shall be unannounced and shall test the timeliness and accuracy of posting of obligations and payments, and of disbursement of remittances to obligees, and accuracy of obligor’s account balances and transactions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Substantive tests of balances and transactions shall be performed in sufficient number to support an opinion based on an estimate to a 95% confidence level of the maximum number of accounts in which errors will be found and the percentage such number of accounts bear to the total number of currently active accounts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Substantive tests shall be performed to estimate the average and maximum days from receipt of a payment to posting for each recordkeeping location to a 95% confidence level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For all locations for which obligees disbursements are issued, one hundred percent testing by EDP auditing shall be performed to determine the average and maximum days from posting of a payment to its disbursement for each recordkeeping location.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>An audit report and management letter incorporating recommended improvements shall be issued for each recordkeeping location.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A copy of all audit reports and management letters shall be made available for inspection at the recordkeeping location upon walk-in request during regular working hours and copies shall be made available to the general public at a cost no higher than that charged for FOIA requests.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Certified copies of such records of obligations, payments and application of payments maintained by a recordkeeping location for which an audit in each of the two previous years estimates errors of less than 1% to a confidence level of 95% shall, without further proof, be admitted into evidence in any legal proceeding in this state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Records showing a failure to meet these standards shall be admissible in court in support of a defense of inaccurate recordkeeping.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together; page-break-after: avoid;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">VI.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Child Support Determination</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo7; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>There shall be no ex parte child support decisions.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo7; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>A parent is entitled to a jury trial in a request for modification of child support.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo7; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together; page-break-after: avoid; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Child support obligations shall not be exempt from generalized statutes of limitations.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">VII.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alternative Payment Arrangements</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Both parents may agree to binding arbitration in any matter concerning child support by any individual who is not a government employee or grantee directly or indirectly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That arbitration shall be binding upon the courts and child support collection and enforcement personnel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Parents may agree to direct child support payments without the intervention of any governmental collection process.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Payers shall be permitted to authorize any federally insured financial institution to automatically deduct child support that may be disbursed either directly to the recipient or to another (government-sponsored) financial intermediary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">VIII.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Income Deduction Orders and Implementation</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo10; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>An income deduction order shall not emanate from a criminal proceeding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Child support is a civil obligation.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo10; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>The term of an income deduction orders shall not extend beyond the term of the underlying obligation.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo10; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>There shall be no statutory exclusion of defenses to income deduction orders.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo10; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>The payor shall be notified in the manner of personal service two weeks before an employer is notified of an income deduction order.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo10; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>An employer may not take any action against an employee because of an income deduction order.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo10; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Existence of an income deduction order may not be inquired about nor taken into consideration in hiring decisions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo10; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>While an income deduction order is subject to appeal, all funds deducted shall be held in escrow pending a final determination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo10; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>The income deduction order shall state all fees or interest that have accrued and shall be accompanied by a computation of the components of those amounts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo10; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Proof of deduction from a paycheck shall be a complete defense to non-payment by the obligor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Proof of remittance shall be a complete defense to non-payment by the employer.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo10; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">10.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Employers shall permit employees to inspect and copy records of withholding and remittance of child support withheld from the employee no less than once per year and whenever an allegation arises as to status of child support.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo10; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">11.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Annotations on pay stubs shall clearly indicate “child support” so as to facilitate legal defense.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo10; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">12.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Child support payments in controversy may be collected but shall be held in escrow until the controversy is resolved.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">IX.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Enforcement</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Administrative Procedures prescribed by HHS OCSE publication “Essentials for Attorneys in Child Support Enforcement” shall be employed. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Any notice issued in enforcement of child support obligations shall be accompanied by a summary of obligations met and unmet, payment history, and application of payments sufficient to permit a finder of fact to review the relevant transactions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Obligors in arrears shall be notified if the arrearage exceeds one month’s obligation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The arrearage shall be treated as unknown to the obligor until notified by certified mail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>In addition to any other adjudicatory authority, an adjudicatory officer with the authority to temporarily restore license privileges shall be available in the same times and business locations as is authority to issue an arrest warrant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>No government employee or contractor may act in a matter of law on behalf of a parent who is not a current recipient of needs-tested governmental entitlement.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Payers and recipients files shall be merged and both parties shall have access to all contents of the merged file.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Warrantless searches for financial information shall not be permitted in the context of child support.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Financial institutions shall not divulge information without a court order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Financial institutions shall not divulge under the guise of child support enforcement any personal financial information concerning persons merely alleged to owe child support or persons who are not alleged to owe child support.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Levies upon property shall not issue without notice and hearing.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Collection organizations shall be liable for withdrawal penalties and loss in market value in the case of unjustified liquidation of financial instruments, securities, and accounts.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">10.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>No license may be revoked or suspended without personal service on the licensee nor without hearing and a showing of arrearage at the time of the hearing.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">X.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paternity</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>Accused fathers shall have access to all DNA testing work product and shall be permitted to obtain an opinion by an analyst of their choice as to the indications of that test.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That analyst shall be permitted to testify.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An accused father shall be entitled to a jury trial.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">XI.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Enforcement of These Rights</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo11; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span>A child support recipient and a child support obligor shall be entitled to take legal action in any court of record in the state in which an alleged violation occurs.</div><div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><br clear="all" /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2110187955445777124#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a> <span style="letter-spacing: -0.15pt;">The speaker presents this testimony as an expert as a member of the 1998 Georgia Commission on Child Support (not necessarily representing other commissioners' views) and as an economist published on child costs and other areas of economics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Presenter’s email: rmrogers@mindspring.com.</span></div></div><div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2110187955445777124#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.15pt;">Ankenbrandt v. Richards</span></i><span style="letter-spacing: -0.15pt;">, 112 S.Ct. 2206 (1992).</span></div></div><div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2110187955445777124#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a> See specifically 45 CFR 302.56.</div></div><div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: -1.0in -.5in .05pt .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in 13.5in 14.0in 14.5in 15.0in 15.5in 16.0in 16.5in 17.0in 17.5in 18.0in 18.5in; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2110187955445777124#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[4]</span></span></span></span></a> R. Mark Rogers, "Minority Report of the Georgia Commission on Child Support,” July 1, 1998.</div></div><div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2110187955445777124#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[5]</span></span></span></span></a> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Smith v. Smith</i>, 626 P2d 342 (1980).</div></div><div id="ftn6" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2110187955445777124#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[6]</span></span></span></span></a> R. Mark Rogers, "Wisconsin-Style and Income Shares Child Support Guidelines: Excessive Burdens and Flawed Economic Foundation," <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Family Law Quarterly</i>, Spring 1999, pp.141-162.</div></div></div><div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><br clear="all" /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;"><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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</script></div>Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09005103956367713473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2110187955445777124.post-3265203758987832302011-07-29T20:13:00.000-04:002011-07-29T20:13:57.116-04:00Hyde-Woolsey Child Support Bill- Oral Testimony<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: center 3.25in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 15pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Oral Testimony:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>COMMENTS on HR 1488</span></b>,</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in; text-align: center;">The<span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">A</span>Hyde-Woolsey Child Support Bill,<span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">@</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in; text-align: center;">presented to the </div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in; text-align: center;">Human Resources Subcommittee of the</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in; text-align: center;">House Ways and Means Committee</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in; text-align: center;">March 16, 2000</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: center 3.25in; text-align: center;">R. Mark Rogers<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2110187955445777124#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Thank you, Madam Chair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a formality, the following are my personal views and do not in any way reflect those of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta nor the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">'</span><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">m here as a professional economist—one who was a member of the 1998 Georgia Commission on Child Support and is familiar with the economics and the regulations regarding child support.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am a split custody parent and am familiar with the needs of both custodial and non-custodial parents.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The key concerns I have about HR 1488 are: the bill's apparent lack of constitutionality, the need for regulatory compliance by states and the IRS, the IRS' loss of confidentiality, the unintended political developments, and the loss of a broad appreciation non-custodial parent needs for their children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>First, does the Federal government have authority to broadly transfer child support enforcement from the states to a Federal agency?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Under the Tenth Amendment, governance of domestic relations generally is reserved to the states.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Specifically, the issuance or modification of marriage, divorce, award of child support, or of alimony are reserved solely for the states as spelled out in U.S. Supreme Court decisions such as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ankenbrandt v. Richard<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2110187955445777124#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title="">s</a></i>.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2110187955445777124#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 13pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>On another constitutional issue, states have different child support guidelines and each state enforces its own guidelines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the IRS is given national child support enforcement responsibility, will the IRS be open to complaints of violations of equal protection?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In contrast, the IRS does not impose different income tax rates on different states.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Next, under Federal/state financial agreements, states are to have met Federal regulations regarding the nature of the guidelines and protections for obligors but no state has completely done so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only should these issues be resolved before transferring authority to the IRS, but resolving these regulatory issues is likely the best solution for child support compliance problems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a Federal agency, the IRS would not be able to dodge lack of compliance with Federal regulations as states have.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The IRS would face legal challenges in the following areas: (1) child support guidelines should be rational and based on economic data for child costs but are not; (2) guidelines are supposed to take into account basic living needs of an obligor but often do not and push obligors below the poverty level; (3) employers are forbidden from withholding child support that exceeds limits set by the Consumer Credit Protection Act but guidelines do exceed those ceilings in some states; (4) child support obligors are not given the same subsistence protection that other debtors are given under the CCPA, likely violating equal protection; (5) guidelines that the IRS would be enforcing are supposed to comply with the Administrative Procedure Act but generally do not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a nationwide enforcer that is directly required to comply with Federal regulations, the IRS would face many legal challenges attempting to enforce non-compliant state laws.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Next, as holder of record for child support cases, the IRS would lose confidentiality of taxpayer files.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a matter of due process, parties in child support cases enforced by the IRS would be entitled to access to IRS records through standard requests for disclosure for court.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Finally, there is the broad issue of the IRS not addressing both parents' needs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Placing child support enforcement under the jurisdiction of the IRS would be a move that runs counter to the recent and long overdue trend to look at child support enforcement as just one facet of children's needs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Focusing on collections alone is not in the best interests of children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After two decades of educating HHS, that department in the last few years has acknowledged that the whole picture needs to be addressed—including the need for children to be nurtured by non-custodial parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Visitation access programs, parenting skills classes, job training, and mediation programs have been initiated by HHS and these would be lost by focusing only on collections through the IRS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Non-custodial parents will be seen as only a checking account.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Instead, the IRS would be viewed by non-custodial parents as siding with custodial parents and not neutral.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The IRS would see the political needs of custodial parents as being in the IRS</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">'</span><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">s interests in terms of maintaining or expanding its role.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do not believe this Congress should set in motion these political developments with the IRS—that of the IRS attaching itself to the politics of custodial mothers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This politicizing of the IRS would reduce the credibility of the IRS in its more traditional role of collecting general revenues for the Federal government.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>However, should the IRS be granted this authority, I believe it is important that child support obligors be given a bill of rights analogous to a tax payer bill of rights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve brought a draft version for your consideration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: -.5in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Thank you for your attentiveness.</span></div><div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><br clear="all" /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2110187955445777124#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a> <span style="letter-spacing: -0.15pt;">The speaker presents this testimony as an expert as a member of the 1998 Georgia Commission on Child Support (not necessarily representing other commissioners' views) and as an economist published on child costs and other areas of economics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Presenter’s email: rmrogers@mindspring.com.</span></div></div><div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2110187955445777124#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.15pt;">Ankenbrandt v. Richards</span></i><span style="letter-spacing: -0.15pt;">, 112 S.Ct. 2206 (1992).</span></div></div></div><div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><br clear="all" /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;"><div class="MsoEndnoteText" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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<tr style="height: 27.35pt; mso-yfti-irow: 2;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; height: 27.35pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">New York, New York USA : Simon & Schuster, © 2001</span></div></td></tr>
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<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Book 256 pp</span></div></td><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ISBN-13: 9780684849577<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ISBN: 0684849577</span></span></b></div></td></tr>
<tr style="height: 97pt; mso-yfti-irow: 6; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;"><td colspan="2" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; height: 97pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 6.65in;" valign="top" width="638"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Synopsis</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #8064a2; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #8064A2; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent4; mso-themecolor: accent4;">I</span></b>t's a bad time to be a boy in America. As the century drew to a close, the defining event for American girls was the triumph of the U.S. women's soccer team. For boys, the symbolic event was the mass killing at Columbine High School. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #8064a2; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #8064A2; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent4; mso-themecolor: accent4;">I</span></b>t would seem that boys in our society are greatly at risk. Yet the best-known studies and the academic experts say that it's girls who are suffering from a decline in self-esteem. It's girls, they say, who need extra help in school and elsewhere in a society that favors boys. The problem with boys is that they are boys, say the experts. We need to change their nature. We have to make them more like...girls. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">T</b>hese arguments don't hold up to scrutiny, says Christina Hoff Sommers in this provocative, fascinating book. She analyzes the work of the leading academic experts, Carol Gilligan and William Pollack, and finds it lacking in scientific rigor. There is no girl crisis, says Sommers. Girls are outperforming boys academically, and girls' self-esteem is no different from boys'. Boys lag behind girls in reading and writing ability, and they are less likely to go to college. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #8064a2; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #8064A2; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent4; mso-themecolor: accent4;">T</span></b>he "girl crisis" has been seized upon by some feminists and has been suffused with sexual politics. Under the guise of helping girls, many schools have adopted policies that penalize boys, often for simply being masculine. Sommer says that boys do need help, but not the sort they've been getting. They need help catching up with girls academically. They need love, discipline, respect, and moral guidance. They desperately need understanding. They do not need to be rescued from masculinity.<span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #8064a2; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #8064A2; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent4; mso-themecolor: accent4;">S</span></b><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ommer (Who Stole Feminism?) pulls no punches in this critique of the current crop of "crisis" studies about boys. Methodically analyzing and dismantling what she calls the "myth of shortchanged girls" as well as the "new and equally corrosive fiction that boys as a group are disturbed"--theories she calls "speculative psychology"--she bolsters her findings with extensive footnotes and data from such sources as the U.S. Department of Education. Sommers's conclusions are compelling and deserve an unbiased hearing, particularly since they are at odds with conventional wisdom that paints girls as victimized and boys as emotionally repressed. "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Routinely regarded as protosexists, potential harassers and perpetuators of gender inequity, boys live under a cloud of censure</i>," she writes, going on to show how they are also falling behind academically in an educational system that currently devotes more attention to the needs of girls. Pointing out that "Mother Nature is not a feminist," she also dismisses the current vogue to "feminize" boys, calling social androgyny a "well-intentioned but ill-conceived reform." Instead, Sommers champions "the reality that boys and girls are different, that each sex has its distinctive strengths and graces." Sure to kick up dust in the highly charged gender debates, Sommers's book is at its best when coolly debunking theories she contends are based on distorted research and skewed data, but descends into pettiness when she indulges in mudslinging at her opponents. Perhaps the most informed study yet in this area, this engrossing book sheds light on a controversial subject. It deserves close reading by parents, educators and anyone interested in raising healthy, successful children of both sexes. (July) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information. – Publishers Weekly</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I</i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ts's 2011 and The War Against Boys is still smoldering. The suicide rate, the rate of incarceration, the number of Boys under medication, the number of Boys who dropout, </i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The number of Males entering Collage and now the number of Males out of work in every category Males in this Country are in deep trouble and we as a Country are not better for it. Thank you Ms Sommers for the Clarion Call.</i> – Paper Pusher Mom<span style="font-family: "Verdana", "sans-serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=daofmi-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=0684849577&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe></div></td></tr>
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</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">(</span><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941)</span></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_tqq31p="178" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span></b></div><b><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell</span></b><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Merit" title="Order of Merit">OM</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_St_Michael_and_St_George" title="Order of St Michael and St George">GCMG</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Victorian_Order" title="Royal Victorian Order">GCVO</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Bath" title="Order of the Bath">KCB</a> , also known as <b>B-P</b> or <b>Lord Baden-Powell</b>, was a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenant-General_(UK)" title="Lieutenant-General (UK)">lieutenant-general</a> in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Army" title="British Army">British Army</a>, writer, and founder of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scouting" title="Scouting">Scout Movement</a>.</span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">After having been educated at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charterhouse_School" title="Charterhouse School">Charterhouse School</a>, Baden-Powell served in the British Army from 1876 until 1910 in India and Africa. In 1899, during the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Boer_War" title="Second Boer War">Second Boer War</a> in South Africa, Baden-Powell successfully defended the town in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Mafeking" title="Siege of Mafeking">Siege of Mafeking</a>. Several of his military books, written for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military" title="Military">military</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconnaissance" title="Reconnaissance">reconnaissance</a> and scout training in his African years, were also read by boys. Based on those earlier books, he wrote <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scouting_for_Boys" title="Scouting for Boys">Scouting for Boys</a></i>, published in 1908 by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Arthur_Pearson,_1st_Baronet" title="Sir Arthur Pearson, 1st Baronet">Pearson</a>, for youth readership. During writing, he tested his ideas through a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownsea_Island_Scout_camp" title="Brownsea Island Scout camp">camping trip on Brownsea Island</a> with the local <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boys%27_Brigade" title="Boys' Brigade">Boys' Brigade</a> and sons of his friends that began on 1 August 1907, which is now seen as the beginning of Scouting (Boy Scouts).</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Baden-Powell,_1st_Baron_Baden-Powell"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Baden-Powell,_1st_Baron_Baden-Powell</span></a></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" closure_uid_tqq31p="151" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span closure_uid_tqq31p="168" style="color: #9bbb59; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #9BBB59; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent3; mso-themecolor: accent3;"><span style="color: #274e13;">Boy Scouts of America find a Unit near you:</span> </span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #c0504d; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #C0504D; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent2; mso-themecolor: accent2;"><a href="http://www.beascout.org/"><span style="color: windowtext;"><span style="color: windowtext;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">http://www.beascout.org</span></span></span></a></span></b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></b></div><div closure_uid_tqq31p="147"><script type="text/javascript">
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<div closure_uid_p7zzzr="184"><span style="color: purple;">H</span>e asked about, then listened to the response of, an Italian astronaut grieving the recent death of his mother.</div>My last question is for Paolo. Dear Paolo, I know that your Mother passed away recently and that when you get back home in a few days she will not be there to greet you. We are all close to you in your loss, and I personally have prayed for her. How did you cope with this sorrowful time? In your space station, do you feel alone, separated and cut off, or do you feel united among yourselves and part of a community that accompanies you with attention and affection?<br />
<span style="color: purple;">H</span>oly Father, I’ve felt your prayers, your prayers even now: it’s true, we are away from this world, orbiting around the earth and having a vantage-point of looking upon the earth and feeling all that’s happening on it. My colleagues here aboard the station — Dimitri, Kelly, Ron, Alexander and Andrei — have been close in this important, very intense, time for me, just as my siblings, my aunts, cousins and relatives were close to my mother in her last moments. I’m grateful for all this. I’ve felt myself far, but also very close, and surely the thought of feeling all you close to me, closely united in this moment, has been an extreme comfort. I also thank the European and American space agencies which made their resources available so I could talk to my mother in her last hours alive.<br />
<div closure_uid_p7zzzr="185"><span style="color: purple;">H</span>is question is beautiful, as is the response.</div>It made me realize that – though I may recognize my children’s suffering – I do not always respond the way the Holy Father did.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://www.catholicdadsonline.org/posts/8201/pope-benedict-xvi-and-a-tender-question-to-an-astronaut/"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.catholicdadsonline.org/posts/8201/pope-benedict-xvi-and-a-tender-question-to-an-astronaut/</span></a></div><div closure_uid_p7zzzr="148"><script type="text/javascript">
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On the one hand, research suggests that there is nothing uniquely Jewish about</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: Times-Roman; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">this dynamic; boys and men are less involved in most religions. We recognize also that</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: Times-Roman; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">the implications of this gender dynamics are open to interpretation. For example, is this a problem that must be solved? A fact of life simply to be noted? A key into</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: Times-Roman; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">understanding some historical trend?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: Times-Roman; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As professional Jewish educators, we see this dynamic as representing—at the</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: Times-Roman; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">very least—a challenge. If our purpose is to ensure that the next generation of Jews</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: Times-Roman; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">remains connected and committed to Judaism, and that Judaism is available to help boys</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: Times-Roman; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">become healthy men, then this gender differential merits some disciplined attention.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: Times-Roman; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">How can the Jewish community be more effective in enrolling and engaging adolescent</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: Times-Roman; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">boys? Why do the boys who currently show up choose to show up? Across both secular</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: Times-Roman; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">and Jewish youth organizations, what are intriguing practices related to working with</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: Times-Roman; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">boys?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: Times-Roman; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">With this component of our research, we set out to find some answers to these</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: Times-Roman; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">questions.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: Times-Roman; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">For this research, we interviewed directors or experienced program staff from</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: Times-Roman; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">nine different youth programs. Our criteria for inclusion in this study were as follows:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Times-Roman; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman;">1) </span><i><span style="font-family: Times-Italic; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Italic;">Works with Boys: </span></i><span style="font-family: Times-Roman; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman;">The program works with adolescent boys anywhere in the</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Times-Roman; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">range of grades 6 to 12, either exclusively or in a coeducational context.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: Times-Roman; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Times-Roman;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The full 47 page Report is available here as a PDF:</span></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://www.movingtraditions.org/images/stories/on_working_with_boys.pdf"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.movingtraditions.org/images/stories/on_working_with_boys.pdf</span></a></div><div closure_uid_a6fpd9="145"><script type="text/javascript">
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Mark Rogers</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Introductory Comment</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Georgia has a peculiar model of child support guidelines. Reasonably, however,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Georgia’s guidelines are based on a percentage of income that varies according to the number of</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">children. But oddly, just the non-custodial parent’s income is considered and, even stranger, the</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">percentage is fixed for all levels of income and on a before-tax basis. In complete contrast to all</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">known economic studies on consumer spending behavior, application of Georgia’s guidelines</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">leads to the curious result that a non-custodial parent’s child support obligation rises as a share of</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">after-tax income. In turn, after-tax obligations become bizarrely high. For example, a before-tax</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">obligation for two children of 25 percent of obligor income translates into about a 40 percent</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">after-tax obligation for moderately high incomes.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Only about a dozen states use a percent of obligor-only income model. Even fewer use</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">one on a before-tax basis as Georgia does. Additionally, some of these states use an obligor-only</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">model that severely restricts application to a ceiling level of child support award. Georgia is one</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">of less than a handful of states that use such a simplistic, before-tax, income-of-obligor-only</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">model as it does. Notably and in contrast, about thirty-five states base their child support</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">guidelines on both parents’ income and have presumptive awards that decline as percentages of</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">combined income and take into account special needs at the poverty level. Curiously, the</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Federal Advisory Panel on Child Support recommended against using the type of guidelines that</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Georgia adopted in 1989 and currently uses. Curiously, Georgia’s guidelines go against the</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">recommendations of those conducting the original economic study allegedly underlying</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Georgia’s guidelines. In contrast to popular myth, in most situations Georgia’s guidelines have</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">been shown statistically to leave the non-custodial parent with a lower standard of living than the</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">custodial parent household.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The Minority agrees, as discussed below, with the vast majority of attorneys surveyed for</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">this Commission that Georgia’s child support guidelines should be changed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The report, as a PDF, can be found here:</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://westmichigandad.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/gaminority-rogers.pdf">http://westmichigandad.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/gaminority-rogers.pdf</a></span></i></div><div closure_uid_pwy3xe="145"><script type="text/javascript">
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</script></div></div>Dadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09005103956367713473noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2110187955445777124.post-84197732048731302012011-07-28T15:35:00.000-04:002011-07-28T15:35:43.536-04:00Why Georgia’s Child Support-Economic Exhibits<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman,Bold", "serif"; font-size: 15.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "TimesNewRoman,Bold";">©</span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 13pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">R. Mark Rogers</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">Economic Consulting</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">GuidelineEconomics.com</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman,Bold", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "TimesNewRoman,Bold";">Introduction</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">Georgia’s child support guidelines originally began as guidelines intended to be used only in</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">welfare situations in order to recover from fathers the welfare payments given to unwed mothers.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">These welfare guidelines were in use during the 1980s for welfare cases involving child support</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">and handled by the Georgia Department of Human Resources. These guidelines—except for the</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">range of percentages—were in general use for welfare cases by the Georgia Department of</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">Human Resources as indicated in grant applications to the U.S. Department of Health and</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">Human Services for child support incentive funds. In 1989, the Georgia Department of Human</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">Resources asked that the welfare case child support guidelines be enacted for overall child</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">support cases. But are Georgia’s child support guidelines rational, based on sound economic</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">principles? Are the guidelines economically fair and appropriate or do they create extraordinary</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">benefits and extraordinary burdens? In fact, as shown below, the guidelines are not economically</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">rational and indeed do create extraordinary benefits and burdens. Does the lack of a rational,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">economic basis and the existence of extraordinary burdens and benefits form a factual basis for a</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">constitutional challenge to these guidelines?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">First, what do Federal regulations require of states when establishing child support guidelines?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">Separate from the requirement that the obligor’s income be a factor in determining the award,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">there have been two basic economic requirements (many in terms of procedure) and one very</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">specific numeric requirement related to equal protection. The Code of Federal Regulations</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">(CFR) in 1988 required that the basic living needs of the obligor (non-custodial parent—or noncustodial</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">parent) be taken into account and that the guidelines be economically appropriate. See</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">45 CFR 302.53 (1988) and 45 CFR 302.56.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">The intent of Georgia's child support guidelines being found in federal regulations can be</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">corroborated from additional sources. In “Evaluation of Child Support Guidelines,” U.S.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">Department of Health and Human Services, March 1996, in Chapter 1, page 3, the U.S.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">Department of Health and Human Services specifically states that regarding state guidelines,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">“their applications result in the determination of appropriate child support awards” and reviews</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">must be based on “economic data.” This shows that guidelines must reflect child cost patterns</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">shown in economic data in order to be appropriate. It follows that child support guidelines that</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">follows no known child cost pattern cannot result in appropriate child support awards.</span><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 8pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">1</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 7pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">1</span><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">Federal case law indicates that the federal intent for child support guidelines supercedes any state intent.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">The U.S Court of Appeals—among other federal courts—has published opinion that when states engage</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">in program agreements with the federal government, federal regulations supercede not just state rules and</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">regulations but also related state statutes. A key opinion is </span><i><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman,Italic", "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "TimesNewRoman,Italic";">Jackson v. Rapps</span></i><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">, U.S. Court of Appeals for</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">the Eight Circuit, October 17, 1991. 947 F.2d 332. This case specifically addressed child support</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">program regulations. It follows that the federal regulation defines the intent of state child support</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">guidelines because of the supremacy clause. There is a long list of case law to substantiate this.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">Recently, from the issues of the last presidential election regarding federal regulation of overseas ballots,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">the case of </span><i><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman,Italic", "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "TimesNewRoman,Italic";">Robert Harris, et all, v. Florida Elections Canvassing Commission, et al.</span></i><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">, United States</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Tallahassee Division, Case No. 4:00cv459, December</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">9, 2000 was important. This case stated that federal regulations supercede state law and that a state</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">regulation implemented to cure a defect in complying with federal regulation supercedes the state law in</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">which that state regulation may conflict.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">R. Mark Rogers, “Why Georgia’s Child Support Guidelines Are Unconstitutional” © - 2 -</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">Two basic questions for evaluating Georgia’s guidelines to determine if they meet the intended</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">purpose is whether basic living needs of the non-custodial parent are part of the guidelines and</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">whether the guidelines result in economically appropriate awards. Importantly, if the guidelines</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">do not result in economically appropriate awards, then the guidelines are unconstitutional</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">because they do not result in the intended purpose. This issue can be restated in terms of the</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">question, "Are the guidelines rationally related to child costs as they are incurred by each parent</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">while providing for the financial needs of the child?"</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">Equal protection is an issue subsumed within the question of whether the guidelines are</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">economically appropriate. Child costs are fungible between parents. The child has the same type</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">of financial needs when in the care of either parent. There is no economic distinction between a</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">child expenditure incurred by a custodial parent versus that incurred by a non-custodial parent—</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">other than the amount incurred. The child is equally entitled to support when in the care of either</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">parent and both parents have equal legal responsibility for supplying financial resources for</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">meeting these costs. The equal protection issue, therefore, has two facets: the guidelines</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">requiring each parent to contribute financial resources with equal responsibility commensurate</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">with that parent's financial resources and the guidelines requiring that the child costs of each</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">parent receives equal consideration for support by the other parent.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">Nationwide, the federal Family Support Act of 1988 has led all states to adopt various types of</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">generic child support guidelines which operate on various broad assumptions about obligor and</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">obligee economic circumstances. These guidelines have never been explicitly scrutinized for</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">meeting standards for constitutionally sound guidelines. However, prior to the adoption of these</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">generic guidelines, some states did issue specific criteria for a constitutionally sound child</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">support award process or guideline.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;">The forensic economic evidence is contained in a PDF located here:</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "TimesNewRoman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRoman;"><a href="http://westmichigandad.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/gaexhibits-rogers1.pdf">http://westmichigandad.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/gaexhibits-rogers1.pdf</a></span></i></div><script type="text/javascript">
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Mark Rogers</span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial,Bold", "sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial,Bold";">STATE BAR OF GEORGIA</span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Arial,BoldItalic", "sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial,BoldItalic";">FAMILY LAW SECTION NEWSLETTER</span></i></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">July/August 2000, 14-23.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">(This article is especially written for the Newsletter by Mr. Rogers. The author is an</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. He served as the only economist</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">member of the 1998 Georgia Commission on Child Support. He has published on child costs</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and extensively on the use of economic data. The views are those of the author and do not</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">necessarily represent those of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta or the Federal Reserve</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">System. Comments can be emailed to the author at rmrogers@mindspring.com.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial,Bold", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial,Bold";">Introduction</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Child support award practices have changed dramatically since the period prior to 1989. The</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Federal Family Support Act of 1988 mandated that states wanting to participate in the</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Federal child support recovery/enforcement program enact child support guidelines that</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">would be presumptive on a state-wide basis by the end of 1989. This Act led states to rush</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">to comply in order to avoid loss of millions of dollars of Federal funding. For Georgia,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">legislators and policy-makers had from the middle of 1988 through April of 1989 to properly</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">decide and enact presumptive guidelines. The April 1989 deadline reflected when the 1989</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Georgia Legislative Session concluded—Georgia’s last chance to comply with the Federal</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">regulation. Did the Georgia Legislature do a good job in its rush to keep from losing</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">approximately $25 million in Federal funding (the state’s share of Federal child support funds</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the next year)? Are Georgia’s child support guidelines rational, based on sound economic</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">principles? Are the guidelines economically fair and appropriate or do they create</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">extraordinary burdens and extraordinary benefits? Does the lack of a rational, economic</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">basis and the existence of extraordinary burdens and benefits form a factual basis for a</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">constitutional challenge to these guidelines?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">First, what do Federal regulations require of states when establishing child support</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">guidelines? Separate from the requirement that the obligor’s income be a factor in</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">determining the award, there have been two basic economic requirements (many in terms of</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">procedure) and one very specific numeric requirement related to equal protection. The Code</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">of Federal Regulations (CFR) in 1988 required that the basic living needs of the obligor (noncustodial</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">parent—or NCP) be taken into account and that the guidelines be economically</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">appropriate. Two basic questions for evaluating Georgia’s guidelines to determine if they</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">meet the intended purpose is whether basic living needs of the NCP are part of the guidelines</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">and whether the guidelines result in economically appropriate awards.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt;">1</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">CFR also requires that the guidelines result in a specific computation of the award. That is,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">the guideline must result in a specific numeric presumptive award—based on the numeric</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">- 2 -</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">factors in the guideline (parental income, number of days of custody, etc.). This requirement</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">is intended to treat all parties similarly situated equally and also to increase certainty in the</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">award process and reduce the number of contested cases.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">2</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The entire article can be found here as a PDF:</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://westmichigandad.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/gabarfamlaw-rogers.pdf">http://westmichigandad.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/gabarfamlaw-rogers.pdf</a></span></i></div><div closure_uid_va7mgr="144"><script type="text/javascript">
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">There are several reasons why PSI’s methodology—using either version of income shares—</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">leads to an overstatement of child costs: (1) non-recognition of a budget constraint, (2) the choice</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">of adult goods share of consumption as a target definition, and (3) the use of intact families to</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">estimate child costs. First, the income equivalence approach ignores the budget constraint faced</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">by families who have children. In “real life,” families do not spend on children based on some</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">notion of extra "phantom" income for economic well-being equivalence, but must make spending</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">decisions based on the same level of income as prior to having the additional child. Furthermore,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">families assume their economic standard of living will decline as a result of new child costs. The</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">income constraint seen in real life leads to much lower actual child costs than those that are</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">estimated by income equivalence models of child costs—as in income shares.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The entire Georgia Recommendation is found in this PDF:</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><a href="http://westmichigandad.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/ga_rogers06june01-rogers.pdf"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">http://westmichigandad.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/ga_rogers06june01-rogers.pdf</span></a></div><div closure_uid_16lu78="145"><script type="text/javascript">
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<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tyre, Peg </b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div></td></tr>
<tr style="height: 27.35pt; mso-yfti-irow: 2;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; height: 27.35pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">New York, New York USA: Crown Publishing Group, © 2009</span></div></td></tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
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<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Book 320 pp</span></div></td><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 239.4pt;" valign="top" width="319"><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">ISBN-13: 9780307381293<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ISBN: 0307381293</span></span></b></div></td></tr>
<tr style="height: 97pt; mso-yfti-irow: 6; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;"><td colspan="2" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: #ece9d8; border-left: #ece9d8; border-right: #ece9d8; border-top: #ece9d8; height: 97pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 5.4pt; padding-right: 5.4pt; padding-top: 0in; width: 6.65in;" valign="top" width="638"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Synopsis</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #8064a2; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #8064A2; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent4; mso-themecolor: accent4;">F</span></b>rom the moment they step into the classroom, boys begin to struggle. They get expelled from preschool nearly five times more often than girls; in elementary school, they’re diagnosed with learning disorders four times as often. By eighth grade huge numbers are reading below basic level. And by high school, they’re heavily outnumbered in AP classes and, save for the realm of athletics, show indifference to most extracurricular activities. Perhaps most alarmingly, boys now account for less than 43 percent of those enrolled in college, and the gap widens every semester! </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #8064a2; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #8064A2; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent4; mso-themecolor: accent4;">T</span></b>he imbalance in higher education isn’t just a “boy problem,” though. Boys’ decreasing college attendance is bad news for girls, too, because admissions officers seeking balanced student bodies pass over girls in favor of boys. The growing gender imbalance in education portends massive shifts for the next generation: how much they make and whom they marry. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #8064a2; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #8064A2; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent4; mso-themecolor: accent4;">I</span></b>nterviewing hundreds of parents, kids, teachers, and experts, award-winning journalist Peg Tyre drills below the eye-catching statistics to examine how the educational system is failing our sons. She explores the convergence of culprits, from the emphasis on high-stress academics in preschool and kindergarten, when most boys just can’t tolerate sitting still, to the outright banning of recess, from the demands of No Child Left Behind, with its rigid emphasis on test-taking, to the boy-unfriendly modern curriculum with its focus on writing about “feelings” and its purging of “high-action” reading material, from the rise of video gaming and schools’ unease with technology to the lack of male teachers as role models. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #8064a2; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #8064A2; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent4; mso-themecolor: accent4;">B</span></b>ut this passionate, clearheaded book isn’t an exercise in finger-pointing. Tyre, the mother of two sons, offers notes from the front lines—the testimony of teachers and other school officials who are trying new techniques to motivate boys to learn again, one classroom at a time. <i>The Trouble with Boys</i> gives parents, educators, and anyone concerned about the state of education a manifesto for change—one we must undertake right away lest school be-come, for millions of boys, unalterably a “girl thing.” </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i>From the Hardcover edition.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=daofmi-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=0307381293&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe></div></td></tr>
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