Monday, April 02, 2007
PIZZA BOXES SPOTLIGHT CHILD-SUPPORT SUSPECTS
According to CNN "Customers at some suburban pizza parlors are getting something extra with their pepperoni and mushrooms -- wanted posters for parents accused of failing to pay child support."
Enforcement agencies across the country have utilized a variety of techniques to help locate support parents behind on their support obligations and to collect past-due payments. For example, Virginia has had great success by issuing subpoenas to cellular phone companies seeking addresses and phone numbers. However, this approach not only appears to be ineffective, but has come under criticism as well.
Although the first pizza posters appeared in August, they have led to only one arrest. Additionally, Maury Beulier, an attorney who focuses on fathers' rights cases called the tactic "horrible." "It's just a way of shaming people...Many circumstances can cause people to get behind in support payments, but that doesn't make them deadbeats," he said. And, according to Michael McCormick, executive director of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children, "Widespread public shaming also can devastate the children. "Think how children feel to see a parent on a wanted poster and know their friends might see it," he said.
According to CNN "Customers at some suburban pizza parlors are getting something extra with their pepperoni and mushrooms -- wanted posters for parents accused of failing to pay child support."
Enforcement agencies across the country have utilized a variety of techniques to help locate support parents behind on their support obligations and to collect past-due payments. For example, Virginia has had great success by issuing subpoenas to cellular phone companies seeking addresses and phone numbers. However, this approach not only appears to be ineffective, but has come under criticism as well.
Although the first pizza posters appeared in August, they have led to only one arrest. Additionally, Maury Beulier, an attorney who focuses on fathers' rights cases called the tactic "horrible." "It's just a way of shaming people...Many circumstances can cause people to get behind in support payments, but that doesn't make them deadbeats," he said. And, according to Michael McCormick, executive director of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children, "Widespread public shaming also can devastate the children. "Think how children feel to see a parent on a wanted poster and know their friends might see it," he said.
