PARENT'S RIGHTS NOW!

Changes in how state governments are allowed to disperse child support payments to welfare families has put more money in the pocket of West Virginia resident Becky Salmons, allowing her to buy school supplies and medicine for her 17-year-old daughter.

West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Washington are among the states taking advantage o f changes in federal law that encourage states to stop using the money to reimburse state and federal welfare services and instead use it to help poor families get back on their feet. For some families, the change means hundreds of extra dollars a month.Until a year ago, most of the $225 Salmons' ex-husband paid each month went to the government. Now, she gets all the money."Moneywise it was rough," said Salmons, who moved in with her mother in southwest West Virginia following her divorce three years ago. "We just had to scrimp and save, but family members would help out as much as they could."The policy changes were a gradual philosophical shift for child support payment programs that began a decade ago and were reinforced by Congress in 2006, said Vicki Turetsky, commissioner for the Office of Child Support Enforcement in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

States had until Oct. 1 to at least take some small step toward putting more money into welfare recipients' hands.

Federal officials hope the money will help welfare families become more self-sufficient, thereby reducing the demand for food stamps and other government assistance. Turetsky said a pilot project in Wisconsin showed parents were more likely to pay child support and pay it in a timely manner if the money went to their children rather than reimburse government agencies. "The net cost to the government was minimal because parents were paying more and families had less need to receive public assistance," Turetsky said.

The federal Office of Management and Budget estimates the changes could result in $4.9 billion in savings nationwide over 10 years as more families leave assistance programs. The federal policy changes allow states to choose from a smorgasbord of options to funnel current and overdue child support collections to current and former families receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF. Many states have been slow to embrace all the changes, though, because of severe budget problems. Turetsky said West Virginia was the first state to implement all the options. West Virginia Child Support Commissioner Susan Perry said there is a potential to put $85 million in child support into the hands of about 18,000 families. Before, the federal and state governments split child support payments 80-20 for TANF benefits. Federal authorities agreed to give up their 80 percent, but states have been reluctant to give away the money. Budget concerns are keeping Minnesota from passing along all of the money to families." It is always a matter of competing priorities," said Beth Voigt, spokeswoman for the Minnesota Department of Human Services' Child Support Enforcement and Transition to Economic Stability Divisions.