Vicki Turetsky News Today

An administrator and researcher believes public assistance programs such as child support can have harmful effects on families and disproportionately affect people of color.

Maryland’s child support system, which is supposed to sustain children, is actually hurting some of the state’s neediest families — especially in Baltimore, an investigation by The Baltimore Sun has found. A dysfunctional system has decided that parents in struggling city neighborhoods owe tens of millions of dollars in back child support — a whopping $23 million in one West Baltimore ZIP code alone.

Salinas Californian Half of Stacy Estes’ pay disappears every month before it hits his bank account. Each check is about $500 lighter than it should be, intercepted in the name of child support — which he wouldn’t have a problem with, if it were going to his kids. Instead, only $225 goes to his children. The rest is garnished to repay government debt he began accruing more than two decades ago when he first got behind on child support payments.  The 53-year-old man owes about $47,000 in ...

Half of Stacy Estes’ pay disappears every month before it hits his bank account. Each check is about $500 lighter than it should be, intercepted in the name of child support — which he wouldn’t have a problem with, if it were going to his kids. Stacy Estes with his fiancée in front of their home in Sacramento on April 7, 2021. Estes owes about $47,000 in child support debt to the state.  Photo by Anne Wernikoff, CalMatters Instead, only $...

California keeps millions in child support while parents drown in debt Advocates say California places low-income and minority parents in debt by garnishing child support payments and imposing high interest rates when they fall behind. Credit: Photo by Anne Wernikoff, CalMatters Stacy Estes in front of his home in Sacramento, Calif on Wednesday, April 7, 2021. Photo by Anne Wernikoff, CalMatters Author: Kate Cimini, CALmatters Updated: 9:09 PM PDT May 3, 2021 CAL...

Half of Stacy Estes’ pay disappears every month before it hits his bank account. Each check is about $500 lighter than it should be, intercepted in the name of child support — which he wouldn’t have a problem with, if it were going to his kids. Instead, only $225 goes to his children. The rest is garnished to repay government debt he began accruing more than two decades ago when he first got behind on child support payments.  The 53-year-old man owes about $47,000 in child support debt, ...

April 30, 2021 Stacy Estes in front of his home in Sacramento, Calif on Wednesday, April 7, 2021. Photo by Anne Wernikoff, CalMatters Half of Stacy Estes’ pay disappears every month before it hits his bank account. Each check is about $500 lighter than it should be, intercepted in the name of child support — which he wouldn’t have a problem with, if it were going to his kids. Instead, only $225 goes to his children. The rest is garnished to repay government debt he began accruing more tha...

A look at how Mississippis child support enforcement program often creates unintended effects for many of the states families.The post For many families, Mississippi’s child support enforcement program proves nonsensical

Print Editor’s note: This story is part three of a series examining Mississippi’s child support enforcement program. Read the other stories here. Candace McNeil, an Olive Branch mother of two, said she’s received payments for as little as 25 cents through the Mississippi child support enforcement program. The same program resulted in one Greenville father losing his driver’s license, an especially brutal punishment for someone who earns a living driving trucks. Dowayne Charlot, who now ...