Collecting for Welfare Debt.

• Position: Brief Article

"Deadbroke" dads-low-income fathers who are unemployed or in low paying jobs--owe thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of dollars to the state for child support that starts to accumulate when their female partners go on welfare.

Money owed to the state, (not the family) is on average the largest part of child support arrearage (66 percent) across the states, but ranges from 85 percent of the total owed in Connecticut to 26 percent in Nevada.

More than half of these fathers make some payment, according to the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement, but in such small amounts that only 6 percent of the actual assistance paid out is ever collected and distributed back to the state. Compounding the debt are interest charges in some of the states that range from 18 percent to 6 percent.

Since many of these men earn less than $10,000 a year, most of the money will never be collected. A Wisconsin inspector general study found that the greater amount of welfare debt, the less likely regular child support payments are made.

Some states are looking at incentives to encourage child...