The system is rife with problems, including $4.5 billion in unpaid child support going back to 1976 and an outdated formula that some think drives non-custodial parents into the underground economy to avoid wage garnishments.
Most of the debt — nearly 70 percent — is owed by parents who make less than $10,000 a year, child support enforcement officials say.
A busy week at the Statehouse
- » State OKs money to replace, repair voting machines ahead of 2020
- » It takes 11 rounds of voting for Ohio lawmakers to pick new speaker of the House
- » Major changes likely coming to Ohio’s child support system
- » Major changes to payday lending step closer to coming to Ohio
- » Ohio Senate votes to allow dogs on restaurant patios statewide
RELATED: Poor collection rates plague Ohio’s child support system
While more than 1 million kids are in the Ohio child support system, the changes won’t be applied retroactively. The state child support system, which collects nearly $2 billion a year for children, is supposed to balance the cost of raising a child with the ability of parents to pay.
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The economic data currently used in calculations dates back to the early 1980s. Although studied every four years, lawmakers have never updated them.
Among the reforms embedded in Senate Bill 125 is to move the guidelines from Ohio Revised Code — the purview of state lawmakers — to Ohio Administrative Code, which can be changed by state officials in the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
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By the numbers
$114B: Amount in unpaid child support owed nationally by 5.5 million delinquent non-custodial parents.
$4.5B: Amount owed in Ohio, accumulated since 1976.
$100M: Annual amount of child support payments in Ohio that typically go unpaid every year.
1 million: Number of Ohio children in the state's child support system.
69: Percentage of the annual debt owed by parents who reported earnings of less than $10,000.
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