Child support bill could undermine kids' welfare

Dear Friends,

Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock) has introduced HB 5771 to help us create more confusion and disenfranchisement on the issue of "child support" here in Illinois.

IAPC encourages concerned constituents and pro-family groups to contact lawmakers immediately and insist that they VOTE NO on HB 5771 for the simple reason that it does nothing to help reduce conflict stemming from divorce and child custody determinations, which often drives low-income parents away from their children. HB 5771 does nothing to remove the incentives for divorce and out-of-wedlock child births, and helps create more litigation--thereby rewarding trial attorneys.

The unfortunate nature of this approach continues to place our most fragile citizens at-risk, especially those who evolve from low-income communities, by ignoring fundamental liberty interests in the care, custody, and companionship of children by fit, loving parents.

Illinois lacks many things in our current statutes concerning child support, and this proposal does nothing to address why we perform so poorly to begin with.

The problem?

Unlike public assistance, child support is not means tested, and no eligibility requirements limit who receives it. There is nothing to determine who it is for, or how it will be spent.

Illinois child support also offers a bias in favor of de facto alimony (also referred to as "maintenance,") and should be opposed by anyone concerned with protecting the health and well-being of parents, children, and our communities.

It should also be made known that during the last D/HHS quadrennial review application, DHCFS Director Barry Maram allowed a sitting judge, Drella Savage, (Cook County Parentage Court), to work with Child Support Advisory Committee, under the direction of Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Evanston), in violation of the Separation of Powers, to maintain the current [irrational] model for establishing child support, which is based on a percentage of net income of the non-residential parent, and discriminates based on gender. Advance notice of this violation was given to these parties, including the Attorney General's office, and was substantively ignored.

In other words: the law doesn't matter when it comes to marginalizing the status of the disenfranchised in Illinois. "Big Brother knows best."

Suggested modifications to HB 5771, or any child support bill:

First, the compelling state interest in child support determinations should first be designed and implemented to prevent harm--not to support a lifestyle preference or “standard of living” for only one class of citizen under a “Best Interest” determination (reads: Karl Marx), as the current system provides.

Second, that no such modifications should be made favoring the economic exploitation of parents and children, or any changes that help cultivate protracted litigation, for our nation's most despised profession—divorce litigation.

Third, Illinois lawmakers should be informed that state law on this and other issues concerning parents and children must comport with federal law, first by demonstrating that there is a compelling interest to satisfy, and then show to D/HHS and others that it is applying sound economic formulae in its child support model. Illinois has never done this, and likely never will, as long as we ignore this issue. A cost-based child support model would eliminate conflict to an issue that should have none to begin with.

If, by passing this legislation, state lawmakers tell us that they favor disenfranchisement through divorce litigation, then clearly we no longer have 3 separate branches of government in Illinois, and that constituents ought to be thinking about electing new leadership in the halls of Springfield to protect the status of parents and children as our utmost priority.

If you have questions or would like to help cultivate a further dialog on the issue of child support reform in Illinois, please reply here or contact me directly at 312.235.2672.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Michael Burns
President/Co-founder
Illinois Alliance for Parents and Children
Chicago, Illinois