Conference quark::mennotes

212.0. "Governor influences bedroom behavior" by RANGER::GOBLE () Tue Mar 05 1996 22:16

The Boston Globe, Saturday, March 2, 1996

Welfare bill's aim: ID fathers
   Payment for child could be withheld

By Doris Sue Wong
   Globe Staff

    Gov. William F. Weld, saying some young people
have come to view parenthood as a "cheap joke", filed
a bill yesterday to crank up the pressure on both
mothers and fathers of children on welfare to cooperate
with state efforts to collect child support payments.

    Mothers, under the bill, would be required to
identify the fathers of their chilidren or risk
losing cash benefits for their entire family.  And, for
the first time, men who knowingly refuse to acknowledge
their paternity could face criminal charges.

  "This legislation that we're filing says, plain and
simple, that having a child is serious business,"
Weld said.  "We are seeking penalties for both
mothers and fathers who know what their responsibilities
are and refuse to acknowledge them."

    Advocates for women and men, however, denounced the
governor's proposal as going too far.

    Under the welfare reform law that took effect Nov. 1,
women who the state believes are deliberately withholding
information about the fathers of their children could
lose the $90 portion of their monthly welfare cash grant.
And 1,421 women have, in fact, lost their benefit uner
the rule.

    But the governor's new bill would go much farther,
allowing the state to also deny cash benefits for the
children, although the family would remain eligible for
food stamps and Medicaid.

    "It would have to be a pretty tough case," Weld said.
"It would have to be a contumacious refusal by the
mother to cooperate at all, and we would have to have
evidence she knew damn well who the father was."

    Lisa Sanderson, an Acton mother who is in the Aid
to Families with Dependent Children program, said the
proposal undercuts the governor's contention that his
aim in pursuing welfare reform is to put the interests
of children first.

    "We are hurting children," said Sanderson.  "That
is unfair.  The children shouldn't be punished for their
parents mistakes."

    "The total family sanction would be very destructive
to families that otherwise could stay together," said
Betsy Wright of the Massachusetts Human Services
Coalition.  "They become homeless and kids get thrown
into foster care."

    The Weld bill also would require a man who knows he
is that father of a child to acknowledge paternity 90
days after being identified by a woman as the father
or for the first time face criminal charges.  The
maximum penalty: five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

    "To be candid, I think that these rules, if they
work properly, may influence a little bit of behavior
in the bedroom, i.e., the irresponsible kinds that
produce children that the parents have no interest in,"
said Weld.

    In addition, the Department of Revenue would be
empowered to order blood tests to establish paternity
and to set and modify child support orders, functions
now under the exclusive domain of state courts.  Either
side could appear the department's rulings in court.

    This change of procedure was mecessitated, Weld said
by huge backlogs in the courts.  He said he hopes the
change could cut the backlog in half.

    Patrick Flynn of the Coalition for the Preservation
of Fatherhood said he shudders at the tought of
enhancing the Revenue Department's powers.  Charging that
the department already acts like the "gestapo" when it
comes to child support enforcement, Flynn said some
fathers have been wrongly accused of falling behind in
child support and have had property seized due to computer
errors.

    Sanderson also quesitoned giving the Revenue
Department additional enforcement tools, asserting it
already fails at times to act when women provide abundant
information to track down men for child support.

    According to the Weld administration, however, 
additional incentives are needed to compel mothers and
fathers to cooperate in paternity establishment.  Only
69 percent of fathers voluntarily acknowledge paternity,
either at hospitals or town halls, of children born out
of wedlock, acocding to the administration.

    In addition,  of the 77,000 fmilies in the AFDC
program eligible for child support, aobut 38,000 have
no chilid support orders, primarily due to lack of
adequate information provided about fathers, said
Brian Pedro, spokesman for the Revenue Department.

    I can see where this could turn into a witch hunt. Although, I support
    the concept.

    
    What are they going to do about the mothers who won't go to work and
    fulfill _their_ part in supporting their children?

    But, like I've said before, only when it gets bad enough will men
    finally ban together into a political force that will do something
    about this garbage.

    fred();

    Cannot make the moms go to work, the whole issue is tighly wrapped in
    the flag with apple pie.