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Conference quokka::non_custodial_parents

Title:Welcome to the Non-Custodial Parents Conference
Notice:Please read 1.* before writing anything
Moderator:MIASYS::HETRICK
Created:Sun Feb 25 1990
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:420
Total number of notes:4370

236.0. "Dead Beat Moms - Machester Union Leader Article" by LJOHUB::KBROWN (KEN BROWN DCC/CIS DESKTOP CONSULTANT) Tue Oct 06 1992 12:11

This time "DeadBeat" is a Mom

Her Face May Be On Next Poster.......

Nancy West Staff Writer. Manchester Union Leader

Concord: A former Rochester woman who was ordered to have no contact
with her two daughters for filing a false sexual abuse charge against
their father could become the state's first deadbeat mom for not
paying child support.

Frank T Richards, administrator of the Office of Child Support
Enforcement Services, confirmed that Diane Spreeman, 34, who owes over
$21,800 in back child support, is on the list of candidates being
reviewed for the second round of posters depicting 10 most wanted
non-supporting parents.

The new poster will be released sometime around Oct. 12.

"Otherwise I'm going to go after the State for discrimination because
$21,800 is pretty high," said Spreeman, 52, a carpentry foreman.

Of the 2,000 non-supporting parents who fit the criteria to make the
10 most wanted list, only about 100 are women. And 97 percent of the
Child support cases handled by the State involve, non-custodial
fathers.

So, statistically, it is likely for a non-custodial mother to appear
on the posters, Richards said.

"I can say cases have not been excluded because they are women.... I
can confirm the (Spreeman) case is being considered. We're
scrutinizing cases from a number of perspectives and can't guarantee
she will be on the list," Richards said.

Through the child support enforcement office, only about 7% of the
22000 cases in which support is owed involve mothers paying support
because mothers obtain child custody in the vast majority of cases,
Richards said.

In the poster program's first two months, six of the 10 most wanted
fathers were located. The State has collected about $2,500 in support
from five of them already and if the remaining four aren't located,
they will probably be repeated on the new posters next month.

"We know we have some cases of default for woman, but there is no
profile as to whether they are better or worse" at paying child
support, Richards said.

Spreeman's ex-wife, who formerly worked as a correctional officer at
the Strafford County Jail, disappeared three years ago after being ordered
to pay Mr. Spreeman $100 a week in child support.

The court also ordered her to pay therapy costs, attorney fees and to
reimburse her ex-husband for his share of a property settlement
adding at least another $120,000 to what she owes him, Spreeman said.

Marital Master Leonard S. Green found Spreeman's ex-wife accusing him
of sexually abusing his daughter knowing it was false and then coerced
the children in to lying while she lived with unrelated men, one of
whom molested her daughter.

"Diane Spreeman is an unfit mother from whom the children need to be
protected," Green wrote in his Rockingham County Superior Court order
in August 1989.

Spreeman, who has remamed, has sole custody of his daughters and has
adopted his wife Catherine's son. He believes his ex-wife should be
held accountable for child support and said the bitter court battle
and counseling costs were financially devastating.

"I'm hurting, I have got to get some money," Spreeman said.

Even with the help of a private investigator, he was unable to locate
her, but believes she left the state, and lived in Arizona for a time.
The New Hampshire Sunday News couldn't reach Diane Spreeman for
comment.

Spreeman did say his caseworker at the child support enforcement
offlce followed every available lead to find her.

The wanted posters are distributed throughout New Hampshire in State
Buildings and through the New Hampshire Retail Grocers Association.
They are also distributed in Massachusetts and single copies of the
posters are sent to 40 states where they are posted in state
buildings.

Richards said the state doesn't differentiate between men and woman
because it calls the program the 10 most wanted non-supporting
parents. The term deadbeat dad is used by the media, Richards said.

Some fathers who regularly pay support complained the term deadbeat
dad paints a black-and-white picture of all absent parents, Richards
said.

"The title stigmatizes many people. It's unfortunate and not the
intent. Out of about 20,000 cases, we feel might be appropriate for
the poster program. That really means 90 percent we don't view as
appropriate. I don't want to see all of them labeled on the basis of 10
percent. We have positive dealings with many absent parents who meet
their obligations, Richards, said.

To be eligible for the poster program, the state must have the
permission of the family not receiving support, the absent parent must
be unreachable by ordinary means and the arrearages must be
significant.

Concord Attorney Andrew P. McEvoy said he represents several custodial
fathers who don't receive child support. Fathers who want custody
sometimes waive child support to avoid a confrontation with the
mother, he said.

Stephen J. Capraro, who launched the Hillsborough County chapter of the
Association for Children for Enforcement of Support, said his group
embraces all custodial parents, but finds the number of deadbeat moms
is very small.

"It seems men are representing because of the number of deadbeat moms
is such is a small percentage of parents who owe support. In ACES, we
fight for children. It doesn't matter who has them," Caparo said.

"I'd love to see a deadbeat mom makes the list so it wouldn't be seen
as a mother's issue. It's not. It's a children's issue," Captor said.

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236.1Just a point of referenceLJOHUB::KBROWNKEN BROWN DCC/CIS DESKTOP CONSULTANTTue Oct 06 1992 17:0213
	For those who may not notice, the note 227.0 and 236.0 were written
	by the same person for the Manchester Union Leader.

	I find it interesting that when a woman is only 21k behind in child
	support payments, they take it "under" consideration as wheter to 
	include her in the Wanted Poster Program.

	Do we want to do a "rathole" and discuss inequities within the system?

	Ken (Who is not a DCC Consultant)