Funding for paternity program nears end

PORTLAND – A federally funded program that tracks down men who owe child support is due to shut down this year and the likelihood of the state picking up the $131,000 tab appears to be slim.

The Non-Custodial Parent Outreach Investigation Project is a pilot program run by the state Attorney General’s Office.

The program has been in place for almost two years in York, Somerset and parts of Penobscot counties. It will have handled about 300 cases once the pilot program ends this summer.

The project aims to work one-on-one with fathers to persuade them to acknowledge responsibility for their children, become more involved in their lives and pay what they can in support.

The program deals with two categories of men: those who refuse to respond when the Department of Human Services tells them they have been named as fathers and those who fail to pay child support for more than a year.

Before a mother can apply for state assistance, she must name her child’s father. The Department of Human Services contacts the named man, who has the option of acknowledging paternity or requesting a DNA test.

About half the men disregard the letters.

If a man fails to respond to a series of DHS requests, he is automatically determined to be the father and can be ordered to pay child support based on the county’s median income.

Men in default often rack up huge levels of ordered support that they are unable to pay. The men are often as needy as the mothers applying for state assistance.

“Somebody can be saddled with expenses they can never pay off in their whole life. The kids will never see it. Nobody will see it,” said Diane Friese, project coordinator with the University of Southern Maine’s Muskie School of Public Service.

“Some of these fathers want to provide support for their children but they can’t do it at a high level,” she said. “They may only work 15 hours a week or make $6 an hour.”

The state can garnish workers’ wages for child support payments, but that can drive men who owe large amounts into marginal employment paid in cash – and away from their children.

Alan Robitaille, one of two outreach workers in the program, says a little understanding can go a long way toward getting fathers to meet their obligations.

C.J. Deshaies, 23, found himself owing $10,000 in back support for his 20-month-old son along with a continuing obligation of $181 a week, a price he says he couldn’t afford with his job at a steel distributor.

Robitaille helped Deshaies take a paternity test that confirmed his fatherhood, then showed him how he could seek an amended child support order. Deshaies now pays $81 a week in support, with $1 being applied to his outstanding debt. He is no longer in default, and can therefore keep his driver’s license, which the state can take away from fathers in default.

“Everybody’s happy. Everybody gets what they want,” Deshaies said.

The outreach workers also direct men to services that can improve their situation so they can better support their children. Robitaille has persuaded several men who could barely read to take classes toward their graduate equivalency diploma.

Of the more than 100 cases Robitaille has been worked on, none so far has ended up in default. In one-quarter of the cases, DNA tests showed the named man was not the child’s father.

In the remainder, the father has acknowledged his relationship – an important step in resuming ties with a child, Robitaille said.