Phoenix, Arizona - Governor Ducey launched the Deadbeat Parent Initiative in 2016 to hold child support evaders accountable. The program seeks to find parents skipping out on child support by highlighting their names, photos and child support owed online and on social media with the hashtag #deadbeat.
In his 2016 State of the State, Governor Ducey noted:
“It’s simple. If you’re old enough to father a child, then you’re old enough to accept financial responsibility for that child. If you don’t want your embarrassing, unlawful, and irresponsible behavior going viral: Man up, and pay up.”
Since the launch of the program, Arizona has located a total of 179 deadbeat parents, resulting in a historic total of $1,204,474 in evader-payments collected. In the month of June alone, the Department of Economic Security (DES) collected a total of over $50,000 in evader payments.
The program has helped DES collect payments from previously delinquent parents. One evader, for example, owing more than $230,000 for a total of 4 children was located due to a tip received. The individual eluded the DES Division of Child Support Services (DCSS) for years, but exposure on the website led to the location of this evader.
DES diligently works to investigate each and every case. Currently, 371 deadbeat parents remain posted online in a breakdown of 344 men and 27 women.
The Arizona Department of Revenue (DOR) also has a program aiming to ensure deadbeat parents fulfill their obligations to their children and families. Through a debt recovery program, individuals with debts like child support have the amount owed withheld in its entirety from their tax returns.
Through the program, the Department of Revenue collected about $4.3 million in child support payments from 2017 to 2018, and in the past three years, has collected over $13 million in child support for DES.
Provide a tip about a child support evader HERE.