Two or three times a month, Marcie Martinez puts a legal notice in the Journal-World to let someone a father, usually know she hasn't forgotten about past-due child support.
There was such a notice in Sunday's paper, letting former Lawrence resident Paul McCawley know he still owes $23,516.
Carl Nakata, chief of child support enforcement at the Lawrence Area SRS Office, left, discusses recent improvements in Douglas County collections with, from second left, Marcie Martinez, staff attorney with DynCorp; David Sanchez, DynCorp program manager; and SRS attorney David Addington. DynCorp attorneys often represent SRS during child support hearings.
McCawley, a truck driver and tool sharpener, left his wife, Shirley, and their two children 10 years ago.
"I hope they get him," said Shirley McCawley, who lives in East Lawrence. "But good luck the last we heard he was up around Boise, Idaho. He moves around a lot."
Martinez isn't giving up. She's a staff attorney with DynCorp, a Virginia-based company that last year was awarded the contract to help the state Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services' office in Douglas County enforce court-ordered child support payments.
"I do everything I can to keep these cases alive," Martinez said.
The legal notices send a clear message: DynCorp isn't messing around. Neither is SRS.
"We're here to collect child support for as long as there's a debt owed," said Carla Nakata, head of the Lawrence Area SRS Office's child support enforcement operations.
'Every case I can'
DynCorp and SRS computers tell Martinez which cases need legal resuscitation.
"I review every case I can get my hands on," she said, noting she files between 10 and 20 "revivers" a month in Douglas County. Most of these cases have had little or no activity for five to 10 years.
DynCorp took over the enforcement contract in May 2000. Before DynCorp, the contract was held by Maximus, another Virginia-based company.
Nakata said she was satisfied with DynCorp's performance, though the impact of Martinez's filings on collections remains to be seen.
"I think we're doing very well," she said.
According to state reports, Douglas County is home to 2.3 percent of state's child support orders, and 2.4 percent of support collections.
"That means we're doing very well on collections," Nakata said, "but I also see things getting better and better."
Last year, SRS collections in Douglas County averaged $250,000 a month. May's collections, Nakata said, topped $325,000.
The Lawrence Area SRS Office helped collect about $3 million in child support payments last year.
SRS is responsible for seeking and enforcing child support orders on behalf of families mothers with small children, mostly who apply for public assistance.
For families not on assistance, services are available through SRS and the Douglas County District Court Trustee's Office.
Arrearage problematic
David Brown, a Lawrence divorce attorney, said he's noticed an improvement in local child support enforcement efforts.
"There's no question that it's getting better," he said.
But going after arrearages raises questions about the merits of "getting blood from a stone," he said.
"I can tell you that in the vast majority of cases, those who have the money are paying their child support because it's taken out of their paycheck. That's the way the system works now," he said.
"But when somebody doesn't have the money say they're making $7 an hour you have to wonder what good it does to hit them with a $20,000 arrearage that's built up over 10 years. It's unrealistic to think they're ever going to be able to pay it."
But Brown, who also represents custodial parents, said he's all too familiar with the other side of the equation.
"The costs of living through the deprivation that comes with a parent raising a family (without child support) are extremely high. And the arguments for going after that money are certainly there," he said. "There aren't any easy answers."
DynCorp and SRS officials said they're sympathetic, but only up to a point.
"Child support is an obligation that cannot be avoided by delay, ignorance or neglect," said David Addington, an attorney with the Lawrence SRS office.
Bickell Lund of Eudora advocates for families not getting their child support. She, too, has noticed an improvement in local collection efforts.
"They're getting much more aggressive," she said, "and a lot less is going unnoticed. I think it's great."
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