BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota parents who are behind on child support payments are getting a chance to catch up.
The Child Support Division of the Department of Human Services is this month granting amnesty and returning suspended driver's licenses to anyone who sets up a payment plan. For every $2 a person pays toward past-due support, the agency will kick in $1 toward accrued interest or money owed to the state, The Bismarck Tribune reported (http://bit.ly/1Xrekkh ).
Delinquent North Dakota parents owe a total of $259 million in child support. By comparison, $158 million is disbursed to parents each year.
More than 2,000 North Dakotans have their driver's licenses suspended for failing to pay child support, according to Division Director Jim Fleming. More than 600 have warrants for their arrest.
There are more than 7,000 parents who individually owe more than $10,000 in past-due support, and they're being offered "a fresh start," Fleming said.
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"We're not trying to be forgiving or condoning of their arrearage," he said. "We're just trying to do something about it."
Fleming has received some criticism from paying parents who question why delinquent parents should get a break. About three-fourths of noncustodial parents in North Dakota complied with their child support obligations last year — the fourth-highest rate in the nation.
Fleming said the main goal of the catch-up program is to get delinquent parents into payment plans, which can be effective at increasing support.
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Information from: Bismarck Tribune, http://www.bismarcktribune.com
