More parents receiving bills for kids incarceration
A law that took effect last summer has helped the state collect more money from parents of children sent to juvenile correctional centers, a newspaper reported Saturday.
Since July, Virginia has filed 567 applications for support, while 737 children have been sent to correctional centers. State officials said fewer such applications were filed in previous years, but they could not say exactly how many.
About $70,000 has been collected from parents in the past nine months, up from $50,720 for the previous year. The amount is likely to increase as more petitions are filed and payments continue on other cases.
Lillie Wilbourn of Portsmouth was stunned last month when she received a notice from the state’s Child Support Enforcement office informing her she would be required to help pay for her 17-year-old son’s time in custody.
“I’ve never heard of this before,” she said. “I pay taxes. What am I paying for?”
All states have laws that allow parents to be charged for at least some of the costs of their children’s incarceration.
For years, however, Virginia did so sporadically, because it was unclear who would request the support and it was difficult to track the payments. The law that took effect clarified the process.
It costs $57,599 a year to house a child in a juvenile correctional center. The average daily population in the centers last year was 1,140 children.
“You’re being asked to offset the cost that the state incurs for taking care of your child,” said Stephen Pullen, a deputy director with the state Department of Juvenile Justice. “A parent has a responsibility for their child’s behavior.”
If parents don’t pay, their wages can be garnished, their driver’s licenses can be suspended and their tax refunds can be intercepted. In rare cases, they are sent to jail.
The minimum monthly payment is $65. There is no maximum.
Applications are filed if the child is expected to be incarcerated for more than three months and is under 18 years old or still in school. Child support is not sought from foster parents, grandparents who have not adopted the child and from parents who are incarcerated or are on welfare. More than one person can be required to pay support for one child.
Once an application is filed, a hearing is held with an enforcement worker to determine what the parent can afford to pay.
That decision can be appealed to a judge in juvenile court.
Wilbourn, an elementary school teacher, said she will pay what she has to. Her son turns 18 in July, but if he were younger, she said, she would consider terminating her parental rights to avoid the child support.
Her son has had problems since the family moved to Portsmouth about three years ago. A judge sent him to state custody in 2002 after finding him guilty of stealing $10. The teen said he was innocent.
He was held at the Hanover Juvenile Correctional Center for several months, but no one requested child support then, Wilbourn said. Less than a year after he was released, he appeared in court again for parole violations, including truancy and breaking curfew.
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