House Committee on Ways and Means

House Committee on Ways and Means, Apr 30, 2007

House Committee on Ways and Means

Indiana - Child support funding helps play an important role in parents to find work in the dwindling job market for felons.  It should be noted more than 55% of all those incarcerated in the United States also have minor children under 18.Some 10 million children will have a parent incarcerated in their formative years. In the State of Indiana, the Supreme Court has recently handed down a far reaching decision related to how child support is imputed during incarceration.

 The court opined that "the child support system is not meant to serve a punitive purpose. Rather, the system is an economic one, designed to measure the relative contribution each parent should make - and is capable of making - to share fairly the economic burdens of child rearing."

In order to administer a child support system effectively and fairly, it requires resources without which, systems often become ineffectual and punitive.  When parents. The challenge of policy makers is to find solutions that are efficient, balance the equities and policies that reinforce the message that parents are responsible for their children - but that also deal with the reality of poor men's lives and the critical importance of bringing them out of the underground economy, into civil society and to keep them out of prison.

A recent Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis study found that 70% of all jobs were cut off to felons, some jobs through legislation, others because of liability concerns.  A recent Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis study found that 70% of all jobs were cut off to felons, some jobs through legislation, others because of liability concerns.  If we expect parents to support their children, they should at least have a fighting chance of obtaining work.