County Attorney warns those who owe child support to pay up

Whitley County Attorney Bob Hammons is offering an amnesty period from now until the end of January for those who are severely delinquent on child support payments in the county. When the amnesty period ends, and enforcement push will take place.

Whitley County Attorney Bob Hammons is declaring an amnesty period from now until the end of January for those who are delinquent in child support payments — a way for those serious behind of their obligations to avoid arrest and a possible six month stint in jail.

Hammons announced the effort Monday saying that approximately 225 cases against individuals with significant, problematic payment histories are currently being audited and will be targeted for harsh enforcement starting in February.

“Everyone is being forewarned,” Hammons said. “You know if you’ve got a warrant out for you. You know if you’ve paid your child support or not. I’m encouraging those people to call my office at 606-549-0075 and set up an appointment with their case worker and enter into and agreed order of payment so that they won’t have to go spend six months in jail.”

Hammons said anyone that takes advantage of the amnesty must make a significant payment toward their arrearage, and agree to reasonable payments to keep them caught up and help them pay down past debt.

Hammons, who took over as County Attorney in late 2012, said collection of child support has been a top priority for his office.
Whitley County was ranked dead last in child support enforcement and collections at the time, 120th in the state. When he took office, there were nearly 5,000 open child support cases alone on the docket. In the most recent rankings, Whitley was 105th in child support enforcement and the number of open cases against individuals who are delinquent has been pared down to almost half, 2,657 as of this week.

“When I got here, the massiveness of it was just unbelievable,” Hammons said. “It’s been a daunting task … I think what the problem has been is that people just got accustomed to the idea that if they didn’t pay their child support, nothing was going to happen. They got complacent and, truthfully, they got away with it for a while. Well, that’s changed.”

Hammons said the effort to bring some respectability to child support enforcement first involved some changes to the way the office was structured. Formerly, the office’s four caseworkers specialized in certain areas: establishing paternity or delinquency collection, for instance. Now, all workers are cross-trained in every aspect of the effort.

“I’ve got a really good staff,” Hammons said. “Those case workers have really bought into the program. The courts and judges have bought into the program. I think people understand what we are trying to get done.”

A special hearing day has been added to the district court docket just to handle child support cases. Whitley District Judge Fred White hears every single case.

Hammons said a system has been put in place to help handle the volume of calls received at the child support office, and to make sure those who make contact are at least given a call back.

Hammons said the cases currently being audited involve individuals that had warrants issued for their arrest before the new E-Warrant system went into effect. E-Warrant, unlike the old paper warrant system, allows all law enforcement officers in the state to be aware an individual is to be arrested. So, if someone is arrested for shoplifting in Lexington or speeding in Madisonville, law enforcement will immediately know they are wanted for child support, for instance, in Whitley County.

“One of the things I discovered when I took over is that there was not a process in place for getting some of these old paper arrest warrants for people into the E-Warrants system, but now I’ve found a way,” Hammons said. “All of these cases are being audited to make sure they are as correct as I can make them … once that’s complete I’m going to enter them in the system.”
Hammons said the county’s city police agencies, the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department and Kentucky State Police have all agreed to a dedicated effort to arrest the most egregious child support payment dodgers after the amnesty period.

“Once you are arrested, its pay or stay. You either come up with some money or you stay in jail,” Hammons said. “The ones I’m going after are the ones I’ve been reasonable with in the past. They’ve been given a chance and they ignored it. About 90 percent of them, when they get arrested and spend about three or four days in jail … it’s amazing how much money they can come up with.”

Hammons said he’s working hard to “break past 100” in the rankings for Whitley County child support collections and is hoping to do so in the near future.