Many of these stories are reported in local newspapers, regional publications, or localized news reports on various television stations, so they escape widespread national scrutiny. The fact remains that theft of records, fraud, embezzlement, bribery schemes, and more have been popping up from state to state which should lead federal authorities to review the guidelines of the program and reduce it to a more management front for needy families. Some initial/preliminary guidelines for changes in the program are listed at Nationwide Blueprint.

In them most current scheme, former clerk of the court Elizabeth Smith is still being investigated on possible misuse of child support enforcement funds that might have been diverted to county Drug Court, over which her husband, Manning Smith, presided according to Solicitor Duffie Stone. Needless to say Judge Manning Smith’s judgeship has been rescinded by South Carolina Supreme Court Justice Jean Toal ,days after his wife was indicted and resigned.

The charges so far, stemming from a grand jury indictment, are embezzling more than $23,500.00 from two public accounts to buy insurance policies for relatives and make payments on a home on Pawleys Island, of which Smith has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Initial charges were handed down on July 20, 2009.

This news has been widely reported in WALB-TV, Hilton Head Island Packet, WTOC, WMBF, and indirectly in Myrtle Beach Sun News. For more information on the Title IV-D program you can visit Nationwide Blueprint.

With the growing number of cases of widespread misuse of funds, it is only a matter of time before sweeping federal audits begin to protect the taxpayers and victims of a free-for-all welfare program gone out of control.

A Baltimore County judge has sentenced a county child support enforcement worker to 10 years in prison for stealing child support checks.

The [circuit court] plea says from 1998 to 2005 [Keith] Hibbs used Child Support Enforcement Administration computers to change the names on 112 child-support checks so that the money would be made payable to his wife.

The articles appeared through AP Sources on both the WJZ.COM and WMTD.COM websites in Maryland. An important point is that these stories appear locally, despite being national in scope and almost completely subsidized through federal taxpayer funds.

As we reported last week, on April 3, 2009, in the article Former Child Support Services Employee Arrested! Selling Confidential Records, we demonstrated a severe lack of accountability in the entire nationalized child support enforcement program. The lack of accountability and over-participation of the program has ripened the playing field for mass identity theft, bribery schemes, outright theft/embezzlement from various child support funds, and widespread fraud. Don’t take our word for it, just take a look at this growing list:

Former Child Support Services Employee Arrested! Selling Confidential Records ~ “Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents arrested 27-year-old Steven K. Gilmore on Wednesday after he sold the information [names, social security numbers, and other personal information] to an undercover TBI agent for $2,800.“

Fort Bend Woman Guilty in Child Support Fraud Ring ~ ”Fort Bend County jury has found 42-year-old Debra Hodge guilty of engaging in organized criminal activity for her part in bilking over $40,000 in fraudulent child support from the Texas Attorney General’s Office.“

Child Support Worker Arrested in Bribery Scheme ~ “ORLANDO, Fla. — A former employee of the Department of Revenue’s Child Support Enforcement program was arrested Thursday on bribery charges.“(Local6.Com “Child Support Worker Arrested In Bribery Scheme” March 8, 2007)

Title IV-D Employee Embezzles Quarter of Million in Child Support Enforcement Money ~ “A Natomas woman stands accused of bilking the state Department of Child Support Services of more than $250,000, turning her procurement job into a means of buying a Lexus, hot tub and big-screen television, among other things.”

The Weekly Standard Indicts CSE Title IV-D Welfare Program ~ “There is mounting evidence that the system now encourages marital breakup and exacerbates fatherlessness by creating a winner-take-all game, where the losing parent–commonly a father wanting to save the marriage–is unfairly penalized by the loss of his children and by a federally enforced child support obligation.”

Federal Child Support Enforcement Program Makes Little “Cents” to the Taxpayer ~ “So the man, named Michael Eugene Lamb, is going into prison at the age of 49, sitting there on a federal conviction, and coming out sometime when he is almost 51 years old. The federal system will charge the taxpayers for his 1.5 year confinement at a cost between $30,000.00 to $50,000.00 depending on the facility and not including any health issues of theconfined.“

Child Support Clerk Charged With Embezzlement: More Government Corruption ~ “Another

County employee, this one in Lauderdale County, has been indicted by a grand jury on felony embezzlement charges for allegedly stealing more than $216,000.00 of program money, paid for by taxpayers, by writing unauthorized checks to herself from January 2002 through April of 2007. This employee was released on a $10,000.00 bond, which no doubt was probably a drop in the bucket considering she has already been sitting on the $216,000.00 plus her lush salary.”

Two Main Media Outlets Reprot More Thieving Title IV-D/CSE Employees ~ “Two separate reports have come out about a Maine Child Support Enforcement Worker (Title IV-D Employee) that has been stealing money orders from children the agency touts to protect. This most recent employee, who is now on administrative leave pending investigation, was reported as intercepting money orders and depositing them in her personal bank account.“

Mounting Accountability Problems With Child Support Programs: Data Stolen ~ “Yuba County scrambled this week to contact 70,000 people whose names and personal information were on a laptop computer stolen from the new Child Support Services office in Linda. County officials said the stolen laptop contained Social Security numbers, birth dates, driver’s license numbers and other private information on 70,000 people+.”

Identity Theft: Opt Out of Family Court Services Before it Happens to YOU! ~ “…customers in at least three states have already experienced serious breaches in their personal information, including social security numbers being compromised and potentially handed over to hackers that might want to steal identities in the last few months alone.“

Reigning in the Title IV-D program is good for our tax-payers, good for our parents, and most of all… good for our children.