Blagojevich, White Squeeze Dead-Beat Parents of $1.3 Million

(Chicago, IL) – Governor Rod Blagojevich and Secretary of State Jesse White recently announced that under a new program that suspends driver’s licenses of dead-beat parents who fail to pay child support the state has collected $1.3 million from 3,082 non-custodial parents.

The Blagojevich-White partnership began earlier this year.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2008, under a new state law, the Department of Human and Family Services (HFS) first mails warning notices to dead-beat parents who have Illinois driver’s licenses and who are refusing to pay their child support. If the delinquent parent owes $2,500 or more and refused to contact HFS , their name is submitted to the Secretary of State’s office.

If parents do not begin making payments, their driver’s licenses will be suspended in 60 days.

In fiscal year 2007, Illinois child support collections reached $1.22 billion, an increase of more than 7 percent from the $1.14 billion record-breaking collections for the state in fiscal year 2006. In 2001, by comparison, $726 million was collected.

A good program that is working. Whatta ya know.