European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 22, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Private firms track Down Deadbeat dads and make pm pay by Robert Weller the associated press Rebecca Morrick of grand Junction Colo., grew so frustrated Over her husband not paying support for their three children that she set up her own collection Agency. In business less than a year her company called Trak sex is working on $1 million in collections taking a 25 percent commission. Now when a Deadbeat dad tells her the Check is in the mail it s in the mail she says i do it to help the mothers Morrick said. I be been there and i know they need help. My real goal is to mend relationships. If these men Are paying maybe they la see their children and be the father their children  Charlie Drake of san Antonio Texas who believes he gave birth to the Industry in 1988, says his children s support services gets More than 50 percent of the Money it goes after. Government agencies were Only Able to collect from Deadbeat dads or moms 19 percent of the time in 1993. They create excellent Laws but they Don t use them Drake says. Congress passed a Law in 1992 making it a Federal crime to Cross state lines to avoid paying child support but a recent Check showed Only five people had been prosecuted. An estimated $14 billion is owed to 9 million children officials say. ". Private companies have moved in to fill the Gap. At least two states Mississippi and Utah have hired private agencies to help them collect. California has authorized collection agencies to Cross state lines to Garnishee the earnings of delinquent parents. Government can t do everything. We could use their help says Kathy Stumm director of Colorado s child support enforcement division. Richard Casey Hoffman a former assistant Texas attorney general and now president of child support enforcement of Austin says the government should focus on welfare cases. Incredible As it May sound Ivana Trump would be eligible for free. Services in 35 of the 50 states and pay Only a Token fee in the other 15/ Hoffman says. Drake says there Are 49 companies in a National association of companies that saturday october 22, 1994 like modern Clay Bounty Hunters Rebecca Merrick s company finds non paying sex spouses and uses available Legal Means to make them pay up. Collect child support at offices in 29 states. 7Mos require a Small application fee ranging from $25-$35, and charge a 25 percent commission if they Are successful. The agencies Don t take welfare cases because Money collected would be taken by the states to recover welfare costs. Investigators Don t like to talk in detail do it to help the mothers. I be been there and i know they need help Rebecca Morrick founder of Trak sex about How they get their information speaking Only in general terms about having Access to databases such a credit reports. A lot of the time you get a lot of information from relatives and neighbors Morrick says. She might Call and ask what they see in the Deadbeat s driveway. Many times the deadbeats Are there for the picking if local authorities will Budge from their offices. She recently called police in Michigan about a Deadbeat and was told they had already checked. Morrick says she gave them his address and he was in jail in 24 hours. Most of her clients like Jesse Opp of Wichita kan., live in other states. She did a really Good Job Opp says. I be finally gotten somewhere. He was years behind. I had been trying to go through the courts but they Are so backlogged it takes them a year to even get  her present husband is now using Morrick to try to recover Money owed by his previous wife for running up their credit cards when they divorced Dan Price who has been in the collection Agency business in Casper wyo., for 25 years and in child support collections for three does t believe private agencies will eliminate the problem. He says he has had so much trouble getting cooperation from authorities that he no longer solicits new child support clients. Drake is More optimistic. He said new legislation in Maine Massachusetts and South Dakota that allows authorities to take Driver s licenses away from deadbeats will help. And it can be very satisfying. Hoffman recalls a Texas Deadbeat who moved to Colorado and set up his answering machine to play All my exes live in Texas. Once tracked Down he skipped Back to Texas. But Hoffman s staff nailed him. We took great Delight because he was such a Wise  on the family my Mother waited on me hand and foot when i was a child. Do you think it is in my children s Best interest to do the same i Don t suggest giving up mothering and nurturing your children but it is appropriate for you to let them carry the level of responsibility that their age and maturity permits. This Point was made by Marguerite and Willard Beecher in their Book parents on the run. They stated that parents must gain their Freedom from their children so that their children can gain Freedom from them. If you never get free from your children by transferring responsibility to them then they will remain hopelessly bound to you. You have knotted _ each other in a paralysing interdependency that stifles development. I admit the difficulty of implementing this policy. Our deep love for our children makes us tremendously vulnerable to their needs. Life inevitably brings pain and sorrow to Little people and we Hurt when they Hurt. We want to Rise like a mighty shield to protect them from life s sting to hold them snugly within the safety of our embrace. A. A. V yet there Are times when we must let them struggle. Children can t grow without taking risks. Toddlers can t walk initially without falling Down. Students can t learn without facing some hardships. And ultimately adolescents can t enter Young adulthood until we release them from our protective custody. V Why is it so difficult for mothers especially to Grant this Independence and Freedom to their children v i be observed that the most common motivation reflects the unconscious emotional needs of the Mother perhaps the Romance has gone out of her marriage leaving the children As the Only real sources of affection. Maybe she has trouble making lasting friendships. For whatever reason she wants to be the heavy in the lives of her children. Thus she becomes their servants she refuses to obtain her Freedom from them for the specific purpose of denying them theirs. I once counselled a Mother whose husband had died when their Only son Davie was a baby. She had been left with the difficult task of raising this lad by herself and Davie was the Only person left in the world whom she really loved. As a result she smothered him totally. The boy was 7 when she came to me. He was afraid to sleep in his own room refused to stay with a baby Sitter and even resisted Gong to school. He did not dress himself an Chis behaviour was infantile in every regard. To protect him she bound him even More tightly to her sacrificing her own needs and desires. She could not get involved in any activities of her own or have any adult experiences without her son. As a result neither Ever gained Freedom from the other. Or. James c. Dobson is president of focus on the family an organization dedicated to preserving the Home. Correspondence should be sent to him at focus on the family . Box 444, Colorado Springs Colo. 80903. The stars and stripes 19