The Deadbeat Parent Taskforce is currently, the only active law enforcement initiative seeking parents evading their child support responsibilities. Lead by a team of Investigative Division investigators, the project is part of an enhanced effort to crack down on City of Richmond defaulting fathers and mothers. Collectively on the initial roster, these individuals have approximately 400 warrants out for their arrest due to nonpayment and owe over $7 million in child support to their children.

The Taskforce Top 10 Most Wanted Deadbeat Parents listing features parents owing as much as $174K in back child support payments.

In its first two months, the Deadbeat Parent Taskforce tracked down parents who owed over $600K. These individuals now face a judicial system that will determine how these parents can best pay their child support debt.

"The Taskforce is a high priority for the Sheriff's Office because it's a question of individual responsibility and doing the right thing. We want to send a message that no parent is above the system. You might be able to divorce your husband or your wife or leave your boyfriend or girlfriend behind. However, you can't divorce your child or leave behind your parental responsibility to support your children. People in the City of Richmond that are behind on their child support and have outstanding arrest warrants because of back child support payments should be on notice that we are out there looking for them.
-Sheriff C.T. Woody, Jr.

"The Commonwealth applauds and appreciates Sheriff Woody's commitment to the children of these parents. His leadership in forming this taskforce is one of the last hopes many of these children have."
-Nick Young,
Deputy Commissioner and Director
VA Division of Child Support Enforcement

Numbers to Call:

Richmond City Sheriff's Office 24-hour Hotline at (804) 646-0128.

The automated or in-person line will take calls from people who want to give deputies updated information and photos of deadbeat parents who have warrants out for their arrest.
 

Richmond District Office of the VA Division of Child Support Enforcement Customer Service line at (877) 822-4533

• This line gives parents need information on how to start child support proceedings or to report a parent that is behind in paying child support.
  
  
  Deadbeat Parent Facts
  
  VIRGINIA DATA
  
  According to the Virginia Child Support Enforcement Program 2007 Fact Sheet:
   

  *   The Division of Child Support Enforcement (DCSE) collected a record $608.5 million in SFY-07, which was a 3.6% increase from 2006.

  *   Virginia was the first state to issue subpoenas of cell phone records in order to locate delinquent parents.  As of June 2007, DCSE had issued 4,930 subpoenas on 990 non-custodial parents.  Locate information has been received at a success rate of 40-50% on the issued subpoenas.

  *   Of more than 1.9 million new hires in the Commonwealth in SFY-07, there were 82,187 that matched cases with unpaid child support, a match rate of 4.4%.  Since 1993, approximately $103.4 million has been collected as a direct result of new hire reporting. 

  *   Virginia collected $6.58 for every dollar spent in FFY-06, which exceeds the maximum federal cost effectiveness goal of $5.00 by $1.58.  Virginia’s Child Support Enforcement Program is the sixth most cost-effective program in the nation. 

  
  
  NATIONAL Deadbeat Parent DATA
  
  According to a US Census Bureau report (Series P-23, No. 173):
  
  * Multiple sources show that only 10% of all non-custodial fathers fit the "deadbeat dad" category.
  * 90% of the fathers with joint custody paid their child support due.
  * Fathers with visitation rights pay child support 79.1% of the time.
  * 44.5% of parents with no visitation rights still financially support their children.
  * Of parents not paying support, 66% are not doing so because they lack the financial resources to pay.
  According to the U.S. Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section website:
  * Federal child support enforcement became possible with the passage of the Child Support Recovery Act (CSRA) in 1992.
  * Problems with enforcement under the CSRA were remedied in 1998 with the passage of the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act (DPPA) which created two new categories of federal felonies for the most egregious child support violators.
  * Today, a child support violator can be prosecuted under Federal law if the following facts exist:
  o The violator willfully failed to pay;
  o There is a known child support obligation, which has:
  * remained unpaid for longer than a year or is greater than $5,000 (misdemeanor), or has
  * remained unpaid for longer than two years or is greater than $10,000 (felony);
  o For a child who resides in another state, or 1) the violator traveled in interstate or foreign commerce; 2) with the intent to evade a support obligation; 3) if such obligation has remained unpaid for a period of one year or longer-or is greater than $5,000 (felony). See 18 U.S.C. §228.