- TN child support collections drop, By Janell Ross, February 5, 2010, The Tennessean: “Natalie Conway came to court with a Bible in her purse and a manila folder under her arm. The folder was full of day-care bills and paycheck stubs listing her income and health insurance costs, evidence of what it costs to care for her 5-year-old daughter. Chuck Stewart, Conway’s ex-boyfriend and the girl’s father, came with a few records of his own. Stewart lost his full-time job in April and has been able to find only a part-time job that pays $9 an hour. He asked the court to reduce his $500-a-month child support payments and won – he’ll pay $400 a month now. Conway left the courtroom in tears. ‘I understand that he is having a hard time right now,’ said Conway, a data entry clerk for a Nashville health-care company. ‘And maybe he did need a reduction or something, but that $100 is a lot for me.’ Monday’s scene in Davidson County Juvenile Court is becoming more common. The economic downturn means fewer parents can pay their court-ordered child support, and Tennessee is marking its first decline in child support collections in almost 10 years…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty