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Child support debt
Barriers to Family Reunification in California

In California, the State imposes child support debts on parents during the term of their incarceration and, once released, collects up to 50% of their earnings to pay back child support debts. This debt poses a significant barrier to both family reunification and a successful re-entry back into the community.

According to the California Research Bureau, approximately 850,000 children in California have a parent currently involved in the criminal justice system (1999 data). The parents of about 550,000 of these children are on parole or probation and the parents of the remaining 300,000 children are in state prison or jail. Roughly 80% of women prisoners are parents with, on average, two children, and that most of these mothers are single parents. Nearly 20,000 California children have mothers in prison. Because women prisoners are much more likely to have been the sole caretaker of their children before serving their sentences, child support issues have a tremendous impact on their ability to survive economically and be reunited with their families when paroled or released.

Its estimated that close to 1 million parents and children in California are affected by the issue of child support and the need for automatic suspension during a parent’s incarceration. Most incarcerated parents will leave prison or jail and return to work in society. Wage garnishments for child support arrears accrued while they were in prison and could not earn enough to support their children is a major impediment to the reunification of these families

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	"Child Care, Prison Woes"
	(San Francisco Examiner)