It is much easier to become a father than to be one. — Kent Nerburn, Letters to My Son: Reflections on Becoming a Man (1994)

GOVERNOR General Sir Patrick Allen is reported as saying that the country must leave no stone unturned to swiftly bring perpetrators of crimes against children to justice. In his message, read by the president of the St James Lay Magistrates’ Association, Claudette Bryan, at the St James Parish Church Labour Day Church Service, he also said that the country must rise up against the increase in child abuse and the upsurge in violence against children.

I can think of no greater abuse or violence against children than when the father — the breadwinner of the family — abandons his family leaving them homeless and hungry.

As a young man, I was a social worker at the Family Court and was able to see, first hand, the effects of these activities on families. In many instances, even when fathers are ordered to make payments, mothers had to run a humiliating, sometimes dangerous, gauntlet of cronies, co-workers, and his family members to collect. Sometimes certain acts had to be performed before the money was handed over. By the time the money was handed over, the woman was oftentimes exhausted, humiliated and violated. The experience left some eventually in need of therapy.

One escape route employed by many men overwhelmed by the number of such payments is migration. In one case I worked on, this young girl defied the constant urging of her family and decided to get pregnant while still in school. This handsome, bejewelled older man promised to “take care of her and send her back to school”. She first became concerned when his visits became fewer as the foetus grew, until he was completely absent by the time she gave birth.

Now, without food or shelter, she was forced — baby in hand — to start a search for the father. His family would not cooperate, but word on the street was that, having done a ‘business’ marriage a few years earlier, he had finally gained citizenship and ‘fly out’ two months earlier leaving 10 other children — four born in one year.

As it turns out, many mothers find themselves in a similar situation, where men disrobe themselves of all responsibilities and obligations on the tarmac before boarding that flight — free as a bird. But, in a world that has become a global village, should this be so? The likelihood of a mother hunting down a deadbeat dad in a foreign country and getting him to support his children is extremely slim. But there are ways, with the help of our government, that something can be done.

The overwhelming majority of Jamaican migrants head to the US, UK, and Canada. These are countries that do not suffer deadbeat dads gladly. The issue of child support enforcement is given high priority in these countries. I seem to remember the US Department of Health and Human Services issuing this statement: “The US is especially interested in developing arrangements with neighbour countries so it can routinely enforce child support obligations owed between US residents, and residents of other countries in the region.”

In recent years, the US has undertaken an initiative to enter into federal reciprocal child support enforcement agreements, as directed by the Personal Responsibility and Work Reconciliation Act, with other countries so that child support obligations owed to US residents by residents of other countries can be enforced and vice versa. Are we a neighbour country? Of course! President Obama said so. One of the countries that has support enforcement treaties with the US is Australia. Australia is 9,446 miles from the US. Jamaica is just over 1000 miles away from the US.

In some countries, the US has reciprocal agreements with that country. Australia is one example. In another country, like Canada, there is no such country-to-country agreement. But it has agreements with certain Canadian provinces.

In the US, the Federal Parent Locator Service may help to find parents whose whereabouts are unknown. Payments can be obtained through wage attachments, seizure of income tax refunds. and assets. The US military also assists in obtaining child support from US military personnel.

Another method of enforcement is refusal of a passport to the person who owes but fails to pay child support. US law 42USC652 (K) provides that the secretary of State must deny issuance of a passport to a person who is in arrears of child support of more than US$5,000 based upon a certification to that effect by the secretary of health and human services.

If there are no federal or state reciprocal arrangements, the Department of State home page can provide a list of options. One area of help is in negotiating international child support agreements. Another is to facilitate communication among parents, states and other foreign agencies.

The ordinary citizen may not be aware of this but, as a country, we jump through hoops, and jump even when there are no hoops, to please the United States. This is not another case of begging money. It is a mutually beneficial arrangement –one of several that we just have not bothered to exercise.

Even in the United States, the overwhelming majority of children, forced by deadbeat dads to live in single-parent homes where child support is not paid, live in abject poverty. If there is no bilateral agreement, or some similar arrangement, it is virtually impossible to enforce child support obligations in another country. The relevant US agencies admit this. Federal law provides that states may enter into reciprocal arrangements for the establishment and enforcement of support obligations with foreign countries.

Many, many Jamaican children are suffering from the absence of the love and guidance of a father. They are also suffering from the cruel denial of resources that would help them to access education and deal with health issues. I urge the Jamaican Government to familiarise itself with the International Hague Treaty for Child Support and back up the speeches and marches with tangible, measurable steps to hunt down these people hiding from their responsibilities in other countries.

Glenn Tucker, MBA, is an educator and a sociologist. He can be reached at: glenntucker2011@gmail.com