Last week, an idea that bounced around among a few of the robe-wearing legal eagles in our county showed the power of a second chance.
It showed the power of collaboration and, more importantly, the power a single opportunity can provide.
Jay GreesonHamilton County Juvenile Court Judge Rob Philyaw and the county’s Juvenile Court child support Magistrates Kathy Clark, Autry Jones and Marsha Smith combined their efforts and their teams and offered Amnesty Week for parents with outstanding arrest warrants for past-due child support payments.
It’s just the third time in 17 years – and the first in more than a decade – that an opportunity like this has been made available in Hamilton County.
And according to one man who was sitting in a full waiting room looking to make the most of it, it should happen again.
“If you are going to quote me on something, then quote me on this: One week is not enough,” Mr. Williams told me Friday.
Williams, who asked to be identified only by his last name, is 30 and lives in Chattanooga. He has a 9-year-old daughter. He smiled when speaking of her, and he called her “his baby” whenever he spoke of her.
Williams lost his job several years ago and fell behind on his payments. He said he sees his daughter whenever he can. He declined to say how far he was behind in his payments but his face showed his remorse.
He clearly knows his mistakes, and the folks at the Hamilton County juvenile system realized he was not alone.
It’s easy to become cynical and point fingers during hard times. In fact, too often many people look down on the struggles or suffering of others if only to make themselves feel better about their own circumstances.
Judge Philyaw and the crew, however, took another tack. They offered a way for those looking to get a step up in turning a financial mountain into something more manageable.
“We are going to crunch the numbers [from Amnesty Week] and see how many people stay on schedule [with payments] and make the most of this,” Philyaw said last week. “If those numbers come back and show us that people are using this and making the most of it and continue [payments and support], then I think we certainly would look about doing it again in the future.”
The early numbers are promising. Despite a slow start – a lot of folks on the street thought this was a ruse to arrest people on those outstanding warrants, Mr. Williams said – the numbers exceeded almost all expectations.
According to Clark, there are more than 1,200 outstanding warrants in Hamilton County for parents who have failed to pay child support. Last week, more than 300 came forward to pay what they could and make good-faith efforts to get back on their payment schedules.
When they stepped forward, their warrants were waived and, more importantly, a bunch of them got their driver’s licenses reinstated.
It’s pretty easy to imagine being in a financial crunch. A large chunk of our society is a random accident away from staring at a money abyss. According to a Harris Poll last August, more than a third of the country (38 percent) sometimes lives paycheck-to-paycheck.
“Once you get behind, it’s almost impossible to catch up without a little help,” said Mr. Williams, who left his meeting with magistrate staff and went directly to the Career Coach, an RV set up with multiple computers for job searches and résumé building, as well as two staffers willing to discuss local job and educational opportunities available.
Yes, these people broke the law – in a practical and moral sense. We should all take with the utmost seriousness the task of providing for our children.
But this program was not as much about criminal forgiveness as it was financial recalibration.
“The charge of child support contempt is not intended to be a punishment tool as much as it is designed to shape performance,” Clark said Friday.
May this second chance from Philyaw, Clark and the rest of the folks involved allow Mr. Williams and the more than 300 people like him who took advantage of this chance to reshape that performance for all their children.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com and 423-757-6343.