Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares said Thursday the state will no longer request dismissals of petitions against parents who are not paying child support unless there are special circumstances.
The commonwealth’s new Republican top lawyer said his office had discovered “about 1,000 blanket dismissals” of prosecutions for failure to pay child support since October 2021 by the state’s Division of Child Support Enforcement, a unit of the Department of Social Services, “even in cases where the pattern of nonpayment was egregious.”
“Children should never have to go without because the government is giving their parent a pass from responsibility. Parents subject to court orders will not be permitted to hide from their financial obligations to Virginia’s families,” Mr. Miyares said in a statement.
Mr. Miyares added, “Judges and legislators rightly expressed concern to my office. The cases brought to my attention were overwhelmingly absentee parents trying to run from their financial responsibilities.”
He said his office is tasked with ensuring that hearings are held and that clients are provided legal support.
“The duty of the Office of the Attorney General is to enforce child support obligations in an efficient and timely manner,” he said.
Mr. Miyares’ office said its Child Support Section has approximately 40 attorneys who represent the child support enforcement unit across the state. These lawyers appeared at roughly 77,000 child support hearings, collecting close to $9.5 million in lump-sum payments for custodial parents.
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.
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