Weather: Wednesday, mainly cloudy with isolated showers. Thurs.'2" “aastly cloudy with showers. Highs near 12°C. INDEX Business..... Classified Ads. Doug Collins......... 9 Comics ....... Dr. Ruth... Editorial............ 6 Food............... 46 Bob Hunter.......... 4 Lifestyles............44 Mailbox... seeeee 7 Sports.... aoe 5 TV Listings..........49 What's Going On.....48 provided the dog with a perfect napping spot. |Society tackles custody system A NORTH Vancouver mother of two is fighting for more than scraps on the table for children of broken families. The vehicle for change, SCRAPS (Society for Children’s Rights to Adequate Parental Support), was formed as a non- profit society locally in August by Susan Milliken and other men and women disillusioned with the current custody support system. The group held an information meeting last Wednesday at North Vancouver’s Capilano library and is lobbying to improve the enforcement of child support, improve the process of establishing support and change societal attitudes about the responsibilities of divorced parents. Apart from her past personal problems with child-support payments, Milliken said the plight of a close friend was the catalyst for action to pressure for change. Said Milliken: ‘“‘She’s a mother of three children. She put her husband through a BA, an MA News Reporter and a law degree. They separated shortly after. She was forced to sell the house. She moved into a condominium and her ex-nhus- band didn’t make the mortgage payments. He defaulted on child support and was $5,000 in ar- rears.” In court, the judge forgave $2,500 of the $5,000 owed and stayed the other $2,500. Milliken said her friend was told in court to declare personal bankruptcy, but declined. But because she could not collect on the outstanding arrears, she was eventually forced to declare per- sonal bankruptcy. Family pro- blems resulted. “There are an awful lot of women and children suffering out there,’’ said Milliken. A proposal is currently before ACCORDING TO LAWYER Slim chance of revai A NORTH Vancouver lawyer specializing in family law is pessimistic about the chances of a universal system enforcing child-support payments being established soon in B.C. ‘I’ve learned years ago not to hold my breath,’’ said James Martin. “It’s a very frustrating area of the law. There are numerous practical problems as well as the deep-rooted psychology of ‘God, this poor guy doesn’t have any money. How can we enforce this?’*’ Martin was a guest speaker at Wednesday's North Vancouver public meeting of SCRAPS (Society for Children’s Rights to Adequate Parental Support), a non-profit society formed locally in August. The society, founded by Susan Milliken, a North Vancouver mother of two, is lobbying to improve enforcement of child By MICHAEL BECKER News Reporter rationalize the child support process and change societal attitudes about the responsibilities of parents after divorce. Over the 12 years Martin has been in family law he’s seen firsthand the many ways the system can be abused. “The maintenance orders are abused either by simply not pay- ing, divesting assets, putting money in joint name assets, or by leaving the province,’’ he said. But the system is up for some modification in the possible ex- support, the attorney general to gradually expand a pilot family maintenance project implemented in Vancouver for the past 24 years. In the Vancouver system, welfare recipients have access to government-appointed lawyers to help them establish support orders or enforce existing orders. But,. said Milliken, ‘‘The pro- posal currently before cabinet to expand what’s available in Van- couver doesn’t take the problem out of the court system. It’s still expensive and cumbersome.” She points to the universal en- forcement program in place in Manitoba for the past seven years as — system that works. The pro- vince was the first in Canada to establish a universal enforcement system with a separate gov- ernment department designated to monitor enforcement orders. The department director has the authority to garnishee a default- er’s wages for payment. According to Milliken, the Manitoba system costs $500,000 tension of provincially-funded lezal assistance to low-income single parents with custody of children. In addition to the Vancouver pilot family maintenance project currently being considered by the provincial government for pro- vince-wide implementation, Mar- tin said the attorney general’s of- fice also provides ad-hoc counsel for securing initial maintenance orders and aid in cases dealing with enforcement of out-of- province orders. One of the tools Martin sees as necessary to make the system work is an automatic attachmeni order that would allow money to be garnisheed directly from a paycheque rather than an at- tachment order being preceeded by a show-cause proceeding. Martin said there should be a_ way of tapping into pension a year and recovers $1,000,000 annually in payments. Seven years since the system has been in place, the default rate on child- support payments has dropped from between 65 and 85 ner cent, down to 15 per cent. But a 1981 report prepared as a joint project of the attorney general's office, the province of B.C. and the Lower Mainland United Way, evaluated how courts were dealing with the issue of enforcement in B.C. The study found that in 37 per cent of cases considered, arrears averaging 60 per cent of monies owed, or $1,980, were forgiven. The study also found that in- dividual custody support disputes averaged 4.2 show-cause court dates per case. Milliken said in many cases there is a three-month wait for a court dat2 on top of the show-cause procedural delays encountered once in court, “There are people who can af- ford to hire lawyers,” Milliken said, ‘‘but when it involves going to court several times before an ped jaw monies and UIC payments if necessary. Martin would also like to see greater access to maintenance monies owed by federal government employees. Currently, appeals must be directed through the Department of Justice. “They will only attach arrears and not regular maintenance orders,’ said Martin. The determination of custody payments is often not a clear-cut matter. ‘‘There are several for- mulas around,’’ Martin said. “The courts look at the needs of the child, family expenses. Some judges look at ages, with maintenance increasing as the child grows older."’ Martin said the element of a spouse literally buying a child’s time can also figure into the maintenance equation. He said it’s sometimes used as a hammier. NEWS photo Terry Petora ‘CAUTION: PUPPY on board! This cheeky mutt was spotted lounging in style in a parked car receully uu Lonsdale Avenue. A child's car seat fn Jd: SCRAPS founder Susan Milliken..“‘There are an awful lot of women and children suffering out there,”’ enforcement measure is called, we can’t see the use of governm- ent lawyers in this process as an efficient system.’? Federally, the government passed a new enforcement assistance act in February 1986 that allows it to find missing per- sons and enforce existing orders. The act will also allow the gar- nishment of income tax refunds and other monies owing. NORTH Vancouver lawyer James Martin...‘‘I’'ve learned years ago not to hold my breath.”* For example, when a woman is applying for increased maintenance support, an estranged husband might try to trade increased access to children for increased support payments.