Tino Wilson picks up his son Malachi, 14, after football practice at Terra Linda High School in San Rafael on Tuesday, October 17, 2023. (Alan Depp/Marin Independent Journal)
Tino Wilson, a Black man and business owner from Larkspur, has been burdened with child support payments for decades.
They have three children: Julian, 31 years old; Tino Jr., 19 years old. and Malachi, 14 years old. Wilson, 50, paid the state about $70,000 in child support.
“It’s hard to get out from under that, but we had to try,” Wilson said.
This year, the Phoenix Project, a Marine City-based advocacy and aid organization, and the county’s Department of Child Support Services stepped in to help reduce Wilson’s debt by about $30,000 and put her on a regular, more manageable payment plan. assisted in establishing the .
“I felt stuck and couldn’t go anywhere,” he said. “But they are very, very nice and work quickly with me. There are a lot of people just like me who need help.”
The state’s debt relief program is designed to help parents like Wilson who are behind on child support payments owed to the government. This money must be paid if the child was on welfare or placed in foster care when child support payments were not made.
Federal law requires states to be reimbursed for spending tax dollars to support children.
Felecia Gaston, director of the Phoenix Project, said the problem is that these arrears have become so alarming that working adults, especially Black men in Marine City, are stuck in them. The debt the country owns grows at an annual interest rate of 10%, often making payments even more impossible.
“The main focus of the Phoenix Project is connecting participants with all these available resources. If you don’t know how to access them, you’re just stuck,” Gaston said.
County Child Support Services Director Jill Francis said the first iteration of the program in 2018 had some success. But calls, texts and letters to parents in Marine City often went unanswered.
The impetus for reform has come through research such as a 2019 report by the Financial Justice Project. Insights Center for Community Economic Development. Policy Links; Francis said of the Tipping Point Community and the Western Center for Law and Poverty.
The report, titled “The Repayment Problem: How Receiving Parental Support to Repay Welfare Assistance, Negatively Impacts California’s Low-Income Children and Families.” It noted that payments are often unfair based on actual income and are often compounded by interest rates. , ultimately depriving children of the resources the program was trying to provide them with.
The program was redesigned in 2021 to simplify the application process and expand access.
“This practice disadvantaged poor families, especially people of color,” Francis said. “And those past due balances are still on the books. It’s impossible for many of these parents to get out from under them.”
Francis said the new measures “allow us to understand where parents are and offer them much smaller amounts to cover the huge arrears.”
Since 2021, the county has assisted approximately 300 parents. Parents include current and former Marin County residents. In some cases, the office has accepted parents from San Diego County, Francis said.
The county office said it has helped reduce debt by about $3 million since 2021.
County staff will complete an application for reduced payments on behalf of the customer, and the customer will submit a pay stub as a record of employment. The state will evaluate each case and recommend debt reduction and a more manageable monthly payment amount, usually around $100.
“They sign it, we file it with the court, and the arrears are gone,” Francis said. “It’s pretty amazing.”
Kevin Smith, a longtime Marine City resident and Phoenix Project case manager, acted as an intermediary to connect a Marine City man in need of child support assistance.
“These young people are working and trying to survive. It’s already discouraging if they’re not making that much already, but it’s even worse if they’re losing a little money,” Smith said. I did.
Smith said there are currently 10 black men in Marine City involved in aid through the Phoenix Project, including Wilson.
Monthly costs vary by county and situation. On average, parents may be paying $300 a month in child support for each child, Smith said.
The county hopes to contact as many fathers as possible. Wilson said he spoke to many people in the community to convince them of the program’s value.
“Once this is over, I’ll be able to get a passport,” he said.
That’s a privilege he was denied because of his debt. Gaston says that if the program is implemented correctly, many other companies can eliminate similar potential obstacles to success.
“I think this debt reduction program is a win-win and will be a really big relief for a lot of people,” she said. “This is a way to get hard-working men who want to maintain their pride and dignity.”
Learn more about bit.ly/46T8oHA.
