DUNNING DEADBEATS

AL JAMES, OF A COMPANY CALLED CHILD Support Enforcement, is working the phone. He's got the mother of a perp on the line, and he's reeling her in. "We' ve been trying to reach your son since August without any response to letters or messages." James is a former repo man; he plays it polite but inexorable. "Do you know who he is working for?" Pause. "Does he understand that Texas has passed criminal-nonsupport statutes?" Pause. "Do you think he may be afraid to call? That if he calls he will go to jail? Tell him I will work with him in any way I can to help him straighten this out." Final pause. "But if I find out where he' s working and he hasn' t called, I won't give him the courtesy of a phone call. l'll attach his wages." James hangs up. He's good: people he wants to pay up, usually pay up. That makes their ex-wives and their children happy.

If the '90s offer one villain by consensus, it is the deadbeat dad, that selfish fugitive condemned by liberals and conservatives alike for his irresponsible behavior and generous contributions to the cycle of welfare dependency. The Clinton Administration has taken aim at him (or her- around 5% of the deadbeats are moms), opening up the military's personnel files to collection efforts and pushing a national registry of parents' obligations. It also championed provisions, which passed the House of Representatives last week, that require states to revoke driving and professional licenses for nonpayment and apply property liens across state lines. At week's end Florida rounded up several hundred suspected deadbeats in a dramatic sweep. Though state and federal collection efforts, including a program to confiscate federal tax refunds, have had some success, the scope of the scofflaws' damage is still vast--they owe a cumulative $34 billion to 17 million children.

It was only a matter of time before that kind of money attracted bounty hunters. In fact, this burgeoning line of business has exploded in recent years. Before 1988 there were no firms whose sole purpose was collecting child support; today there are an estimated 150. The print ad for one of the largest, Find Dad, Inc., in California, is only slightly slicker than most: "He's enjoying his second childhood. Your kids are having trouble getting through their first." For 27% of any recovered money, Find Dad promises to do just that.

The only odd thing about this mushrooming industry is that its service is one supposedly performed by state agencies--for free. In 1993 $1.5 billion in federal funds flowed through the Department of Health and Human Services to 54 local agencies charged with hunting down welshers. Though the state programs corralled a lot of shirkers, they are nowhere near keeping up with demand. Texas is typical: it is now handling more than 800,000 cases, making recoveries in only 18% of them.