By Petulia Clarke, Staff ReporterDELINQUENT FATHERS who choose to abandon their children for greener pastures overseas will have the law on their heels soon, if legislation to establish 'reciprocal enforcement' between the United States and Jamaica at the federal level gets going.
The enforcement will ensure that fathers who were ordered to maintain their children do so, as well as iden-tify new cases of delinquency as filed by mothers in Jamaica.
Public Defender Howard Hamil-ton is to meet with the Attorney-General to make a report on the establishment of a Federal Agree-ment that would create a link with all 50 American states.
Mr. Hamilton, who attended a recent conference in Florida, which was under the theme 'International Child Support Enforcement' and hosted by the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement, said that great strides were being made in establishing enforcement between the two countries.
"The U.S. is very concerned, at present, they are anxious to offer this and have a reciprocal thing... (the current) state by state is slow and tedious, so if we have an agreement at several levels, one agreement will go right across the board," Mr. Hamilton said.
PUBLIC RELATIONS CAMPAIGN
If approved, the report should go to Cabinet, hopefully, before year-end. A massive public relations campaign to brief mothers on their rights will follow.
The database will track delinquent fathers through their social security and other codes. Methods of apprehending could include immediate prosecution, for example, after being stopped and scanned for even minor traffic offences.
Jamaica already has this arrangement with England, in some areas of Canada and some U.S. states. Canada has encouraged Jamaica to make a similar representation at the federal level to include cities like the Jamaican-populated Ontario.
Mr. Hamilton said that he's not worried about illegal immigrants.
"Because they're there and they don't want to come home, the simplest thing would be for them to just send the money," he said. "And they had better, because any dad who is not in the system and thinks he's OK will be tracked and when he's found, it's a deportable situation."
MECHANISMS ALL IN PLACE
The U.S. has asked that reciprocating countries be able to establish paternity, establish and enforce child support orders, collect and distribute support payments, provide a central authority which will be accountable and be a cost-free service to the applicant.
Mr. Hamilton said that Jamaica has mechanisms in place to meet all these requirements.
The current Maintenance Orders (Facilities for Enforcement) Act allows that where a (Jamaican) court has made a maintenance order against a person and it is proved that such person is residing in a reciprocating state, the court and that state shall do what is appropriate to ensure enforcement.
The Act also provides for the reciprocal enforcement of orders pursuant to arrangements made between Jamaica and countries which have been designated reciprocating states.
