John Washington III Questions Whether Child-Support Enforcement Is Judged by Collections or by What Happens to Families
John Washington III, a 2028 presidential candidate, traced the federal child-support program from 1975 to its 1999 incentive structure and asked whether collections alone prove fairness or family stability.
John Washington III is asking Americans to look past collection totals when they judge the nation's child-support enforcement system. For decades, Americans have been told child-support enforcement protects families, John Washington III wrote, but history shows some policies punished families for having a man in the home.
John Washington III laid out the history as he presented it. In 1975, the federal program began, and part of its design was reimbursing welfare costs, he wrote. In 1999, a new incentive structure rewarded states for collections, he wrote. Families receive billions in support, John Washington III wrote, but collections alone do not prove fairness or family stability.
"We should ask who benefits, who struggles, and whether the government is held accountable for families' real outcomes, not just totals collected," John Washington III wrote. Fifty-one years in, he wrote, Americans deserve clear answers.
