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After her 1977 divorce, Geraldine Jensen returned to Toledo from Omaha, Nebraska with her two young sons, Matthew, 4, and Jake, 18 months. For six months, her former husband paid child support.Then it abruptly stopped. Unable to make enough money to support her family as a library aide, she was forced to go on welfare. Bolstered by federal grants from Pell and Title XX, Gerri returned to school in 1980 and graduated from Bowling Green School of Practical Nursing a year later. As a licensed practical nurse, she was hired to supervise other LPNs at a nursing home. Though she was struggling, Gerri was making it until the end of 1983--when everything caved in. Stricken with an illness that put her in intensive care, she was hospitalized for three weeks. In addition, her son needed ear surgery to prevent hearing loss. With no money or savings, she telephoned her caseworker of seven years at the County Welfare Department to inquire about $12,000 due to her in back support. Informed that the County Prosecutor's office had actually been handling the case, a bewildered and stunned Gerri confronted the prosecutor.With her case file in front of him, he told Gerri that nothing could be done about the child support collection. "If you can do a better job, then go right ahead," he said. Geraldine Jensen did exactly that.She spent eight of her last $13 on a classified ad in the Sunday Toledo Blade, an act which changed her life forever. The ad read, "Not receiving your child support? Call me." Little did Gerri realize the effect this ad would have on Toledo women. Ten women responded that Sunday evening. Within two weeks, the Association For Children For Enforcement of Support (ACES) was formed - with 50 women as members. Two months later, the group ballooned to 200. Now ACES is the largest child support self-help group in the U.S., with 45,000 members and almost 400 chapters in 48 states!

Copyright 1985 The Times Mirror Company Los Angeles Times February 24, 1985, Sunday, Bulldog Edition SECTION: Part 1; Page 2; Column 1; Advance Desk LENGTH: 1108 words HEADLINE: CHILD-SUPPORT ACTIVIST IS TERROR OF THE COURTROOMS BYLINE: By SUE CROSS, Associated Press DATELINE: TOLEDO, Ohio BODY:

Geraldine Jensen, who is less than 5 feet tall in her stocking feet, doesn't look threatening. But, when she gets on the subject of child support, her voice sounds as if it could knock down brick walls. Her attacks on the bureaucracy and determination to squeeze answers out of dry legalese have made her the terror of courtrooms and attracted nearly 100 new members a month to a parents' advocacy group she formed 11 months ago: Advocates for Children for Enforcement of Support, or ACES. The 32-year-old mother of two had $12 in her pocket and a pound of hamburger in her refrigerator when, as she tells it, a prosecutor said he could do nothing to collect more than $10,000 in overdue child support from her ex-husband in Nebraska. If she wanted her money, he said, she should "get a bunch of women together and do something about it." She did. She took part of the $12 in March, 1984, and advertised for other women in the same dilemma. By mid-May there were ACES chapters in three counties; by the end of June, there were almost 200 members. This month, 23 ACES chapters will bring together 900 to 1,000 members at meetings throughout Ohio. Phone Rings Frequently Still, the phone on Jensen's desk rings every few minutes with calls from persons who "have to talk to the lady who was on television" because they aren't getting child support and don't know where to get help. Jensen appears frequently on radio and television talk shows, trains county coordinators and oversees ACES' education programs on the rights and responsibilities of separated parents. She also directs its support groups for parents who aren't getting child-support payments and circulates legal advice provided by the Toledo-based Advocates for Basic Legal Equality. "We're not attorneys, and we don't pretend to be, but we can kind of interpret it for people," she says. She sees ACES' role as a guide through such agencies as bureaus of support, county prosecutors' offices, the Ohio Human Services Department, juvenile or domestic relations courts and court clerks. Jensen quit her job in January as a licensed practical nurse and nursing home administrator and works for ACES full time, although she is yet to be paid. "There's more money coming in in February, so we'll have something in February, and we're praying for March," she says. Seen as Biggest Victory She spends several days a week traveling -- to boost new chapters, attend meetings in Columbus with state officials and sessions of the Ohio Commission on Child Support, to which she was appointed by Gov. Richard F. Celeste. She considers the appointment ACES' biggest victory so far. In addition, a $2,500 grant from the Campaign for Human Development, a national organization affiliated with the Catholic Church, and a $4,000 contract with the state to help publicize child-support problems, have been added to the voluntary $5 ACES dues collected from most members. The money pays for a three-room office in the downtown YWCA that replaced Jensen's kitchen table headquarters. Jensen laughs often, lowers her voice in sympathy and seems like the friendly neighbor next door when talking about struggles to collect support payments. The name "Gerri Jensen" causes judges in the Lucas County Courthouse to wince. "I can tell you that from talking with other judges, they're not impressed with their (ACES members') tactics," says Judge June Rose Galvin of Lucas County Domestic Relations Court, the target of ACES picketing outside her home. "Typically, they walk into court and start telling (judges) how they want things run. And I think for most people, that's a turnoff." Encouraged to Ask Why ACES members are encouraged to ask why when officials tell them their cases have been stalled and to demand answers. Jensen credits her stance as a court pest with the solution -- in less than two months -- of a support case that she had fought to resolve over several years. "My impossible case was suddenly solved," she says. "I think they just wanted to keep me quiet, but that has made me more determined, because if I can get my money, so can other people." She says that her case probably wasn't mishandled but that, until she made herself known, it was just one of thousands of backlogged cases handled by understaffed government employees. Willard Sass, a county welfare supervisor who pursues such cases, says there is a backlog of 5,500 cases like Jensen's. Jensen says she was pestering officials who could do nothing about her case because she didn't know who was responsible for paper work needed to collect money from her ex-husband. "I found out that, since June of '78, I had been talking to the wrong department," she says. Lack of Uniformity Cited She hopes through ACES to educate other single parents on the complex steps that a support order can take through many agencies. Collecting money from absent parents in other states is more difficult because of a lack of uniformity between state agencies and difficulties enforcing support orders across state lines. Jensen turned down Galvin's recent offer to provide ACES members with forms to list problems collecting overdue support and the officials whom they contacted. The judge said she would trace each case turned in and personally respond to each person who filled out a form. "We feel it would be very easy if we turn them in 25 to 30 names per month, and they'd solve those 25 or 30 problems," Jensen says. "We don't want to do that. We want a system that works for everyone. . . . It needs to be a long-term solution." ACES hopes to found chapters nationwide. For now, it is targeting Ohio for statewide changes in the child-support system. Jensen points to a federal study, published in the Oct. 5, 1984, Federal Register, that rates only two states below Ohio in the success of child-support collection programs and says she's determined to force improvements in the system. That, Galvin says, may be ACES' best goal. Court in 'No-Win Situation' "They have to be effective by getting on state commissions and demanding that child support (payments) be treated like taxes, that they're taken out to begin with," Galvin says. "Until then, all you're doing is putting the court in a no-win situation." Jensen says improvements are more likely to be made in correlation to how loud ACES' members can complain about bureaucratic tangles. To a degree, judges agree with that too. "They've done one thing," Galvin says. "They've made our job easier. Every time they're on the news, it makes it easier to collect child support because people know there is a problem."
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Copyright 1990 Cable News Network, Inc. All rights reserved CNN View Related Topics Larry King Live December 26, 1990 Transcript # 200 - 2 TYPE: Package SECTION: News LENGTH: 2518 words HEADLINE: Deadbeat Dads BYLINE: LARRY KING; HIGHLIGHT:

Geraldine Jensen, whose husband refused to pay child support, Dennis Levin, a father jailed for not paying child support, and Jim Plousis, New Jersey sheriff, discuss child support. BODY: ROSE: They're being called delinquent dads and deadbeats - fathers who won't pay the child support. New Jersey is leading the way towards reform - rounding up dads who won't pay. Dennis Levin was one of those dads thrown behind bars. He joins me here in Washington, along with Geraldine Jensen. Her husband refused to pay child support, forcing Geraldine and her children out into the streets. Welcome, good to have both of you here. Forced you out into the streets because you didn't get child support? GERALDINE JENSEN, Husband Refused to Pay Child Support: Oh, absolutely, and I'm not an uncommon case. The payments only came in for six months after the divorce. When they stopped, I was unable to make the house payment alone and take care of my two sons - Matt and Jake - who were 3 and six months old at the time. ROSE: So what did you do? Ms. JENSEN: Well, we lost our home, first. And I did manage to move in with my parents - we were very fortunate - so that I wasn't actually living on the streets. I got a little bit better paying job where I was making about $ 100 a week, but day care for two preschoolers was $ 50 a week. So I only lasted about another year and then I was on welfare. That's the only way we survived. When the boys and I were on welfare, their father made $ 40,000 a year, and didn't pay support. ROSE: Why not? Ms. JENSEN: He said that he didn't have the money, he wasn't able to pay. He started a new family. He wanted to take care of his second family. He basically divorced not only me, but his two sons. ROSE: And so what did you do? Ms. JENSEN: I went back to school and I became a licensed practical nurse. ROSE: But what about him? What did you do to him? Ms. JENSEN: Well, I went to the child support agency to get help because I couldn't afford a private attorney, and they told me they couldn't help me because I couldn't locate him. And I didn't know there was a federal parent locator system and they were supposed to find him. And then they told me they couldn't help me after I did have his address because they didn't know where he worked. And then when I found out where he was working, then they told me they couldn't help me because he was out of state. So because of all this frustration - and it was seven years; and he was $ 12,000 behind; and, even though I had a better job, my sons were never going to have what they needed - I got frustrated and started an organization called, ACES. ROSE: Which does what? Ms. JENSEN: We help families collect child support - both mothers and fathers who are owed payments. ROSE: And if they don't pay, you say what? Ms. JENSEN: Well, the first option is to do a payroll deduction. ROSE: Right. If they don't do that? Ms. JENSEN: The next option is to try to get a bond posted. ROSE: And if they don't do that? Ms. JENSEN: If they quit their jobs, or they're repeat offenders, then we believe that they should be jailed. This is a crime against children. ROSE: But what difference does it make? Does it help them pay the child support if they go to jail? Ms. JENSEN: Absolutely. Nine out of every 10 people who are put in jail for child support come up with the money and support their children. So it brings the issue home. ROSE: So put them in the slammer and they'll begin to think about their obligation? Ms. JENSEN: Absolutely, and it works. ROSE: Does it work, Dennis? DENNIS LEVIN, Arrested for Delinquent Child Support: Not at all. Not at all. ROSE: What happened? Mr. LEVIN: First of all, in the state of New Jersey there's a constitution that says you cannot be imprisoned for a debt, which is exactly what I was imprisoned for. I was- ROSE: Tell me a little bit about your story, before we get too far. Mr. LEVIN: OK, approximately nine months ago I filed an order with the court requesting a judge to appoint a psychologist to interview my two children, who are aged 13 and 14, to determine if they were old enough, if they were mature enough to determine their own child custody schedule. My ex-wife and I have had joint custody since our divorce in 1980. We have had extensive, extensive litigation in the court system. Right after I filed that order, my ex-wife filed an order asking for more child support. Up until that point, I had been paying $ 200 a month. She asked for $ 300 per week. Now, the result of my court order was that I ended up with exact equal time with the children. We have them now every other week. ROSE: How did you end up in prison- or jail? Mr. LEVIN: Several weeks ago, 6:00 in the morning, about six or eight deputy sheriff cars arrived at my doorstep and banged on the door and, in front of all four of my children - two from the previous marriage, two from my current marriage - I was handcuffed and taken away. ROSE: And what did your children say? Mr. LEVIN: My children were very upset about it. It was, naturally, a personal embarrassment for them. It was also- you know, their father being taken- ROSE: Any sympathy here? Ms. JENSEN: Not at all, because he's a very typical situation and a real- it brings the problem home. The average child support order in the United States in the 70's and 80's was $ 200 a month, or about $ 2,400 a year- Mr. LEVIN: I don't think we're quite typical. I- Ms. JENSEN: If you have to pay $ 300 now a week, it means that you earn well over $ 50,000 a year- Mr. LEVIN: I don't deny that- Ms. JENSEN: -therefore, you're paying about 30 percent of your money for your kids- Mr. LEVIN: My ex-wife makes over $ 60,000 a year. And, according to the laws in New Jersey, they cannot take into account her husband's income, nor my wife's income. Ms. JENSEN: Well, they shouldn't count the parents- step-parent income, only biological parent income. Many families - unfortunate as it is - are both parties have been divorced- Mr. LEVIN: How can you go out and buy a house- Ms. JENSEN: -he could be paying child support- Mr. LEVIN: -without looking at the income of both people in a family, of all the family income? Ms. JENSEN: We're talking about a mother's and a father's responsibility to support their children. And even though your ex-wife is working, she's contributing towards the children. And you're working and you should contribute. You have a legal and moral obligation- Mr. LEVIN: With equal time - with equal time, and with income levels over $ 50,000, $ 60,000 on both parts, the father should still be the one to pay, just because he's a male? Ms. JENSEN: If they use the formula that they have in New Jersey - which is a mathematical formula - it takes into consideration the time the children spend with both parents- Mr. LEVIN: No, that formula, the judge finally admitted to using that formula which did not apply at the time this issue came up. The formula stopped at an income of $ 1,000 a month. ROSE: But you don't believe there are any circumstances in which a husband who is not paying child support should not be thrown in jail? Is that right? Is that where you stand? Mr. LEVIN: What advantage is there to throwing him in jail? How is he going to pay the money then? How is he going to earn the money? ROSE: What's the advantage? Ms. JENSEN: The advantage is those people who ignore their obligations and you've tried everything else, when they put them in jail all the studies show they do make the payments. The children benefit. ROSE: That's the advantage. It makes them pay. Ms. JENSEN: It's a deterrent. Mr. LEVIN: The child support is much more than a financial issue, and that's the way the courts have dealt with it. It's an emotional issue. Yes, it's an economic issue. It's a psychological issue. It's how you deal with your children. It's how you treat- train them to their own upbringing, what their morals are. Ms. JENSEN: There's two separate issues. One is a financial issue and one is an emotional. And it's wrong to, for example, withhold child support payments because you're arguing about visitation. You're stealing the food out of your own child's mouth. You have to go to court, resolve those issues- Mr. LEVIN: But the- ROSE: Let me interrupt and come right back. I promise I'll be right back. I also want to mention that we did contact Dennis' ex-wife, but she refused to come on this show. And when we come back we'll have more about sending deadbeat dads to the slammer. Back in a moment. [Commercial break] ROSE: Delinquent dads who don't pay child support. New Jersey has conducted three pre-dawn raids, rounding up approximately 1,700 fathers who owe over $ 7 million. Here in Washington is Dennis Levin, a father who was thrown in jail during the most recent raid. Also in Washington, Geraldine Jensen. Her husband left her kids without a penny to live on. And joining us now from New York is Sheriff Jim Plousis. He developed the entire pre-dawn raid concept because children are being cruelly made to suffer in epidemic proportions. Sheriff, I'll be with you in just a second. Let me just come to Geraldine and a couple of quick points. Have women gone to jail for not paying child support? Ms. JENSEN: Yes, they have. In fact, the studies show that mothers who are non-custodial parents don't make payments any more often than fathers - there's still about a 80 percent default rate - and that jail works as well to get mothers to pay support as dads. ROSE: One other point. Your husband, former husband, is now paying child support? Ms. JENSEN: Yes. Since ACES was about three months old and I finally did get him brought into court and the judge threatened him with jail, he's not missed a payment. And my sons are much better off now because they know that there will be food in the house. ROSE: Sheriff, tell me about these raids in New Jersey. You developed the idea. Why is it a good idea? JIM PLOUSIS, President, New Jersey Sheriffs Association: Well, Charlie, we wanted to bring out the public awareness to the situation. And we really don't want these people in jail. When we do do these pre-dawn raids, we have it arranged where a sitting judge would hear the matter, just in case there were some extenuating circumstances. And in those cases- ROSE: Let me talk about Dennis' case real quick. Should you have- how many patrol cars? Mr. LEVIN: There were six or eight in the driveway. ROSE: Six patrol cars - when this man has kids and they may be traumatized by this? I mean, I know you could argue that trauma works both ways, but is that overdoing it? Sheriff PLOUSIS: Well, we try not to, and that might be- I think that's the exception, not the rule. In some cases- Mr. LEVIN: May I interject, the press was there as well. They were invited - even from The Washington Post - to come to New Jersey. This is a very big political event in New Jersey. When my story made the front page in the Star Ledger, the local paper in Moorestown - the Daily Record - the top story was sheriff's pay increase- ROSE: And the only reason you weren't paying is because you think your wife makes enough money to support the children, even though the formula that is being used is appropriate and legal by the practice in New Jersey today? Ms. JENSEN: Right, and he could have gone back to court and modified the order if it was unfair- Mr. LEVIN: I am in the appellate division now. I was arrested anyway- Ms. JENSEN: -and if it wasn't appropriate. Mr. LEVIN: -and the probation department is well aware. ROSE: Even though you were trying to appeal, you were still arrested? Mr. LEVIN: And I was still paying to the probation department. ROSE: Sheriff, do you think you've set a precedent that might spread across the country, these raids, in putting more - as we say on this program and others - deadbeat dads in the slammer? Sheriff PLOUSIS: There's no doubt about it, but let me clarify. It was both men and women. And as we speak, there's less than 10 percent of the people that we arrested two weeks ago that are still in jail. There's no question, when they're subject to going to jail they come up with the money. And the few that go to jail, if they don't have employment, we will find employment for them. So we do get the money one way or the other. And the reason that we have the public exposure to it is that we want other people to come in on their own, and that has worked not only in New Jersey but in New York. Mr. LEVIN: Sheriff, what about the constitution in New Jersey? ROSE: Dennis, once again, I'll have to ask you to hold up- Mr. LEVIN: OK. ROSE: I'm up against the break. Forcing dads to pay child support with that threat of public humiliation - we will be right back. Stay with us. [Commercial break] ROSE: We have been talking about rounding up delinquent dads and putting them behind bars until they pay up. Here in Washington, Dennis Levin and Geraldine Jensen; and in New York, Sheriff Jim Plousis. Let me go to Mesa, Arizona, and get at least somebody in on this conversation. Welcome. 3rd CALLER: [Mesa, Arizona] Hi. ROSE: Hi. 3rd CALLER: I have an ex-husband who lives in Texas and is a peace officer. And he is over $ 15,000 behind in his child support, yet I can't seem to get any coordination to at least threaten this man with jail to help him to decide to pay up. ROSE: What have you done to try to get him to pay up? 3rd CALLER: I've been through the state of Arizona's URISA program, and they tell me if he decides to move that's too bad, we start over. What can I do? ROSE: Geraldine? Ms. JENSEN: The best thing to do would be to try to locate where he's working and do an interstate wage withholding. That takes about six to eight weeks to do, and it's much more effective than a URISA. Also, the government has formed an interstate child support commission and we are working on ways to improve the laws to collect across state lines. I would encourage you to contact ACES at our office in Toledo, Ohio, and we'd be happy to send you some information about what you can do. ROSE: What would you do to change the system? Mr. LEVIN: I think the system has to be taken out of the courtroom. A judge is not qualified to make these decisions on his own. In England, there are three-judge panels- ROSE: Even if they don't pay up until they go to jail? If jail has a sobering effect - as someone once said a hangman's noose does - why not? Mr. LEVIN: Well, first of all, it's a violation of constitutional rights, of civil rights, to be put in jail for a debt. At least in the state of New Jersey it is. Ms. JENSEN: It's not being put in jail for a debt. This is a crime against children. It's for neglecting and abandoning the children. And these kids grow up in poverty. ROSE: Thank you, Geraldine. Thank you very much, Dennis. Sheriff Jim Plousis, thank you very much for enlightening us about the New Jersey situation. A pleasure to have all of you on the broadcast. I thank you for letting me sit in Larry's chair. I hope he's having a great vacation, and I hope all of you have a great evening. Good night.
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