Letter

I am writing today because there is an oversight in the current legislation that requires parents to pay child support to the state, when a minor under the age of 18 is in the state’s custody. While it is imperative that parents be responsible for their under age children, there should be some exceptions allowed.

My seven year old daughter was raped this year by her 15 year old half brother. When the crime was disclosed, I called police. We have followed every procedure and recommendation by this state, in order to not only get justice for our daughter, but to make sure our son gets help and is also held accountable for his actions. Our hope was to try and prevent this from happening again in the future.

The state of Alaska has said everything that what has happened is not our fault as parents. And that as a result of our disclosure, it is out of our hands. We have no choice in what happens now at all. There are statutes and procedures for everything in this matter and we have gone along and done what the state recommended. They have set the guidelines for the best placement for the perpetrator.

Just before our sentencing hearing, we received a report from the Department of Juvenile Justice that stated we would be liable for child support for this perpetrator. NEVER during the months of prosecution, from May-September 2007, did anyone from the state mention to us that we would be financially responsible if we went a head with prosecution. We went to court on September 7, 2007. I made a statement that the state is forcing us to choose between helping the victim in this case and supporting the perpetrator of the crime. The judge agreed, but said that we had no choice, because it is state law to require parents to pay support when their child is in the state’s custody. So he encouraged me to seek out my legislators.

We are a one income family, with 3 other children besides the one in states custody. While we concur that it is a parent’s responsibility to care and provide for their own children, we disagree in this case. The state has stepped in and taken custody, at no fault of our own. Everything has been taken out of our hands, including dealing with the effects of this crime on our family. Imagine the state coming in and telling the victim of sexual assault that they will be responsible for financially supporting the perpetrator in their case... That is exactly what has happened here.

We are entitled, under the current law to restitution, but did not ask for it because ultimately, if the perpetrator defaults on the payments,because his is a minor we as his parents will be liable for it. Essentially the state would require us to pay ourselves. This is absurd! There is nothing in this case, that the state has done for our family except remove the delinquent child, tell us he can never return and force us to pay physically, emotionally and now financially for this crime.

What about my daughter? A second grader, who might have to, on top of everything else, move from the only home she has ever known in order for her family to afford the enforced child support of her brother who raped her. Why should her life be even more disrupted than it already has been? What about the emotional toll that this kind of crime alone takes on her and her family? When is enough, ENOUGH?

Where is the perpetrators accountability? He gets to go to treatment instead of jail, he gets a chance to “recover” and go on with his life. What about his family? Why are we being forced to pay for his crime in every way possible? The court has already determined that it was not our fault as parents, there have been many psychological evaluations done to prove this fact.

This is exactly why, that as a nation we are seeing rising numbers of sex offenders. People choose not to report and prosecute because when things like this occur, there is no real help. The family is victimized over and over again in this process. And when all is said and done, there is only a 40% success rate for juvenile sex offenders at the ultimate expense of their family.

Alaska has the highest rate of sex offenders per capita in the entire nation. And it is not by just a little bit that we are number one. According to www.familywatchdog.com
We have 4109 registered sex offenders in this state. The next highest is South Dakota with 2267. Here is what you need to understand. This means that in Alaska, 1 out of every 170 people, is a sex offender. In South Dakota, it’s 1 out of 357 people. Our number is double with roughly the same population. Does this not scream that we have a huge problem here?

Take into consideration that only 1 in 4 of these types of crimes are ever reported at all. Then realize that every juvenile that has these types of problems who goes on to victimize some one, runs the risk of ending up in the adult correction system because of these and other problems, namely drug and alcohol abuse. These are the highest numbers of inmates in jails across the country. Doesn’t anyone see the link?

The way to make a difference here is not to hold families of these juveniles financially accountable. It is to encourage families to report these crimes and seek out the help they need that the state had already made available! The state has programs and money already in place. Why should a family, struggling to deal with effects and consequences of the actions of a mentally ill individual, be held accountable to support them while in treatment, if the state has taken them into custody because of a felony conviction?

Shouldn’t family responsibility shift in this case from supporting the perpetrator, to supporting his victim? Shouldn’t the state now be responsible for the perpetrator and the family is responsible for the victim? Shouldn’t victim survival and recovery be equally as important, in order to again PREVENT the victim from taking this event and turning it into reason to abuse drugs and alcohol? Or from becoming an offender themselves? The state should not require families to do both when they take all of the control out of the hands of the parents in the first place. This is a gross injustice, one that affects 1000’s of families not just in our state, but across the nation.