Dear Editor:
I am writing this in hopes to find someone who cares about Kansas. We have given Young Williams, a foreign for profit entity from Mississippi, the powers and control over Kansas child support. Over the last six years they have been paid $153 million, in which none stayed in Kansas to enforce child support.
Not only are they in control of enforcing child support, they have monopolized our child support system, including controlling Kansas Payment Center and now with Maximus, they are Child Support Services.
We should be asking ourselves why would we in Kansas privatize child support, giving another state the right to make millions of dollars a day, taking away from families and children in Kansas. We have allowed Young Williams to collect, decide, and distribute child support. Without any check and balance to keep them from the power they have taken. There is no one to know exactly how much money they are really making, as they are in control of our whole child support system.
We all should be concerned as we all expect to one day draw Social Security. The Title IV D program is matched dollar for dollar by Kansas Social Security – sending more monies to Mississippi and those within the Young Williams entity. A foreign for profit company in which the stockholders take no responsibility if legal issues arise, instead it is the employees that face these damages.
An entity in which the corporate office at 112 SE Seventh St. has 250 other foreign for profit companies that share that same address. This should be red flags.
In September 2013, more than 200 Topeka employees from the Kansas Department for Children and Families were laid off by the takeover of Young Williams, giving these jobs to Young William’s people. Although they claimed to keep people in their jobs, but we don’t know for sure how many people really lost their jobs, as we have given all power to Young Williams with no position to oversee.
At the payment Center alone at least $ 1.6 million a day is processed through. Young Williams has the attitude to pay themselves back before any money is given to children and their families. This money comes from Kansas funding and instead of being regenerated in Kansas, it goes to Mississippi stockholders.
As Kansans we should be furious. As children and families in Kansas, right here in your hometown, are going hungry, families are losing their homes, while stockbrokers from Young Williams are profiting off Kansas child support.
Do we have to wonder why single parent families are left behind in the low income poverty. Are we giving our own children the support they need to overcome? I would bet that if spoken to, parents of these children who receive a small portion of what is paid into child support, you would see that we are failing our children.
Why would we not keep jobs and revenue in Kansas? Why would we not protect and provide for our children, instead let a foreign for profit company profit?
Topeka is the capital of Kansas, what do we have for children that live in poverty? What are we expecting when we have thrown our children to the wolves?
We need to start asking our people in the Kansas House and Senate why they are allowing another state to profit on our children, as our children pay the price.
Kim Amack, Topeka, Kan.
