I just heard from North Dakota Shared Parenting Chairman Mitch Sanderson that the State of North Dakota will be taking an official stance in opposition to the Shared Parenting Initiative. Mitch got a call from Duane Houdek, a lawyer working in Governor Hoeven's office, who told Mitch that it is the state of North Dakota's position that the shared parenting initiative would put North Dakota child support guidelines out of compliance with federal standards, something that would in turn cause North Dakota to lose some $70 million in federal funding.

Mr. Houdek, and by extension Governor Hoeven, could not be more wrong on this issue.

As I have explained before, the Shared Parenting Initiative would not put North Dakota out of compliance with federal standards. The standards for state child support guidelines are found in federal code Title 45, Volume 2, Section 302.56 which you can all read for yourselves here.

Basically, all federal law requires of state child support guidelines is a) that the state have a formula for determining the amount of child support and b) that the formula take into account all of an obliged parent's income. That's it. Federal law does not prohibit additional calculations (such as determining the actual cost of raising a child) from being used to determine the amount of child support pays, nor does the Shared Parenting Initiative prohibit the amount of income to be used as well.

In short, the Shared Parenting Initiative is explicitly in compliance with federal standards.

So why is Governor Hoeven's office saying that the SPI isn't in compliance with federal standards? It helps if we follow the money.

The federal funding the North Dakota Child Support agency receives is based on the number of dollars that agency collects in child support. The more child support money they collect the more federal funding they receive. The NDSPI would more than likely reduce the amount of child support collected in North Dakota by preventing support payments from exceeding the cost of raising the child. Currently many parents pay hundreds of dollars a month more than they need to because current child support guidelines are based only on income, not the needs of the children. The bureaucrats down at the child support offices like that because it means more federal dollars for them.

What we need to ask ourselves is this: What's more important? A family law system that is equitable to both parents of a child and does not require child support payments in excess of what is needed or keeping the amount of federal funds the child support agency receives high?

Personally, I pick the first one. Especially in light of a recent announcement that North Dakota has a half a billion dollar budget surplus.

There is no reason to be sacrificing equality for the sake of some federal dollars right now.