Raising children is not an easy task, no matter the circumstances. In order to keep kids happy and healthy, parents need access to a significant amount of resources. After a divorce, many Minneapolis parents rely on financial support from their ex-spouse. Sending monthly payments is just one way parents take responsibility for their children.

Recently, it was uncovered that Hennepin County prematurely closed cases of unpaid child support. This prompted a review by the Minnesota Department of Human Services, which caused the state to direct the county to re-examine the cases in question. Those cases amounted to $5.9 million in delinquent support payments. In one particular case, a child's father had not paid over $38,000 in child support, but the county ceased their efforts to collect that debt.

Officials from the state Department of Human Services say that many parents still are in need of child support payments, even though the cases have been open for five or more years. Some are suggesting that the county may have been trying to avoid losing federal funding, because open unpaid child support cases make the county appear "inefficient."

However, Hennepin County officials have fought the accusations that they closed cases too early. The country indicated that many of the cases involved grown children, in addition to being several years old. A spokesperson also indicated that many of the unpaid child support payments began to accumulate around the time that the economy sunk into recession, which caused a lot of parents to lose their income.

No matter the reason the cases were closed, it is important not to forget that many Twin Cities families are in need of support to raise their children. Even though parents have failed to pay child support for multiple years, it does not mean a family's needs expire or that it's impossible to hold a parent responsible for delinquent payments.

Source: Star Tribune, "Hennepin County's closed cases on child support to be re-examined," Jeremy Olson, Feb. 13, 2012