Arizona Shames Deadbeat Dads

Arizona's "Hashtag Governor," as Doug Duceylikes to call himself,announced yesterday that his state will start using social mediato publicly shame deadbeat dads who refuse to pay their child support.

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey Reuters

Arizona's "Hashtag Governor," as Doug Ducey likes to call himself, announced yesterday that his state will start using social media to publicly shame deadbeat dads who refuse to pay their child support.

Advertisement

"It’s simple," he said during Arizona's State of the State address. 

"If you’re old enough to father a child, then you’re old enough to accept financial responsibility for that child," Ducey continued. "If you don’t want your embarrassing – unlawful – and irresponsible behavior going viral: Man up, and pay up." 

The Department of Economic Security has already started tweeting out the names, photos, and amount due by offending fathers on its Twitter feed. Each post is accompanied with the hashtag "#deadbeat".

"Arizona law has long [since 1999] required the Department of Economic Security to post these photos and information to the website, but Governor Ducey and Director Jeffries are aiming to amplify these efforts using social media," the department spokesperson told CNN.

Advertisement

Arizona is starting by highlighting 421 non-custodial parents who have accrued particularly high debts over the past five years, the spokesperson added.

Here's an example:

—AzDES (@ArizonaDES) January 11, 2016

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7o8HSoqWeq6Oeu7S1w56pZ5ufonyivsizpqeZXai1ornErGSdnZGZr6at02abmpyjYn9xfZVmaA%3D%3D

 Share!