Child Support Amnesty Declared : Legal policy: Dist. Atty. Reiner does an about-face and gives parents 60 days to pay off debts to avoid arrest.

In a remarkable policy and political turnabout, Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner on Wednesday announced a two-month child support amnesty program in which “delinquent dads and moms” can pay off their outstanding debts to avoid arrest and jail.

Reiner, appearing at an afternoon press conference with a longtime nemesis, feminist attorney Gloria Allred, said delinquent parents will have until Sept. 30 to settle their accounts before being subjected to intensified enforcement efforts.

Reiner’s aides say that about 85,000 parents are delinquent in child support payments, many of them more than $1,000 in arrears.

Reiner, whose collection efforts have been criticized as inadequate by women’s groups, for years had refused to implement an Allred-proposed amnesty program. He said amnesty would unjustly tread on the judicial system and instead held highly publicized “delinquent dad” roundups, resulting in more than 200 arrests each Father’s Day weekend.

At least three times since 1985, Allred led sit-ins of feminists in Reiner’s office in unsuccessful efforts to meet with the district attorney on the issue. Reiner, in the midst of his unsuccessful bid for the Democratic state attorney general nomination, finally met with Allred last year and appointed her to co-chair a district attorney’s child support committee.

Asked why he had changed his mind on amnesty, Reiner told reporters, “Well, we’ll try anything and see if it works. There is a history to this program (in other California counties). It’s had some success.”

Reiner also made no bones about what strange political bedfellows he and Allred were. Smiling as the Westside attorney pinned a large button with the words “Call the DA” on his lapel, Reiner laughed and told news photographers, “Now, here’s a snapshot for your scrapbooks.”

Later, Reiner put his arm around Allred’s shoulder and quipped, “We’re off to the Middle East to straighten things out. That will be a piece of cake.”

Allred, for her part, said only: “I’m very happy to work with the district attorney and I’m also very happy to work with anyone else who wants to improve the child support program in any county in this nation.”

Under terms of the program, which took effect immediately, delinquent parents can bring their back payments to the district attorney’s office without fear of arrest or prosecution for being in arrears. In addition, those who can adequately demonstrate their inability to pay their full obligation can make arrangements to pay in installments. “But it has to be in good faith and has to be verifiable,” Reiner emphasized.

Delinquents wishing to settle up can contact the district office in which their case is pending or call the district attorney’s office at (213) 728-1000. Defendants with outstanding arrest warrants are advised to contact Reiner’s Bureau of Investigation at (213) 725-5072.

The 60-day effort--officially dubbed the District Attorney’s Child Support Amnesty Program--was one of several recommendations made by the advisory committee Reiner established last December. The committee, made up of equal numbers of Reiner’s aides and private citizens, also suggested that delinquent child support accounts be reported to credit reporting agencies.

The program had initially been scheduled to begin on Father’s Day, June 17. But Reiner, who suffered a defeat at the hands of San Francisco Dist. Atty. Arlo Smith in the June 5 primary, was unavailable that week, according to Allred. Announcement of the program was then pushed back to Aug. 1, the traditional kickoff of national child support month.

During the attorney general’s race, Reiner, who lost by fewer than 100,000 votes statewide, was criticized repeatedly by Smith and women’s groups for having the worst child support collection record in the state. Fewer than 10% of missing parents were located in Los Angeles two years ago, compared to 48% in San Francisco, they said.

Reiner’s top aides countered that Los Angeles has special problems because of its size. Nonetheless, they added, the district attorney’s office collected $104.6 million last year, more than any other metropolitan jurisdiction in the West.