By Cindi Andrews
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Five mothers filed a class action lawsuit Friday that alleges Ohio counties have wrongly withheld millions of dollars in child support that should have gone to families.

"There are tens of thousands of working mothers that have not been given the arrearages they're entitled to by law," said Robert Newman, the Cincinnati attorney who's handling the case.

The five women filing the suit are former welfare recipients. They say they're owed between $759 and $5,505 in back child support payments that the government wrongly kept to repay welfare. Three of the women are from Hamilton County, one from Clermont and one from Lucas County.

"I really think about the kids in all this," said plaintiff Linda Marcum, 32, of Colerain Township. "They're the ones who suffer. They don't get what they need."

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati, echoes recent allegations by the Association for Children for Enforcement of Support - a national advocacy group - that counties across Ohio have been withholding too much money for welfare repayment. As much as $100 million may be owed to custodial parents and their kids, Carrie Davis, Ohio coordinator for ACES, said Friday.

"It is a huge amount of money, and it's a huge botch by the governor," Newman said.

The state is almost finished repaying families more than $15 million for similar errors between 1997 and 2000 that Gov. Bob Taft ordered fixed. However, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, which oversees child support enforcement, has said there's no evidence of a statewide problem dating back to 1986, as ACES and the lawsuit allege.

Anyone who has concerns about their case can request an audit or a state hearing through his/her county, said Jon Allen, spokesman for state Job and Family Services.

Hamilton County's agency had no comment on the lawsuit Friday. However, Director Suzanne Burke agreed with ACES in May that the error could have occurred in up to 18,000 cases here. The county is considering auditing all of those cases.

Cuyahoga and Lucas counties also are auditing sample cases to see whether they withheld too much.

In addition to seeking repayment, the suit aims to force child support officials to use a computer program that Newman and ACES are having developed to properly calculate the repayments former welfare recipients are due. Hamilton County says its audits can take three to four days apiece to complete, and the county and ACES disagree on the results.

"It certainly seems unique to use a lawsuit to force the government to procure a piece of software," Allen said.

Those who are collecting child support in Ohio can request information about their cases through their county child support enforcement agency:

Hamilton County, 946-1000

Clermont County, 732-7248

Butler County, 887-3369

Warren County, 695-1580

They also can call the Association for Children for the Enforcement of Support at (800) 738-2237.

E-mail candrews@enquirer.com