Tom is a 32-year-old father of two. Although he is required to pay child support, he recently lost his low-paying job, and has fallen behind in his payments.

David, also 32, is divorced with four children. Unlike Tom, David has a good job, but brushes aside his obligation to pay support to his family.

In this country, nearly one in three children grows up without a father, and is five times more likely to live in poverty than a child in a two-parent family. Child support is an important component in helping lift these children out of poverty, and is critical to supporting their healthy development.

As part of the administration's budget proposal, the President has included a major new initiative aimed at helping these children. His plan is tough on "deadbeat" parents like David who can afford to pay; helps "deadbroke" parents like Tom who are struggling to do the right thing; and ensures that more child support money goes directly to families.

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For parents like Tom who want to meet their obligations to their children, but are unable to afford them, the budget includes a component called Fathers Work/Families Win that will help approximately 40,000 low-income, non-custodial parents (the vast majority of whom are fathers), work, pay child support, and reconnect with their children.

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One day, Rhonda Costa's daughter came home from school and announced, "Mommy, I'm tired of seeing you sitting around the house doing nothing." That's the day Rhonda decided to get off welfare.

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Felicia Booker, who is blind, needed public assistance after the birth of her first child, but she got "tired of sitting around the house and tired of not having enough money." She enrolled in a six-week training program that led to a position at a computer programming company. Now, she works for A.G. Edwards in St. Louis, Mo., earning $46,000 a year.

Tonya Oden was caring for her three children with the help of public assistance when she heard about a training program at Cessna Aircraft Co.'s 21st Street Subassembly Facility in Wichita, Kan. She enrolled and was the first trainee to become an inspector at the facility, where she now earns $12 an hour.

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The President's child-care initiative would provide much-needed help for working parents, and he has proposed the funding of vouchers for those who need housing assistance to get or keep their jobs. And we need to find even more private-sector jobs.

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