Mortarboards and gowns were the dress of the day Friday morning at Putnam County Courthouse, as it hosted a unique graduation ceremony in which eight local fathers were awarded certificates and received public recognition for successfully completing the state’s Parental Accountability Court (PAC) program.
PAC is a joint project of Georgia’s Division of Child Support Services (DCSS) and superior court judges “to offer an alternative to incarceration and to help chronic non-payers of child support make regular payments,” according to a DCSS handout.
Forty-three of the 50 judicial circuits in Georgia participate in PAC, which tailors to the needs of individuals by using local resources and judicial oversight to address whatever barriers factor in preventing some parents from meeting court-mandated financial support obligations.
DCSS Assistant Deputy Commissioner John Hurst was among the guests in attendance and spoke from the podium about the scope of the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit’s PAC program, which includes Baldwin, Greene, Hancock, Jasper, Jones, Morgan and Putnam counties.
Hurst said that since PAC’s local inception in 2015, it has served 278 participants with 675 children so far receiving more than $1.1 million in child support payments.
“That’s outstanding,” Hurst said, adding that “only a handful” of PACs statewide have exceeded the million-dollar mark in secured child support payments. “Congratulations to all the participants for making that happen,” he said.
Statewide, more than 6,500 PAC participants have so far paid more than $25 million since 2009 in child support for approximately 15,350 children.
The keynote speaker for the event, the valedictorian in grad speak, was successful PAC graduate George Hulsey, who worked with Superior Court Judges Brenda Trammell and Stephen Bradley to get back on track.
Hulsey described showing up at court expecting to be arrested after falling significantly behind on support payments for a daughter he fathered at just 17 years old. Instead, he was offered a spot in the PAC program and said it essentially turned his life around.
“I didn’t know what PAC was and I didn’t care as long as I didn’t go back to jail,” he told approximately 70 people in the courthouse. “So there again I’m still being selfish, an individual who thinks he knows everything. I figured that it was all about money and I figured that I just had to jump through some hoops to keep these people off my back. But I was wrong. What I didn’t expect was people who cared about me and my quality of life.”
Hulsey went on to say participating in the program “has made me a better man.”
“I went from not having a relationship with my daughter, she wouldn’t even answer the phone if I called, but now we are rebuilding all that,” he said. “It ain’t perfect, we’re still building, but I even have a chance to go next Thursday to fly to New Orleans where she’s in seminary school and I’m looking forward to that. But I would not be doing this if it wasn’t for y’all and I’m very much aware of that.”
Following the ceremony, which lasted nearly an hour, PAC graduate Clarence Hill explained he had a good job as a tree cutter, but an accident several years ago broke his femur and he fell in arrears to the tune of $35,000 in debt while unable to climb trees over the next two years.
While trying to recover, both physically and financially, Hill said he became increasingly frustrated with the state’s child support system before finding the PAC option.
He explained it used to be a chore to reach a DCSS agent, often requiring multiple emails or phone calls before getting a response or driving to appointments, then waiting for hours before speaking with anyone.
“It was very difficult and just made it unpleasant. Made it difficult for people to communicate, get modifications, do any type of adjustments,” Hill said. “But the PAC program, I’ve been in this for almost a little over three years and the reason I never pushed to get out of it was the fact that I could communicate with somebody and get things done.”
Fellow grad Mel-Juwan Lawrence explained he voluntarily entered the program and remains glad he took that unusual step.
“I knew I needed some help. It helped me realize I was not being consistent, that I have to have a consistent job, I have to have a consistent business for myself because if it’s not consistent, then nothing gets done,” Lawrence said.
“It gives me a better chance to see who I should have been, instead of who I became,” he continued. “So, it helps me help others. I can go tell someone, go to the PAC father program. I know people with newborns today, they’re having newborns and probably having the same problem. So, help yourself to help you, and then if you help yourself, you can help others.”