Ten years ago, California Indians launched a massive advertising campaign asking state voters to legalize gambling on tribal lands. Gambling, they said, would provide money to pay for health care for their elderly and education for their young.

But it seems not all children are equal.

In recent months, some non-Indian parents have complained their Indian spouses have failed to pay thousands of dollars in overdue child support payments. Some of these kids are eligible for membership in some of the state's wealthiest gambling tribes.

Those children may be the future leaders of those tribes and they will inherit the riches that casino wealth has brought them. But until they grow up, they must rely on their parents for food, clothing and a proper education.
Some parents are failing in that duty.

One woman in Widomar says that her husband, a member of the Viejas band, owes tens of thousands of dollars in back payments. The father has ignored repeated court orders to pay the money, but state judges are powerless to garnish his monthly share of the tribe's casino dividends.

Stand Up for California, a gambling watchdog group, petitioned the federal government to intervene on the children's behalf. The Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement, in a letter to Stand Up for California earlier this month, said it could not.

"As you know, the federally recognized tribes are sovereign nations and, therefore, govern themselves," according to the letter. "OCSE has no authority to mandate that per capita payments be garnished to pay child support arrears."
The agency said tribes are eligible for federal funding to operate child support enforcement programs. The federal government provides assistance helping tribes set up and operate the programs.

Under those programs, tribes can still dictate whether casino dividends are subject to garnishment, but "there is a better chance that tribes with such programs would agree to consider all income sources when it comes to meeting the parent's child support obligations," the agency says.

Some California tribes voluntarily honor court-ordered garnishments, but it is unclear how many of them do and under what conditions.

Still, no California tribes participate in the federal program. And that's a shame.