Child Support

Re "Bren's children seeking millions," Dec. 25 Greed seems to float to the top of one more story of spoiled children in our culture of opulence. Thousands of dollars a month is not sufficient for two teenagers to squander because they want millions. Where is Mom when this is happening? We have developed a whole new society that has never been exposed to want because we parents have found it easier just to give. These rewards are given to avoid a proper regard for the work ethic.

Christie and David Bren just want what's due them, their lawyer says; no more, no less. And by their calculations, that could be about $2.2 million a month -- each. The teenage children of billionaire Orange County land developer Donald L. Bren will return to court Jan. 3 to try to force their father to pay child support commensurate with his wealth. Bren, chairman of the Irvine Co.

Attention, athletes: The California Department of Child Support Services website has a handy-dandy calculator where you can input your income and other financial and personal details and receive an estimate of how much child support might be ordered by a judge. Our initial guess: The more than $30,000 a month celebrity gossip site TMZ.

For one deadbeat dad, a flight back from China turned out to be more costly than he could have imagined. The father, whose name was not released, earlier this week paid $311,491 in back child and spousal support -- the largest amount ever collected in the United States -- after federal authorities refused to renew his passport while he was stuck in Hong Kong, Los Angeles County officials said Thursday.

In the 43 years before she died, Edith Isabel Rodriguez raised three children, volunteered in their classrooms, made their Halloween costumes and watched them grow up and have babies of their own. She worked odd jobs as a housecleaner and a tamale vendor, struggled with drug addiction, had several run-ins with the law and lived at various relatives' and friends' homes. But Rodriguez has received much more attention in death than in life.

A judge has cleared the way for two children of Irvine Co. owner Donald L. Bren to take their father to court in a 4-year-old fraud case that may illuminate the wealth and lifestyle of one of America's most private billionaires. Jennifer McKay Gold and two children she had with Bren -- Christie A. Bren, 18, and David L. Bren, 15 -- sued the real estate magnate in May 2003, contending Bren withheld emotional and financial support that he had allegedly promised.

In the weeks after three laptops went missing from a Los Angeles County Child Support Services office, officials sent letters to 243,000 clients in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, warning that their personal information -- including Social Security numbers -- might be at risk. The computers were stored at the secured Child Support Services Department headquarters in the City of Commerce but went missing sometime during the weekend of Feb. 24, officials said.

The board of supervisors unanimously named Steven J. Golightly, an administrator for county child support services, the head of that department. Golightly replaces his former boss, Philip L. Browning, who will oversee the county department of social services.

It isn't all smiles this weekend as 920 family members of fallen American troops romp through Orange County aboard the Snowball Express, an all-expenses-paid jaunt to Disneyland, a hockey game, an elaborate party and other festivities. As the charitable program cranked into gear Friday, organizer Michael Kerr found himself confronting revelations about his checkered past and questions over whether someone's dark side outweighs his good deeds.

In the five years since reforming its system for ensuring that divorced or absent parents pay proper child support, Los Angeles County remains among the nation's worst in actually securing money. This year, county officials helped collect 45% of what parents owed their children, up from less than a third in 2000 -- showing "slow, steady progress," said Steven Golightly, the agency's chief deputy director.