COLLECT CHILD SUPPORT DUE BY LAW.(BUSINESS)

Byline: JANE BRYANT QUINN

Collecting child support from an unwilling parent is like trying to catch a fly barehanded. The welfare reform law of 1996 included some tough new provisions. But it can take a long time for the states to put them into action.

Exhibit A is what happened when Congress ordered the states to install better computer systems to keep track of child support cases and help nail deadbeats. That was in 1988. The federal government was covering most of the cost.

Today -- 10 years and nearly $3 billion later -- what's the result? Only 28 states have systems certified by the U.S. government as complying with the law. About half the …