The ten worst fathers in Los Angeles are to be named and shamed in a series of “wanted”-style posters as part of a new and controversial effort by the authorities to stop child support evasion.

The fathers named in the campaign - inspired by the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list - collectively owe $2 million (£1 million) in payments for 17 children.

Until recently LA County did not have the resources to track down so-called “deadbeat dads” who evade child support payments. But thanks to a new $500,000 scheme organised by the Los Angeles District Attorney's office and the Child Support Services Department, a team of investigators has been appointed to find and bring to justice non-custodial parents who refuse to provide for their families.

The sums of money owed by the ten - there are no women on the list - range from $63,421.67 (Michael Lee) to $427,252.25 (Abdoul Sesay), with interest charged 10 per cent a year.

Don Knabe, the Los Angeles County Supervisor, said: “Families are struggling to pay their bills because [these men] are choosing to evade or ignore their responsibilities. With this new Ten Most Wanted list, the county has another tool to track down these uncooperative parents.” According to officials there are more than 1,000 parents in Los Angeles County with outstanding warrants against them for failure to pay child support - the vast majority of them men.

Fathers' rights groups, however, are not impressed with the new initiative.

“[Mr Knabe] has the nerve to say that they want to collect money to benefit the children,” Fred Sottile, a spokesman for Fathers-4-Justice, said in an interview with ABC News. “That is the biggest lie these politicians tell. None of this stuff done by the courts is done for the children.”

Steven Golightly, director of the Child Support Services Department, said that fathers could avoid getting on the Most Wanted list simply by contacting his office before skipping payments. “We really don't want to put parents in jail, we just want them to pay and take care of their children.”

The Most Wanted posters will be put up online and around LA County.

According to officials, investigators have arrested 61 evaders since December and ordered 64 others to appear in court. With the six captured by other law enforcement agents and the 29 who voluntarily surrendered, 160 of the 1,240 outstanding warrants for child support evaders have now been cleared and nearly $1million of outstanding child support payments have been collected.

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