Deadbeat Parents Contest

[Sionistic]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,135219,00.html

Who ever said kids and divorce dont mix?

Deadbeat Dad Contest Bad for Kids
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
By Wendy McElroy

On Oct. 1, Michigan launched a new crackdown on "deadbeats"— noncustodial parents who are behind on paying child support. The overwhelmingly majority of "deadbeats" are dads.

Custodial parents cheered; father’s rights groups objected. Children were caught in between. But Attorney General Mike Cox doesn’t seem concerned about keeping children as non-combatants in the war between their parents.

In conjunction with the website PayKids, a site Cox established to track down deadbeats, Cox announced a contest in which children are to draw pictures "that clearly convey the message of encouraging the payment of child support."

The contest’s prize: "The first 250 submissions will receive a $10 gift certificate to Domino's Pizza….And, the winner, will have their rendering reproduced into a billboard in a prominent location…"

The contest encourages custodial parents— who, it should be noted, are overwhelmingly mothers — to discuss the issue with children and assist "in crafting the message and visual representation."

Radio host and fathers' rights activist Glenn Sacks comments, "[C]ustodial mothers are encouraged to coach their children to make designs critical of noncustodial parents behind on child support. And it doesn't take much imagination to figure out which noncustodial father many mothers will be encouraging their children to denounce."

[Arundel Pajo]

On Oct. 1, Michigan launched a new crackdown on "deadbeats"— noncustodial parents who are behind on paying child support. The overwhelmingly majority of "deadbeats" are dads.

There's a shocker. The overwhelming majority of noncustodial parents happen to be dads, too, so it only figures that the "deadbeat" ratio matches up. That's a pretty lame pan at noncustodial dads, right there.

In fact, and I'll to at least a quick search to see if I can find a source, but seems like I remember the actual per capita ratio being higher for noncustodial mothers than it was for fathers, but noncustodial mothers are such a rarity to be nearly a non-issue.

[Neost]

There is an extreme bias against fathers in a divorce/custodial situation period.

I was divorced in 1990 and granted sole custody of my 3 children. My ex was ordered to pay 200 a month child support. Had the situatino been reversed, I would've been ordered to pay 200 a month per child at a minimum.

Then of course the ex never paid a dime in child support.

I accidentally ran into her in a small town in Texas a year and a half later at her place of employment. I lived in Texas at the time. That was where the divorce was filed and the support order was in effect. I called the Texas Attorney General's support enforcement folks to inform them of my ex-wife's whereabouts. The conversation went something like this:

"Hi, I have a child support order that hasn't been paid by my ex-wife ever and I now know her location and employer."

"Can I please have your social security number?"

"Sure, it's xxx-xx-xxxx."

"Umm, sir you are behind on your child support for more than 2400 dollars. If you do not start making child support payments immediately we will have to start enforcement action against you and you could possibly face a jail sentence."

"No, look at your file one more time. I was granted custody of my children and my ex-wife is supposed to be paying child support but doesn't."

"Sir, this is not open for discussion. You must make support payments immediately."

"Ma'am, I am not going to debate this with you. If your reading comprehension skills are so low that you can't figure out I'm the one that is supposed to be recieving support payments, may I talk to your supervisor."

"Oh. Now I understand."

Anyway, the result was that they garnished her wages for 260 a month. The idea being that the extra 60 a month would catch her up at some point. I recieved 2 checks and then nothing. Come to find out that she quit her job and was back working at the same place 2 weeks later. That was all it took for the garnishment to be null and void.

That was the last support I ever saw from her. I sometimes wonder what it would take to track her down and try and get the thousands of dollars she owes. Although my youngest child will be 18 early next year could I get all that back support money?

I doubt it. The prejudice against custodial fathers is still prevalent in the court system today from what I've been reading.

[Toshira]

the corporate sponsership.

"Lil Johnny, I want you to draw a picture of you studying at the window with a half inch candle, no lightbulb, a dull pencil, 3 blankets wrapped around you, looking miserable. Make sure you draw your cold breath, too. If you do a really good job, you get some healthy pizza!"

I'm not defending deadbeat dads, and I don't give a shit if there are more women per capita or whatever who don't pay support, or whatever statistic you need to help you sleep at night. Dragging kids in the middle of a debate between adults isn't the answer though, and an Attorney General should know that.

[Akaran_D]

And it doesn't take much imagination to figure out which noncustodial father many mothers will be encouraging their children to denounce."

Can I get a line of clarification on this, please?

[Winnow]

Anyway, the result was that they garnished her wages for 260 a month. The idea being that the extra 60 a month would catch her up at some point. I recieved 2 checks and then nothing. Come to find out that she quit her job and was back working at the same place 2 weeks later. That was all it took for the garnishment to be null and void.

What a shame. In Arizona, your wife would be in prison on work release. She would spend the weekends in prison and 12 hours a day Monday through Friday in prison and 12 hours work release until she paid off her deadbeat debt.

It's a great system. The losers get to spend all of their freetime in prison but still can hold a job to pay off their debt. If they want to get out of prison sooner, they have to find a way to pay the debt.

[Tenuvil]

I accidentally ran into her in a small town in Texas a year and a half later at her place of employment.

Maybe next time you should run into her multiple times to make sure.

[Sionistic]

Later in that story, it talks about dominoes pulling any support and distancing themselves from it

[kyoukan]

all the deadbeat dads in this could avoid it if they just paid their child support payments.

[Deward]

As a product of a corrupt system, I can definitely attest to the fact that the system is unfair. My parents were divorced when I was 5 years old. My dad was given minimal visitation rights. Custody should be 50/50 all the time. Giving one parent only two weekends a month is rediculous. Especially if living one week at each place at a time doesn't interefere with scholling and such.

There is also the issue of why are these parents deadbeats? My brother got married, had a kid, and got divorced very young. He pays his child support on a monthly basis because he is responsible but his ex refuses to let him see his daughter or have visitation rights. His only option would be to take her back to court but since he is a man the family courts are almost always biased towards fathers. It doesn't matter that is ex is a whore and has been married three times in 10 years and has never held a job. My dad had similar issues so he just stopped paying child support (I don't condone that) but how many people aren't paying child support because the other parent refuses to let them see their children?