Obviously something is wrong with the system.
For the past 7 months, I've been fortunate (yes, that was sarcasm) to watch this particular ugly part of our court system. Once a month, I've gone in to observe what is referred to as "Contempt Fridays"
This month there were only 49 cases on the Friday I observed- the previous month there were 73.
Out of those people there was ONE woman who was behind on her child support. In all fairness she hadn't gone back for a modification while she had custody at one point. her fault, but still not a deadbeat.
More than 70% of those men had quit a job once Child Support had caught up to them and started garnishing. There were truly a couple of hard luck stories - but mostly, it was men who just simply didn't want to make a priority to pay for their child.
One that went to jail for 30 days, had been working under the table to support a new wife and child, but hadn't paid anything to his first daughter in over 2 years. TWO YEARS!
If you can afford groceries, and clothes, and gas for your car, you can afford to pay something/anything towards child support.
Other examples were the day laborers who were no longer working because construction is low - BUT he was getting unemployment and working for cash for his uncle. There was the man who owed 175,000 in past child support - the least amount was $7,000 in arrears.
There is no such thing as buyer's remorse when it comes to children, and there is NO reason to not support a child. If you can't afford it on your salary, get a second job, or a third one - no excuse for not taking care of your kid.
>>...and there is NO reason to not support a child. If you can’t afford it on your salary, get a second job, or a third one - no excuse for not taking care of your kid.<<
Once the state removes the child from under my roof, it is no longer mine. They took it, they can support it. It happened to me. Almost all the money I paid for support ($2600 a month) went to my ex’s savings while I kept buying kids clothing and going to their plays and parent teacher conferences. If I could do it over again, I would leave the country with no forwarding address to ANYONE.
I am a sleeper. This happened to me over a decade ago and thank God my youngest was ten at the time! Funny thing is that my anger is not at my ex that did all this terrible stuff. It is at the state that enabled her.