Orlando, I agree there are problems with illegals and we need to deal with that. However, the "deadbeat parent" problem is a wholly different situation all together.
1) You only get into heavy debt if you fail to pay or didn't take responsibility from the get-go.
2) Costs from going to court (attorney's fees/court costs) can be avoided or minimized if you manage your own affairs properly.
3) Blood tests should be unnecessary in the only situation into which children should be born: monogamous marriage. Mess around in any other situation and you don't have the right to complain about the costs.
4) AFDC repayment--what kind of father allows his kids to go on the dole anyway?
5) Interest rates, again don't get into the situation.
It's very simple. Don't screw around until you're married, and if you separate from your wife, step up to the plate immediately instead of waiting for a court to do it for you.
It all comes around to a total lack of responsibility for all concerned. The children are the innocents in this situation and deserve to be supported by BOTH parents, not the taxpayers.
These two positions are not identical, and deserve separate considerations. It is impossible to pay child-support when you are working in a technical field that is undergoing (a) severe depression(s) and you can not find work. Not that the courts care. And a job delivering pizzas is not sufficient to pay rent and attorney fees, not to mention the impression of the fathers technical skills are viewed as less than the best if his only recourse for employment is delivering pizzas.
2) Costs from going to court (attorney's fees/court costs) can be avoided or minimized if you manage your own affairs properly.
I call foul on this one. When the father has to pay an attorney because he has a job and the mother gets one for free because she is on AFDC because she 'has to stay at home and care for the child', the deck is stacked against the father from the beginning. He has no choice but to pay all the attorney fees necessary no matter what he makes in his job, and there is no such thing as an inexpensive attorney. Not to mention the mother is under no compelling incentive to refrain from any actions that necessitate the usage of said attorneys.
3) Blood tests should be unnecessary in the only situation into which children should be born: monogamous marriage. Mess around in any other situation and you don't have the right to complain about the costs.
Blood tests are mandatory when the father finally tracks down the mother and manages to get her served, and during the first session she promptly informs both him and the mediator that he is going to have to PROVE that he is the father. This is a particular pain that females just can not comprehend, and the emotional blow to the father is one that only other males can truly appreciate.
Also, if the mother turns into a raving whackjob after the child is born, what father in his right mind is going to be eager to repeat his difficult experience, not to mention becoming extremely leery of exchanging matrimonial vows yet again?
4) AFDC repayment--what kind of father allows his kids to go on the dole anyway?
See My response to number two above. When the child is living with the mother, and the courts refuse to allow the father to raise her in his own home, the father has no choice. The only way a court will take a child away from the mother is if the father can PROVE beyond a shadow of a doubt (read; tens of thousands of dollars for a PI doing years of undercover work to obtain said proof) that the mother is an 'unfit mother' or a drug abuser. The fact that she has a different man in her bed every year and she never goes as long as thirty days before a new one is living in the house is not sufficient to prove she is 'unfit'. The courts view this as simply her having a 'healthy relationship' and improving her financial status, which is preferable to her living alone -but she still is not required to work. And no, it has no effect on the amount the father has to pay in child support.
5) Interest rates, again don't get into the situation.
Interest rates are not a voluntary commitment, and no one in their right mind wishes to incur them. However, we are not all as financially independent as some appear to be, and as a result have to struggle to make ends meet. Not everyone has a 30"-and-above telly, loud stereo system, and multiple vehicles for the family. Some must make do with the barest of minimums, and if that necessitates that realizing that certain things such as purchasing a liter of soda at the store or even eating at a fast-food establishment must be considered a luxury instead of a necessity, well ce la vivé.