Posted on 02/18/2006 7:23:28 AM PST by ohhhh
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Paternity fraud rampant in U.S. 30% of those named as fathers bilked of child support unjustly
Posted: February 18, 2006 1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
WASHINGTON – More than three years ago, a Maine district court judge ruled that Geoffrey Fisher no longer had to pay child support for a child that wasn't his.
But that didn't stop the state from revoking Fisher's driver's license and coming after him for thousands of dollars it says he owes in back payments.
Last year, Maine sent Fisher, 35, a letter seeking $11,450 in child support, even though officials know that DNA tests proved he isn't the father of the child in question.
As the nation experiences an unprecedented increase in unwed motherhood, more men are finding themselves named as "fathers," for purposes of child support, simply because of their ability to pay, say several recent studies.
It's called "paternity fraud," and one state that examined the problem found as many as 30 percent of those paying child support were, indeed, not the biological fathers of the children being supported.
The most recent comprehensive study took place in New Hampshire under the auspices of the Commission on the Status of Men.
The commission found that even men who later were able to prove they were paying support for the children of other men were sometimes still forced by courts and state agencies to continue.
"Paternity fraud is a growing concern for men and children everywhere," concluded the commission in a report completed in November. "It can spawn considerable grief for the men who may or may not be emotionally attached to a child they later discover was fathered by another; and possibly unsettling for children who may discover the false nature of their paternity."
The New Hampshire commission took note of the case of Geoffrey Fisher.
Fisher had a brief relationship with a woman eight years ago and when she got pregnant and told him he was the father, he believed her. He began paying child support but eventually fell behind.
In the summer of 2001, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services took him to court because of delinquent payments. The court ordered him to pay up, and the state had his license suspended under the "deadbeat dad" law.
That fall the girl, then 3, was placed in foster care. When Fisher pushed for custody, the state ordered a paternity test, which proved he wasn't the father.
At that point, one branch of the human services department told him he could no longer see the girl because he wasn't the father, while another said he owed $10,000 and couldn't have a driver's license because he was the father.
Fisher thought the matter resolved when a judge ruled he no longer had to pay child support in January 2002.
But then last spring, the Maine attorney general's office claimed Fisher still owed support payments for the time from the child's birth until she reached 3 years old, when tests proved Fisher was not the father.
"Paternity fraud is a growing problem for both men, who should have a higher level of confidence on the paternity of their children, and for the children who need a reliable history of both parents for the maintenance of their physical and emotional health," concluded the New Hampshire commission.
Carnell Smith, a paternity fraud expert, says that 30 percent of the cases he sampled proved negative.
Like New Hampshire, California has also established a commission to explore the problem, based on reports that 14 percent are being misnamed as fathers. A report is expected later this year.
Florida is about to pass a new law that would end child support if a man proves he's not the father. Like most states, Florida currently requires that child support – once legally established – continue until the child's 18th birthday, regardless of who the real biological father is. Eleven states have changed similar laws since 1994.
A new state law took effect in Colorado this year that permits men, for the first time, to challenge his paternity of alleged offspring – at least during the proceedings of a divorce, separation or child-support action. However, once a final order is entered, the new law says, the man is barred from presenting evidence of non-paternity.
But there is also a problem with the way some DNA tests are conducted and analyzed, say experts.
For instance, one physician reported that two unrelated men – one black, the other white – both tested with a probability of paternity at 99 percent for the same child.
"Despite testing facility claims of a 99 percent accuracy rate, all men are at risk, whether it's through a wrong paternity judgment or paternity fraud," says Darrin Bush, developer of PaternityTestFlaw.com. "There is a chance that a man can be determined to be the father of a child even if he never had relations with the mother. The deck appears to be stacked against men."
And so many liberal politicians wonder why the leftist socialist agenda to redistribute wealth to is despised and rejected by those who think and discern on the consequences of socialist/communist ideology.
At that point, one branch of the human services department told him he could no longer see the girl because he wasn't the father, while another said he owed $10,000 and couldn't have a driver's license because he was the father.
I have seen this Exact thing in California.!
This System is Disgusting and Evil!!
My Friend's Life was Wrecked By this Crap, and The Woman who Lied, was never Punished in the First Place.
Unless The liberals Stop this Our Nation is going to be destroyed By Internal ROT.
[Unless The liberals Stop this Our Nation is going to be destroyed By Internal ROT.]
Hard to believe that so many Americans don't see what our founding fathers clearly saw, the nation would be destroyed from inside. This is why I personally hate liberalism.
I sympathize, but you are in an uphill battle. Texas is one such state. Here, if you are married to Momma when the child is conceived, DNA be damned, neither Court nor Legislature is going to create a bastard child to get you off the hook. Similarly, if it is an out of wedlock birth, better fight this at the start. Once paternity is determined legally, state is going to be very reluctant to look at DNA three years down the road.
With the state as back-up provider of benefits should the real daddy fail to pay, state has a strong economic incentive to leave things as they stand once a legal ruling is made. "Best interests of the child" and all that.
If you're in Texas married to a trifling wife, pray you get as lucky as I was and she runs off with another woman.
I think we have mistakenly worshipped at the altar of DNA testing. I began to suspect that when so many rapist/ murderers were being cleared based on DNA.
As for the paternity system, this is one of those long simmering American injustices that will take 50 years to correct. There are many guilty, even nutty fathers. But also the system is unjust to many many men.
The worst is when the courts rule the man NOT the father but make him keep supporting the child. That is just so unjust it's beyond description. And it's very left wing. "You personally have nothing to do with this but we are going to impress you into life long service because we see the good in supporting this child, so unless you support this child your whole life, you are going to jail." Crazy.
moral of the story... always wear a rain coat.
keep it in your pants till you're certain, or you'll end up hurtin.
It's been quite a while since it's rained here.
why doesnt the guy move to vacate the original orders of paternity and child support? There should then be no basis for the owing of "past" child support.
I'm a single mom who is supposed to get child support...but doesn't because the dad is a deadbeat.
I am apalled at how a man can be made to pay for a child that isn't his. And we as a society wonder why there are men who vanish when a pregnancy occurs. If they don't trust the mother and think the child may not be their's...why stick around and take a chance on finding out it's not yours and having to pay anyway.
In my opinion, these men who are forced to pay for a child they didn't help create...are just as much victims as women who should receive child support from the father but don't.
It's wrong in so many ways.
Gee ya think?
Unspoken moral of the story.....Don't f*** around.
Hey, DNA evidence is for clearing people of murder and rape...
not removing a fundamental injustice on truly innocent guy.
Talk about the fruits of the radical feminists!
For all the males in the forum...
never fail to answer that letter from the local DA that names you
in a paternity case.
Even if you've never met or even know the lady claiming you're Papa.
Lots of guys in the Los Angeles Area are paying out good money on
these default judgements...even after it's proved they couldn't possibly
be Papa.
And the guvmint just never overturns these rulings (AFAIK)
Actually the real story for a woman is "Do" screw around, it pays really well.
As long as Hollyweird continues to promote its liberal agenda of irresponsible, unwed sex and thr courts and states are willing to place men in a literal Catch-22. I can see the headlines sometime in the future about government officials decrying plummeting birth rates because men are staying home rather than be penalized for being . . . . men.
30%! This is an outrage. If a test determines the child does not belong to the man the woman should be give ONE chance to recant, then she can raise the child by herself if she chooses, or adopt it out. If she will not recant she should be prosecuted and hopefully do jail time. A few highly visible prosecutions and a return to social exclusion of a woman who has children outside of marriage would go a long way to correcting this injustice.
I do believe a man who fathers children should contribute to their support or go to jail.
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