When Beating up on 'Deadbeat Dads' is Unfair

Houston Chronicle ^ | 1/7/07 | Jeffery M. Leving and Glenn Sacks

[Natural Law]

This is waht debtors prison is for. Anyone not supporting his children is worthless.

[Doohickey]

You are one sick individual if that's really your stance.

[wolfcreek]

They couldn't even afford a condom.

[dakine]

Sucks to be them...

[L98Fiero]

Zieg Hiel!!

[microgood]

Government destroys everything in its path. It is truly an abomination.

[w1andsodidwe]

Unfortunately children cost money to raise and that cost doesn't stop when you (weep, sob) lose your job. You can't tell a child to quit eating until Daddy finds another suitable job.

[bannie]

Pay it on time. Your child has to eat every day...not just when you decide to "catch up."

[Natural Law]

"Zieg Hiel!!"

Boy, I must have hit a nerve. Guilty conscience?

[Arizona Carolyn]

What’s needed instead is an overhaul of the system, so that blue-collar workers aren't turned into criminals because they’ve failed to pay obligations which are beyond their reach.

BS. You have kids then be prepared to pay for them until they are grown. Why should the wife (or girlfriend) be left to work and care for the kids and the husband get off scott free? Answer: They shouldn't.

[tiki]

And what if dear old dad is in an intact family and he loses his job? Does he miraculously have money to support his family?

[Old_Mil]

According to the Urban Institute, less than one in 20 non-custodial parents who suffers a substantial drop in income is able to get courts to reduce his or her child support payments.

Of course not. To do so would infringe on the ex-wife's lifestyle.

Abbott’s office backhandedly acknowledges the difficulties men in these situations face, advising obligors “it is best to get a lawyer, if you can afford one, to handle your attempt to change the amount of child support you owe.” Yet how many unemployed blue-collar workers can afford to hire an attorney at $200 an hour or more to represent them in a child support case?

Nobody, but then again reality hasn't played a party in family law in the United States for a long time.

[VRWCTexan]

As I understand TX law these so called "deadbeats" can each be sentenced to up to two years in prison for non-payment?

Thus we the tax-payers pay the bills to "in-prison" the dads, while also dishing out supplemental welfare to the moms and kids..

[proudofthesouth]

What about the WOMAN taking some birth control responsibility??? Hmmmmm?

Oh, BTW, I'm a WOMAN! and I've known several who don't use birth control because they think its the man's responsibility!

First thing I told my son when he became a teenager is DON'T believe a female when she says she is protected. YOU make sure you are cause females lie! He is in his early 30's and I STILL remind him of this from time to time!

[Joe 6-pack]

"Why should the wife (or girlfriend) be left to work and care for the kids and the husband get off scott free? Answer: They shouldn't."

I agree. I also believe that single mothers should be held more accountable for the way child support dollars are spent, with similar civil and criminal penalties when that money is utilized for other than its intended purposes.

[TChris]

Boy, I must have hit a nerve. Guilty conscience?

Boy, you must be an arrogant jerk. Narrow mind?

[tiki]

I agree, men need to support they're children but realistically, things happen whether you are in an intact family or not. There should be recourse for those who fall into extreme bad luck.

[L98Fiero]

"Pay it on time"

Yassuh, I'll pay waterever Uncle Sugar tells me to, Massuh!

"a roofer who owed $240,581."

"Your child has to eat every day..."

Oh, PLEASE!!

Evidently they are eating about 12 meals a day 15 days a week if it takes a quarter of a million bucks to feed them.

Where in the hell do you expect a roofer to get a quarter of a million dollars?

You sick people are advocating making it a crime for men to have children outside their home and be poor.

[Natural Law]

What about the idea that when two people create a child that child becomes their number one priority until it is an adult. That means you support the child before you move out, get a girl or boy friend, a new spouse, additional kids, a red Corvette, hair plugs or breast implants, join a gym or pay for a dating service. If you have to sleep in a phone booth and flip burgers or shovel sh*t 18 hours a day to make it happen, so be it.