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Child support law leaves man a default dad
Tulsa World ^ | October 13, 2008 | Jarrel Wade

Posted on 10/14/2008 4:39:29 AM PDT by RogerFGay

Brande Samuels, 29, shows some
of the child support documents from
the Oklahoma Department of Human
Services. Samuels has been forced by
the state to pay child support for a
child but DNA tests show he is not the
father. SHERRY BROWN /
Tulsa World Friday


He promised himself and his family that when he left his prison cell, he would work hard to build a stable and positive life. After two years in prison, he was released early on good behavior and worked for less than minimum wage while he trained to become a welder. But that's when he first got notice from the Oklahoma Department of Human Services' Child Support Enforcement Division that he owed child support, he said.

Now, Samuels owes about $13,000 in back child support, he lives with his ailing grandfather and DHS seizes portions of his wages every month. "The last four years have been the worst in my life," Samuels said about life since leaving prison in 2004. "I went into so much debt." Samuels said under other circumstances he would take full responsibility for the child as a father should.

But he is not the father.


0.00 percent chance

Samuels was aware of the possibility that he might be the father during the pregnancy, he said. But the mother had been in another relationship at the same time.

"She wouldn't even allow me to sign the birth certificate," he said.

Two months later, the mother — Nadia Smith — put his name down as the father when she filed for child support, which Samuels wouldn't learn about until after his Oklahoma prison sentence, he said.

"They make (the mother) give up a name for the potential father. If she doesn't give up a name, then she can't get any assistance," Samuels said about the process to receive child support.

Jeff Wagner, spokesman for DHS, said when a mother is opening a child support case, she names the alleged father and provides "a great deal of information" in the Mother's Affidavit of Paternity.

In 2004, when Samuels left prison and learned of his obligation to DHS, case workers told Samuels if he wanted to fight the original order and get a hearing, he needed a lawyer, he said.

"I just want to be heard," he said. "The court was made for justice. It was made to help make the right decision."

Samuels did not have enough money to pay a lawyer, and no one would take his case for free, so in 2006, he approached Neighbor for Neighbor, a Tulsa nonprofit organization. They helped him prepare papers to require the mother to provide the child for a DNA test.

He found out then that the mother had left the state and had to be tracked down. She had left Oklahoma for Texas, Texas for Iowa, and then Iowa for Mississippi between 2004 and 2007, he said.

Neighbor for Neighbor helped Samuels track her through the courts and filed court papers seeking a DNA test from the child in March 2007, according to court records.

Two months later, Samuels received DNA evidence that the child support had been based on a false assumption. He was not the father — 0.00 percent chance.

"I was hurt. I was actually hurt because they put me through all this stuff without the child even being mine," he said.

After his three years of work, he believed he would be forgiven all his debt for the child, he said.

But it wasn't forgiven, and according to Oklahoma law, it won't be forgiven.


Default fatherhood

In child support cases, the burden of proof is on the alleged father — the accused — according to Oklahoma statutes.

An alleged father must appear at a child support hearing to request a paternity test. If he does not appear, he is legally designated as the father and child support is established in most cases.

Once designated as the father, that person is financially responsible for the child until he or she is 18 or adopted with a few stipulations for petitions which may vacate the original order, according to Oklahoma statutes.

DHS records show that Samuels was served papers to appear for his child support hearing in 2001, but Samuels said he was working in Texas at the time and could not have received the notice.

Wagner said by Oklahoma law someone can be legally served if the subpoena is put into the hands of someone 15 or older who lives at the same residence as the person.

But Samuels said the documents never touched his hands.

Regardless of the outcome of the DNA test, which Samuels spent three years trying to get, it was already too late.

Samuels was ruled the default father in 2001, and legally, DNA has no bearing.

"If you got me on default, you should still have to prove that I'm the father," he said.

This is the second recent story in the media of a default father being forced to pay child support in a bureaucratic nightmare with DHS.

The first, reported by The Oklahoman, was about Micheal Thomas of Tulsa, who had shown that he had never even met the mother and that he had DNA evidence that showed he wasn't the father. Still, he became a default father after missing his initial court hearing.

DHS does not keep statistics on the number of established fathers or default fathers who are not genetically related to the child they are responsible for, Wagner said.

In the eyes of the law and DHS, once paternity is established, there is no difference.

DHS officials would not comment on whether any changes have been made in establishing paternity since the Micheal Thomas case was reported.


Paternity figures

Between April 1, 2007, and March 31, the state Department of Human Services established paternity of 20,452 children in Oklahoma —of those cases, 5,208 were forced through court order, according to DHS Child Support Enforcement Division records.

In the same time period, there were 3,127 paternity tests conducted in DHS cases. Of those, 781 of the alleged fathers were found not to be the genetic father and were released from the case.


Jarrel Wade 581-8310
jarrel.wade@tulsaworld.com



TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Oklahoma
KEYWORDS: childsupport; custody; paternity
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Comment #161 Removed by Moderator

Comment #162 Removed by Moderator

Comment #163 Removed by Moderator

Comment #164 Removed by Moderator

To: RogerFGay
I guess that's acknowledgement that I got it right. wtc911 is pushing the same-sex marriage agenda. The child support reform stuff was the the core of the war against fathers, which was the advance attack on marriage and family. The eventual result was reclassification of marriage and family law such that it produced a constitutional mandate for same-sex marriage. wtc911 doesn't want anyone to understand that. He's trying to avoid political pressure to fix the problem...

It's working.

165 posted on 10/14/2008 9:08:48 AM PDT by gogeo (Democrats want to support the troops by accusing them of war crimes.)
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To: wtc911

So, your claim is that you’re just common lying pond scum without any particular reason. You’re weak man - now you’re nothing because you won’t keep your word.


166 posted on 10/14/2008 9:09:29 AM PDT by RogerFGay
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To: gogeo
It's working.

Not nearly as well as it used to.
167 posted on 10/14/2008 9:10:33 AM PDT by RogerFGay
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To: Teacher317

Can’t say I’m a big fan of Kanye’s politics, but can’t deny he’s a clever lyrists.


168 posted on 10/14/2008 9:12:03 AM PDT by neefer (Because you can't starve us out and you can't make us run.)
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To: An American In Dairyland
That is absolutely true. So why don't all of you men protesting this injustice run out on November 4th and vote for a woman who has already *proven* she thinks she has the personal and *official* right to decide a man's and his children's lives for them? The word irony doesn't begin to cover this...

HUH??????

169 posted on 10/14/2008 9:12:29 AM PDT by gogeo (Democrats want to support the troops by accusing them of war crimes.)
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To: RogerFGay

John McCain keeps muttering “I don’t understand why these decent people keep launching vicious attacks”.

He does not admit that he is in a battle against evil. They are all his good friends.


170 posted on 10/14/2008 9:15:24 AM PDT by E=MC2
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To: E=MC2
He does not admit that he is in a battle against evil. They are all his good friends.

He's a big government Washington insider trying to run as a reform minded outsider - just like Obama.
171 posted on 10/14/2008 9:17:22 AM PDT by RogerFGay
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To: RogerFGay

Thanks for the link. “The reasons for unconstitutional federal intrusion into family policy are known – pork, pork, and pork.”


172 posted on 10/14/2008 9:32:26 AM PDT by neefer (Because you can't starve us out and you can't make us run.)
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To: RogerFGay

Last Friday at a townhall meeting he went on his ‘Obama is a decent person’ rant in response to a participant that said he was angry that we were not standing up to the socialist Obama.

This morning on Glen Beck, Glen brought up the person and the issue (very politely). McCain punted.


173 posted on 10/14/2008 9:38:21 AM PDT by E=MC2
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To: Teacher317

In the great state of NY it’s up to 25 years


174 posted on 10/14/2008 9:40:53 AM PDT by AbolishCSEU
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To: E=MC2

Yep. McCain doesn’t have what it takes to navigate this kind of manipulative environment. He’s yielding to the manipulations and that puts the other side in charge. He can’t win without fighting, and he can’t fight without being characterized as “mean” and “angry” and such. What McCain needs is some fathers’ rights guys who’ve been through all this worse that he is for the past 20 years. But ... of course ... that’s another place he’s afraid to go.


175 posted on 10/14/2008 9:46:58 AM PDT by RogerFGay
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To: RogerFGay

“It’s implementation of federal law, backed by 10s of billions in federal money.”

Your scale is a bit off; the figure you quote is roughly the total $ passing through the child support system nationwide, not fedgov’s impact.

“Currently, the federal government pays states incentive funds based on their level of child support performance. These incentive payments are capped at $458 million in fiscal year 2006 and divided among the states according to their performance on five measures.”

http://74.125.95.104/search?q=cache:Pjd65drNrcsJ:www.clasp.org/publications/child_support_cuts.pdf+federal+child+support+incentives&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us

Again, your basic point has merit (the states get paid incentives to establish orders) but the feds don’t dictate insanity like this nor is the scale of fed money 10s of billions.


176 posted on 10/14/2008 10:13:33 AM PDT by No.6 (www.fourthfightergroup.com)
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To: wtc911
I just read through this Machiavellian mine field of a thread. It has more subplots than a Salman Rushdie novel. May I ask a few questions? I promise I am asking them in sincerity.

Is the man in the article a dead beat dad?

If he is not, should the law be changed to protect his rights?

177 posted on 10/14/2008 10:15:06 AM PDT by Pan_Yan (All gray areas are fabrications.)
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To: No.6

California’s share of incentive payments back before the recall was about $50 million. I remember quoting Gray Davis. That’s just the incentive part, however, if states do not implement and enforce all the federal mandates they lose all related funding; which amounts to closer to $10 billion a year.


178 posted on 10/14/2008 10:33:46 AM PDT by RogerFGay
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To: No.6
Just checked - in California, it was $40 million
179 posted on 10/14/2008 10:41:38 AM PDT by RogerFGay
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To: Pan_Yan; wtc911

Good luck with that question. Maybe his girl friends husband doesn’t want to support his kid. ;0)


180 posted on 10/14/2008 11:08:42 AM PDT by seemoAR
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