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This is an illustration of the desperation the system can force some people to.

But not you and not me and not millions of others. I've been through it too and like you I pride myself in staying current on child support.

Some don't show up for hearings and then cry like hell when they get bit hard. They don't correct the mistakes that may have been made by the court because of their absence. These guys/gals moan the loudest and then go underground, working for cash and losing contact with their kids. Child support is a temporary cost but can cause permanent damage to a parent/child relationship if the parents do not act responsibly. The horror stories usually only occur when the paying parent neglects repeated payments. They accumulate a large balance that is subject to compound interest. It's all downhill from there.

The rules were in place before we took our respective plunges into fatherhood and we knew the perils. Everybody did. We had choices, keep it zipped, have 'em snipped or take our chances. If you decide to take your chances whining about the outcome is not allowed.

As for the non-custodial parents who are driven over the edge. They need tough doses of reality, they are slackers. It looks to me like this thread is attempting to give license to those who would forsake their own kids interests so that they may portray themselves as victims.

"As for the non-custodial parents who are driven over the edge. They need tough doses of reality, they are slackers."

Yup, absolutely!

Same thing goes for custodial mothers who piss and moan about how "hard it is" to make do without child support. They married the bastards, so now they get to pay the price. If they don't like it, then maybe they should have used the aspirin-as-birth-control technique. It really works. no one ever got pregnant while holding an aspirin between her knees.

She played, and now she can pay. It's not rocket science.

If she needs more money to get by, then she can go out and get another job. No reason to have sympathy for some lazy slacker who refuses to provide for her kids just because she can't get a handout from some man.

/shoe_on_other_foot

,,, in a post prior to this, I commented on capabilites, intelligence and resources. If we were all clones and earned the same salaries at the same jobs and lived identical lives, I'm confident there would be no issue. A one size fits all prescription clearly isn't working for those who aren't up to it. In addition to any emotional trauma derived from separation, financial difficulty can place many over the edge. Reflex reactions may result in violence, whilst others will withdraw. Even someone with an iron will to move on will take a hit at some level, testing their adaptabilty. I'm not standing in line for it again, I can tell you that much.

But not you and not me and not millions of others. I've been through it too and like you I pride myself in staying current on child support. ... The horror stories usually only occur when the paying parent neglects repeated payments. They accumulate a large balance that is subject to compound interest. It's all downhill from there.

You've been through it yourself. My guess is no, you haven't. I'm guessing your use of past tense here indicates that you were through with child support years ago and were never effected by the current system at all. And I'm wondering why, with the wealth of descripitive and informative material available, including the article we're discussing, you haven't caught on to the fact that things have changed? Are you intimate with someone who is receiving child support?

And as a follow up to my last response to you, in #310, I'm thinkin' since you've expressed so much admiration for the way things were back when you were paying child support; why is it that you aren't expressing the view that things should return to the way they were? They were good for you. Why isn't that good for everyone else?