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October 27, 2002
Deadbeat Moms
Deadbeat Moms
The latest numbers from the Census Bureau show that more non-custodial fathers are paying child support, up 25%. However, buried in the report is a growing problem, non-custodial mothers who aren't paying child support:Among custodial fathers, about 248,000 of 658,000, almost 38 percent, received the full amount of child support from absent mothers. More than 35 percent of custodial fathers in 1999 received none of the child support they were due, up from about 26 percent six years earlier, though the Census Bureau did not consider that change to be statistically significant.
Not statistically significant? I beg to differ. More custodial mothers collect support (46%) than custodial fathers (38%). Fewer custodial mothers collect no support at all (25%) than custodial fathers (35%). And, the percentage of custodial mothers who collect no support at all has remained unchanged during the period measured (1993-1999), while the percentage of custodial fathers rises almost 10%, and that's "not significant"? Can we say "reverse discrimination"? To compound the problem, custodial fathers are less likely to initiate procedures to collect child support, for fear of losing custody of their kids.
Here's a few words for all deadbeat parents, man or woman: PAY YOUR DAMN CHILD SUPPORT! If you didn't want to help raise your kids, you shouldn't have had them. I don't want to hear you whine about what you're doing without because your child support is so much. Have you priced a package of diapers lately? Your child support is only a fraction of the total cost of raising a child. And I don't want to hear your complaints about what the custodial parent spends the child support on. A) They're usually bogus, and B) If you don't like it, lobby your legislator to make a custodial parent do an annual accounting of how the funds are expended.
Until then, SHUT THE HELL UP & PAY UP. It's called "responsibility." Grow up and face it.
Posted by Rita at October 27, 2002 07:04 AM