Glenn writes in mensnewsdaily.com "I've been hard on child support officials in the past for their ridiculous pretense that when fathers don't pay their child support, it means that they have the money but are being stingy with their kids. Research shows just the opposite--the fathers who can pay, do so. Most who don't pay, can't.
I want to commend child support enforcement in this blog post, so I won't belabor the point. To learn more about the problems with the child support system, see my co-authored column When Beating up on 'Deadbeat Dads' is Unfair (Houston Chronicle, 1/7/07), {snip}
In this article, David Engle, director of the Washington County Department of Social Services, explains that one of the biggest barriers to paying support is unemployment. He says:
"The No. 1 reason why people can't pay their support is they're not able to find a job, or a job doesn't give them sufficient funds to pay the support," he said."
While I can see where some parents who don't pay child support don't because they don't have the money; at the end of the day, I don't find that a valid excuse.
There is not extra money in our budget for anything, but if I didn't continue to pay my rent, pay my bills, buy my daughter clothes, make sure she was eating healthily, keep health insurance for her, and in general financially support my daughter - I'd be rightfully in trouble eventually with the law for child neglect. So why do we try to make excuses for non-custodial parents who have a difficult time paying child support. Seems like a slippery slope to me.
And by the way what research is he talking about anyway?
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