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Dianna Thompson & Murray Davis: Child
support system doesn't give parents a chance
Rather than shame for pressed parents, how about help?
Lansing State Journal, Lansing Michigan, U.S.A., Dianna
Thompson & Murray Davis, October 26, 2003
LSJ Coverage
See the State Journal's coverage of Michigan's child
support system at
www.lsj.com/xtras/childsupport.
Dianna Thompson is a founder and director of public policy
of the National Family Justice Association (www.nfja.org).
Murray Davis is an NFJA founder and vice president. |
According to a recent Lansing State Journal article, Wayne
Erwin, 50, served three weeks in jail for being behind in
child support. He explained that in 1986 he had suffered a
broken back from a crash, which prevented him from working for
three years. He got behind in child support payments. If Mr.
Erwin doesn't somehow come up with $10,000, he'll be in jail
again.
Possibly, Erwin's family will try to keep their loved one out
of jail by paying his debt. In doing so, they may be plundered
of their life savings, someday becoming dependent on public
funds.
Some say that alleged "deadbeat parents" have the money to pay
child support - they just willfully choose not to pay.
Research shows the major reason some men don't pay is that
they can't pay. This is usually due to unemployment, illness,
or disability. Society holds non-custodial parents, mostly
fathers, to an unattainable standard to never become
physically or mentally ill, never get disabled, and to never
lose a job or get laid off in a poor economy.
The federal government is beginning to recognize the
phenomenon of the "dead-broke dad." Yet we still labor under
the widely quoted - though erroneous - study of sociologist
Lenore Weitzman, who claims mothers experience a 73 percent
drop in standard of living in the first year after divorce,
while men live it up on a 42 percent increase. According to
researcher Dr. Sanford Braver, higher child support guidelines
enacted in 1988 and tax advantages to custodial parents are
now leading to benefits in standard of living for the
custodial parent.
The Clinton County Friend of the Court recognizes that
publishing names of parents behind in child support
embarrasses their children. They have rightfully refused to
cooperate with the newspaper by providing names of alleged
nonpayers for public shaming.
Consider this. In 2002 in Pennsylvania, under pressure from
the Pittsburgh American Civil Liberties Union, judges released
37 people jailed without hearings for not paying child
support. In November 2002, the ACLU got the Westmoreland
courts to advise people allegedly owing child support that
they have a right to legal counsel during their hearings, even
if they don't have the money to afford a lawyer.
According to an ACLU executive director, "... the law is clear
in that anyone facing imprisonment is constitutionally
entitled to a lawyer in civil and criminal procedures."
According to a Sept. 27 Associated Press report, "Indigent
parents jailed in New Jersey for failure to pay child support
will be freed because they were denied court-appointed
lawyers, the Administrative Office of the Courts said."
There's almost $660 million in undistributed child support
payments nationwide. Michigan is holding $68 million,
according to one advocacy group. Some agencies are rife with
error. Are their so-called "deadbeat parent" lists accurate?
Fathers who see their children and who have jobs pay their
support. Enforce child visitation court orders and offer
shared parenting. Make sure child support guidelines are fair
and enable all involved to live comfortably.
Copyright 2004 Lansing State Journal
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