American Child Support: Broken, Corrupt, Misandrist, and Inhumane

                         Modern Western Feminism = Misandry – a threat to humankind

Introduction

The dysfunctional and counterproductive Child Support system in the United States is predicated on myths, which don’t correlate with the reality of contemporary America. It’s an institution that is too often an excuse for misandry, due to its creation from the preceding. And its historical precedents through two former American presidents, were established on greed and hypocrisy.

For the indigent, it is an oppressive system which regularly violates constitutional and human rights, while ultimately leading to the archaic internationally banned debtors’ prisons. For others, it’s a corrupt and ineffective enterprise, wherein the State and Federal bureaucracies though perhaps with well-intentions, have grown exponentially via profiting from the cruel coerced separation and tragic alienation of broken families.

Today, the American Child Support system relies too heavily on monetary means and government intervention as the panacea to broken families. Compared to other systems worldwide, it is too slow in reform, while refusing to learn from others. Thus, it persists in proving true former UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s quote, “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing, after they’ve tried everything else.”

https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/winston_churchill_135259

Background

In history, child support was initially a community action for destitute orphans. The church sought only sufficient compensation from fathers to avoid an orphan enduring penury. Legal actions were only imposed against dads who “willfully” abandoned children.

However, American Child Support has exponentially grown in much more aggressive fashion. While the developing world has too few laws, America always produces far too many.

American laws today

With time, Federal incentives would be awarded to states in coercing parents, whether willful abandonment or not by those parents, to fork over a monthly price the state deemed was sufficient, to care for a child. http://www.childsupportanalysis.co.uk/information_and_explanation/world/history_usa.htm The National Parents Organization states, “Long ago and far away there was a land in which non-custodial fathers paid child support directly to the custodial mother…In the 1970s, child support collection, disbursement and accounting became a function of government instead.” https://nationalparentsorganization.org/blog/20615-fraud-corruption-in-child-support-enforcement

Child Support also eventually became a profitable enterprise for state governments, rather than an altruistic act of eliminating child poverty.  Former Director of the South Carolina Social Services, Elizabeth Patterson, states, “Any money collected from the non-custodial payment goes to the state, not the family. That’s generally true nationally, though some states pass on some of the money to the family.” http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/how-falling-behind-child-support-can-end-jail#56748

Money is more important than children and fathers in Democracy and Republicanism. In american Christianity.

Some significant developments which formed the pillars of the modern Child Support system we now know today, were also indicative of its greed and hypocrisy.

In 1975, former U.S. President Gerald Ford enacted the Child Support Enforcement and Paternity Establishment Program (CSE) to establish paternity and collect monthly Child Support. Though this veneer seemed altruistic and morally right, the background of Ford’s own mother reveal the value of greed over family preservation in his rearing, which also influenced Ford’s creation of the Child Support system.

Gerald Ford

Gerald Ford was a product of an avaricious mother who valued monetary means, honey trapping, more than preserving a family. Dorothy Ayar Gardner, divorced Ford’s biological father, a simple wool trader named Leslie Lynch, only sixteen days after his birth and after discovering his father was in debt. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Lynch_King_Sr.

She shortly afterwards remarried Ford Motor Cars millionaire and founder, Gerald Rudolph Ford. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Ayer_Gardner_Ford

Dorothy Ayer Gardner

Ford’s legislation would be followed by the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act enacted by former U.S President Bill Clinton in 1998, which allows the Federal government to imprison poor parents who miss $5,000 worth of court ordered Child Support payments.

Its purpose was to punish “Deadbeat Dads” for the immorality of absconding from responsibility and creating broken homes.

Bill Clinton would later be accused of sexual harassment and rape by four women, who he would discreetly pay off to remain silent, in order to abscond from his criminal responsibility. He would also cheat on his wife, Hillary Clinton, with an intern named Monica Lewinsky, by welcoming oral sex from Monica within the White House.  Clinton was pretty irresponsible and immoral. But, he wasn’t a Deadbeat at least, because he had money. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton#Sexual_misconduct_allegations

How can immoral US Presidents write moral laws?

Since the foundation of the modern Child Support system was soiled with greed and hypocrisy, it isn’t surprising that it has blossomed likewise into a smelly and ugly Corpse Flower today.

Corpse Flower

The Deadbeat Dad Myth

In order to convince the American public that the governments’ involvement in child support is a necessary evil, as American founder Samuel Adams warned about government, radical feminists and Uncle Tims (men desiring to court female favor by advancing feminist agendas), created the Deadbeat Dad Myth, still prevalent today. https://nationalcenter.org/project21/2013/11/01/has-radical-feminism-achieved-a-deceptive-victory-by-darryn-dutch-martin/

A Deadbeat Dad is the pejorative for a father who refuses to pay child support. Although the neologism is reserved for intentional neglect, it is through common usage, applied toward all fathers who don’t pay. The erroneous hypocrisy is that the majority of fathers, who don’t pay, simply can’t.

Seventy percent of unpaid child support is not owed “by Deadbeat Dads, they’re Dead Broke Dads,” as author Wendy Paris stated. https://qz.com/397579/the-divorce-divide-how-the-us-legal-system-screws-poor-parents/ A study from a Washington think tank found that more than 80 percent of child support debt is owed by indigent fathers making between $10,000 and $20,000 a year — less than half the median income in the U.S. https://us12.proxysite.com/process.php?d=fLlT34YgvjQAChMQAtUib7lSyD%2Fix4snqXRNGndDOjoMsBJqhepfOC5rTOfHtMM3FRYLkcXS91ryt%2By4PYrf%2FQkSAiaLCzf%2Fb%2BNV5HL32AFHA%2BY%2F3DoFGcEvy%2FWbsCk9Nn8%3D&b=1&f=norefer

Writer Joseph E. Cordell explained when, “Child support not paid by fathers is due to an inability to come up with the money, calling all the dads who miss payments deadbeats is painting with far too broad of a brush.” https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-myth-of-the-deadbeat_n_4745118

Nevertheless, the stigma of Deadbeat Dad is a useful dehumanizing instrument. Just as slurs like Huns, Japs, niggers, wetbacks, terrorists, communists, etc. It inculcates into the lesser perspicacious and ignorant American public, that it’s acceptable to feel no sympathy toward indigent fathers. They’re inhuman.

Such pejoratives inevitably lead to injustice being accepted as, justice. Peruse the following honest reality with Deadbeat Dads, indigent fathers, in America today:

• A female and male, both financially broke, irresponsibly create a child.
• Fathers are not provided the equal opportunity to affect abortion or adoption. The mother alone decides.
• Immediately after a child’s birth, the father must pay Child Support, possibly being garnished up to 65 percent of his wages. This amount mostly goes to the state government, instead of the mother and his children.
• After a Child Support amount is established, the father then must petition and pay legal fees for visitation and custody rights. Even if the preceding is granted, he might be lucky enough to see his children five times a month. The latter, shared custody, is rarely granted in America.
• If he can’t afford the Child Support or the legal fees for visitation or custody, he is consequently labeled a Deadbeat Dad.
• In almost all cases, the mother regularly ends up receiving continuous paychecks and maintains primary custody, till the child is eighteen years of age or more.

The above is absolutely not equal or fair when peering past gender canards, and attempting to sincerely respect the human rights of both spouses. In contrast, it’s oppressive and misandrist.

Some like the FugitiveNation blog call it flat out, “Sex Payments.” https://fugitivenation.wordpress.com/exploitation-extortion-oppression-2/about-2/govt-corruption-and-child-support/

Yet, such legislation is not only justified by the Deadbeat Dad myth, it also is sustained by American gender empowerment, righting the historical discrimination of wealthy white men against women.

But the real victims of the current Child Support system, are poor fathers mostly of color, who had nothing to do with those historical wrongs and also don’t have the money to “willfully” pay child support.  https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-myth-of-the-deadbeat_b_4745118 Nearly 50,000 fathers are in prison today for failure to pay Child Support, the majority of them, minorities. https://www.wnyc.org/story/when-child-support-becomes-debtors-prison/

The Traditional Family Myth

Another myth which detrimentally affects fathers is the father’s natural role is breadwinners and mothers, stay-at-home moms. The Family Law court system, inundated with uneducated judges and greedy prosecutors, is a firm proponent for such archaic  and misandrist stereotype.

In a  gender-bias study performed by Science Daily, out of 500 court judges, only 3 percent granted equal time for the father with the children, even if both the mother and father possessed equitable credentials and income. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180403085049.htm

In consequence to the Family Law court’s blind faith in conservative gender family roles with equal asinine alacrity as the common mistaken belief in 300 Spartans against 10,000 Persians at Thermopylae or Christopher Columbus discovering America first, the Child Support system and family courts aid in the separation of families, it simultaneously portends to repair.

Since mothers receive Child Support payments for eighteen years or more, since there are no control mechanisms in how those mothers spend that allocated money, and since Child Support payment is awarded to who has custody more; mothers are nearly always the spouses being paid. Such norm provides women monetary rewards for desiring divorce and separation and engaging in promiscuity. https://supportpay.com/resources/child-support-calculator/

For example, 90 percent of divorces in America end with the mother having primary custody. In other words, five of six custodial parents in the United States are mothers. https://www.wevorce.com/blog/child-support-facts-and-figures/  90% of Child Support in America now, is owed to mothers, instead of fathers. https://www.liveabout.com/quick-facts-child-support-in-america-1270020

This is precisely why the United States divorce rate is sixth highest in the world. https://www.wf-lawyers.com/divorce-statistics-and-facts/ It is also a part of the reason why 40 percent of child births derive from unmarried couples in America. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/problems-with-paternity-fraud-to-securing-parental-rights_b_9244342  The Child Support system frankly transforms homemakers into ho-makers. Pun intended.

It also severely disadvantages fathers with less opportunity to preserve his household against such financial incentives, less time to spend with children, and reduces him to nothing more than an inanimate inhuman Piggy Bank after divorce or separation.  Such unfair status quo can only be accurately described as institutionalized misandry.

In one recent example, Fast and Furious actor Tyrese Gibson publicly cried on the internet over the Child Support system. He was ordered to pay $13,000 a month with limited visitation of his children, was falsely accused of child abuse by his former spouse,  and he complained there was no accountability of his former spouse’s expenses for child care, in which he footed the bill.  His situation was obviously inhumane, yet many other celebrities in consequence to the Deadbeat Dad myth and traditional family role myth, criticized him for being honest. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YMEbCO23rw

The Family Court’s unbridled devotion to the traditional family myth is also completely counterproductive for collecting Child Support and also for the child’s psychological welfare. Research has overwhelmingly proven that fathers who spend more time with children, are unlikely to miss Child Support payments and even pay more than required. https://qz.com/397579/the-divorce-divide-how-the-us-legal-system-screws-poor-parents/

Nevertheless, in Nebraska alone, 72 percent of child custody cases resulted in fathers being allowed to only see their children, 5.5 days a month. According to the Washington State Center for Court Research, two thirds of court cases resulted in mothers being granted significantly much more time than fathers. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-myth-of-the-deadbeat_n_4745118  In Utah, fathers are only entitled to 3 hours of visitation during the week and one visit every other weekend. https://www.lawyers.com/legal-info/family-law/visitation-rights/examples-of-visitation-schedules.html

Numerous research findings have also consistently proven that the best psychological scenario for children is shared parenting, yet the Child Support system still refuses to implement it today. https://www.statnews.com/2017/05/26/divorce-shared-parenting-children-health/  The National Parents Organization recently released a Shared Parenting Report Card. This report grades every state on its child custody statutes, in how well they promote shared parenting.  Almost all states scored with a cumulative 1.63 on a 4.0 scale. https://dadsdivorce.com/articles/4-problems-with-the-modern-child-support-system/

For indigent fathers, it’s much worse since custody and visitation is awarded only after proof of a father’s income and regular child support payments. There are no states engaging in a 50/50 custody arrangement for poor fathers which would alleviate the financial burdens of such dads (more time with the child equates into less Child Support payment), be fairer toward both spouses (eliminate misandry and promote gender equality), and would be the most beneficial toward children’s welfares. https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/04/23/collecting-child-support-without-making-matters-worse/the-child-support-system-should-support-families-not-government-coffers.

In addition, the traditional belief that women are natural caretakers of infants and men are incapable and should be solely breadwinners, is also anachronistic. It can’t be applied to contemporary American society.

Despite social myths, single fathers can and have been raising children alone. LGBT fathers have been leading in such rise in figures currently. https://mankindprojectjournal.org/blog/2012/06/19/dads-alone-men-choosing-to-raise-children-without-a-partner/  The film, “The Pursuit of Happiness,” starring actor Will Smith, is an excellent example, highlighting the life of a single father. According to the U.S. Bureau of Census, since 2007, single fathers raising a child have been slowly approaching nearly one quarter of households today. https://ifstudies.org/blog/five-facts-about-todays-single-fathers

Additionally, the idea of the woman being homemakers has drastically changed since the mid-twentieth century. Women are much more involved in the workforce since the days of Rosie the Rivoter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosie_the_Riveter

Nearly 50 percent of the United States workforce is comprised of women today.  Their earnings have also significantly increased, while male earnings have decreased. https://statusofwomendata.org/explore-the-data/employment-and-earnings/ According to the Center for American Progress, 42 percent of working women now identify as the family’s primary breadwinners. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2016/12/19/295203/breadwinning-mothers-are-increasingly-the-u-s-norm/

Johns Hopkins University Sociologist Kathryn Edin stated upon the Child Support system and the traditional family myth, “We have a 1970s narrative, about a 2010s reality.” https://dadsdivorce.com/articles/4-problems-with-the-modern-child-support-system/

Criminalizing the Poor

Some Americans may still not admit the gossamer problems with Child Support today. That’s because its victims are mainly indigent fathers who have little voice, stemming from being successfully marginalized.  Like many laws in history, Anatole France explained well once, “The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread.” https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/361132-the-law-in-its-majestic-equality-forbids-rich-and-poor

Anatole France

In reality, the current American Child Support system for indigent fathers:

• Violates the right of Due Process in the U.S Constitution’s 5^th and 14^th Amendments (which is also article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights)
• Breaches the 15^th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing the right to vote.
• Contravenes the 13^th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution allowing involuntary servitude only as punishment for a crime (Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights).
• It also defies article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for expats whose livelihoods and family relations depend on freedom of travel.
• Most importantly, it disregards article 11 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which states, “No one shall be imprisoned on the ground of inability to fulfill a contractual obligation.”

American Child Support enforcement regularly criminalizes the poor, under the assumption that the poor are naturally liars and thieves, while the wealthy are not. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-poor-dont-lie-and-che_b_4653044. Fathers who have money for legal representation normally obtain lower Child Support payments when requested, with special consideration of not destroying their present or future livelihood, less or no jail time, and are allotted more time with children. Those without lawyers, are granted the contrary. https://www.twyfordlaw.com/blog/2015/december/how-much-time-do-children-spend-with-each-of-the/

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), states have been regularly enforcing payment obligations, without regard to a father’s financial situation. http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/how-falling-behind-child-support-can-end-jail#56748

Autumn Mizer posted in The Medium, “An urban study done over the nine top largest states indicated that 70% of Child Support payers — 85% of those being men- were making less than $10,000 a year, yet courts were expecting them to pay 83% of their yearly incomes in child support.” https://medium.com/@Autam/child-support-a-modern-system-abusing-men-926f585bbfc3

In consequence, indigent fathers are coerced into an inhumane cycle akin to modern slavery. This cycle translates into the following tautology:

(1) Unaffordable payments

(2)  Loss of job, family, friends, personal assets, and licenses

(3) Incarceration while debt continues accruing interest

(4) Release from prison

child support debt cycle

Often a released father has a couple months to find new employment, before being arrested again. In South Carolina, a father needs only to be late five days in payments. And usually arrests reoccur with more frequency, after the first.

The American Center for Progress states, “Unrealistic child support orders help no one, trapping parents in a vicious cycle of debt, nonpayment, and even incarceration.”  https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/poverty/news/2015/06/18/115417/3-facts-you-need-to-know-about-the-obama-administrations-proposed-child-support-rules/

Child Support for indigent fathers translates De Facto, into debtors’ prisons. Although the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) has stated debtors’ prisons were abolished two centuries ago, in America, they exist today. https://www.acluohio.org/archives/cases/james-harris  When Child support courts incarcerate fathers for arrears or missed payments, they routinely assume the father willfully refused to pay, rather than inability.  Nor do they even attempt to determine the latter.

According to the ChildSupportHustle, the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, warned in a letter that imprisoning indigent fathers for Child Support without determining inability or ability to pay, violates the U.S. Supreme Court Case, Bearden v. Georgia decision of 1983. Therefore, it infringes upon the U.S. Constitutional rights protected under the 5^th and 14^th Amendments. Nevertheless, the Child Support System continues to do so today.  http://thechildsupporthustle.com/frontpage-slider/the-doj-letter-and-child-support-enforcement/

Courtney Lollar wrote in the Alabama Law Review, “Once a state prosecutes and imprisons an indigent father, his odds of being able to pay that debt diminish even more. The criminalization of failing to pay child support is unconstitutional and revives prohibited debtors’ prisons.” https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3168653

In addition to suspending driver’s licenses, public shaming, freezing bank accounts, refusing tax refunds, reporting debt to credit agencies, revoking passports despite freedom of travel guaranteed under article 13 of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, revoking the 15^th Amendment right to vote as in Tennessee, and more; Child Support enforcement continues counting the debt while the father is even incarcerated.

Former United States President, Barak Obama, attempted to stop debt progression while indigent fathers were imprisoned, but current U.S. President Donald Trump tossed the bill. https://www.governing.com/topics/health-human-services/gov-child-support-obama-trump.html

Former U.S. President Barak Obama

All of the aforementioned Draconian measures consistently fail to produce Child Support payments from indigent fathers. Former South Carolina Director of Social Services, Elizabeth Patterson, states punitive measures as suspension of drivers’ licenses, seizing assets, and more; work on fathers with money. It doesn’t with those without. http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/how-falling-behind-child-support-can-end-jail#56748

Nevertheless, the Child Support enforcement vehemently shakes indigent fathers like a cactus in a desert, for any sign of fruit. The Deadbeat Dad myth promulgates an ignorant American public to look away to such insanity. And since 80 percent of the owed Child Support debt is by those earning between $10,000 and $20,000 yearly, its only outcome is modern slavery and debtors’ prisons.

Instead of admitting the system is completely broken for indigent fathers, Child Support enforcement pathetically bugle blows the banal Deadbeat Dad myth tautology as a gossamer defense, while responding irrationally and with even more aggression.

While some criminals are privileged not to have their photos publicly displayed, in states like Arizona, they post photos of indigent fathers to publicly shame them in an effort to coerce Child Support payments. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/arizona-deadbeat-dads-twitter-child-support_n_5696af36e4b0ce496422f90b In New Jersey, law enforcement arrested 1,700 fathers on Father’s Day in what they termed Deadbeat Dad raids. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-haney-fathers-day-child-support-20180615-story.html In South Carolina, they increased an emphasis on imprisonment for arrears.  Currently, one in eight inmates in the state of South Carolina are there for child support. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/poverty/news/2015/06/18/115417/3-facts-you-need-to-know-about-the-obama-administrations-proposed-child-support-rules/

Author Joseph Cordwell states, “No matter how they try, broke fathers are not able to get back on their feet because the state continues to sweep their legs out from under them.” https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-myth-of-the-deadbeat_n_4745118

Such aggression and callousness by Child Support enforcement can only result in expected tragedy. And it occurred in 2015 in the state with the harshest Child Support laws.  Walter Scott of South Carolina was shot several times in his back by a law enforcement officer, when attempting to flee arrest. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/20/us/skip-child-support-go-to-jail-lose-job-repeat.html He had been stuck in the vicious Child Support cycle.

His brother Rodney stated to the New York Times, “Every job he [his brother Walter Scott] has had, he has gotten fired from because he went to jail because he was locked up for child support. He got to the point where he felt like it defeated the purpose.” https://qz.com/397579/the-divorce-divide-how-the-us-legal-system-screws-poor-parents/ Walter Scott died because he attempted to flee what Elizabeth Patterson describes as, “A modern day debtors’ prison for poor noncustodial parents who lack the ability to pay support.” https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publishing/preview/publiced_preview_briefs_pdfs_2010_2011_10_10_PetitionerAmCuEPattersonandtheSCAppleseed.authcheckdam.pdf.

Shooting of Water Scott

There also seems to be little reprieve in the procedural process for indigent fathers by Child Support courts.

Often indigent fathers seek modifications to Child Support payments, yet some find the amount raised and more punitive actions taken against them.  According to the National Parents Organization, a military soldier who was deployed to Iraq asked for modification. Instead, he and his wife’s bank accounts were seized and he was ordered to pay more. https://nationalparentsorganization.org/blog/146-child-support-enforc

Although the indigent may have free legal representation in criminal cases respecting their Constitutional right to Due Process, poor fathers are not granted public attorneys in Child Support proceedings.

For example, Michael Turner spent a year in jail for not paying Child Support. He argued in the US Supreme Court that he was not provided a lawyer, as promised for the indigent in the Gideon versus Wainright US Supreme Court case of 1963. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gideon_v._Wainwright  Justice Stephen Breyer wrote that since Turner’s incarceration was a civil matter, instead of criminal, his imprisonment without a lawyer, was constitutional. http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/how-falling-behind-child-support-can-end-jail#56748

Yet the very essence or principle behind the Gideon Versus Wainright decision, was the inequality of legal outcomes based upon the socioeconomic differences between the indigent and poor, which is absolutely evident in the Child Support system today.

“Many states have two systems, one for married parents and one for poor people/welfare cases that are funneled through ‘paternity dockets’ where they barely get to say a word,” says Daniel Hatcher, a Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore.  “It’s a tribunal that’s just about child-support and paternity. It’s crowded. Judges are jaded. They face huge case loads.” https://qz.com/397579/the-divorce-divide-how-the-us-legal-system-screws-poor-parents/

Fraud and Corruption

The Child Support system in America is exemplary of a Tammany Hall style corruption and fraud. It immensely profits. It also consistently employs, any and every means, to award exorbitant  and numerous Child Support orders to obtain that profit. It doesn’t sincerely care for families, but solely for profit, just as the criminal justice system in America today. https://www.thenation.com/article/profits-prison-system/

While some mothers blame Deadbeat Dads for not providing enough, they might seek a better aim toward a corrupt system instead. Most of the money collected for Child Support is administered to the State.

Three quarters of TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) goes to the states. 52% of Child Support debt in the United States is not owed to needy mothers or children, it’s to the selfish states’ governments. In states as California, 73% of Child Support debt is owed to the state. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-haney-fathers-day-child-support-20180615-story.html

Journalist Paul Raeburn states in Psychology Today that of the over $100 billion owed to the nation’s child support, $50 billion goes to the government. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/about-fathers/200812/welfare-and-child-support-nobody-wins The ChildSupportHustle states, “Not only are non-custodial parents being robbed of their freedom and extorted without due process protections, custodial parents are being robbed of the payments made supposedly for the children.  The only beneficiary of the child support system is the government.” http://thechildsupporthustle.com/frontpage-slider/the-doj-letter-and-child-support-enforcement/

Author Phyllis Schafley explains in Eagle Forum, “The states share in a nearly-half-billion-dollar incentive reward pool based on whatever the state collects. The states can get a waiver to spend this bonus money anyway they choose.

…The federal incentives drive the system. The more divorces, and the higher the child-support guidelines are set and enforced (no matter how unreasonable), the more money the state bureaucracy collects from the feds.” https://eagleforum.org/column/2005/may05/05-05-11.html

Megan Feldman in the Dallas Observer explains that states like Texas, “Receive federal funds based in part on the amount of child support that it collects and distributes, giving the Child Support Division a budgetary incentive to close as many cases as it can, no matter whose rights it might trample.” https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/family-court-judge-sheds-light-on-unfair-child-support-practices-in-texas-6420102

In other words, separating families, violating U.S. Constitutional and human rights, and creating exorbitant Child Support awards, is profitable for states. And in such a scheme, symptoms of its corruption are destined to reveal itself.

In one instance, a deputy clerk of the Child Support office in Gaffney, South Carolina, pocketed $60,000. In Texas, a private contractor with the Child Support courts stole over $200,000 from debit cards of fathers ordered to pay Child Support. https://nationalparentsorganization.org/blog/20615-fraud-corruption-in-child-support-enforcement

But it’s not just theft alone.

It’s also the shrewd Machiavellian nature in which the Child Support system operates with akin honor and integrity as an amalgamation between Charles Ponzi and San Francisco’s Sally Stanford. Its sole objective is to hustle poor Americans of their rights and money, but with the full backing of the United States Federal government. The States’ courts, judges, officers, case workers, lawyers and more; are all cronies as in former U’S. President Ulyssess S. Grant’s Whiskey Ring and Credit Mobilier scams.

Indigent fathers are regularly without legal representation and callously rushed through a conveyor-belt of signing agreements, some still in a fragile psychological state from divorce or separation. No tests are administered to establish if fathers are mentally fit. In addition, state paternity DNA tests are not 100 percent trustworthy. For example, a Canadian man, Andre Cherky, discovered his state administered DNA test painting him a biological father, was wrong after a second test. https://canadiancrc.com/Newspaper_Articles/Discover_Whos_your_daddy_APR06.aspx

Sometimes DNA tests are not administered at all. Currently, 30 percent of Child Support is paid by fathers whose DNA tests prove they are not the fathers. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/magazine/22Paternity-t.html?_r=0 In Dallas, Texas, the state government disregarded DNA results proving a wife cheated on her husband. Then, the court sanctioned the results to be sealed from the public, while the Child Support order remained enforced on the father. https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/family-court-judge-sheds-light-on-unfair-child-support-practices-in-texas-6420102

In another incident, a mother listed Carnelll Alexander as the father on her child’s birth certificate, in order to get state welfare benefits. He later was unexpectedly hit with a $30,000 back Child Support bill. It took him years to track her down and perform a DNA test. Despite the results, clearing his parenthood, the judge still demanded the back pay from him. https://www.theroot.com/judge-orders-detroit-man-to-pay-30-000-in-back-child-s-1790858861

“If a man goes out and gets DNA testing that says it’s not his child, but it’s after four years, he’s screwed,” says a Texas assistant attorney general. “You’ve got 17-year-old kids signing these things [Child Support Agreements], and they don’t even know what they’re doing.” https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/family-court-judge-sheds-light-on-unfair-child-support-practices-in-texas-6420102 FugitiveNation states, “If the father had a vasectomy that left him with a zero sperm count prior to the birth of the child, this evidence is considered irrelevant.” https://fugitivenation.wordpress.com/exploitation-extortion-oppression-2/about-2/govt-corruption-and-child-support/

Occasionally, the Child Support representative may also lie about DNA paternity results to quickly secure a signature. In other cases, if the indigent father misses a single court proceeding, it results in an automatic Child Support award for the mother.

The National Parents Organization states, “Where there’s money to be had – big money – there’s bound to be corruption…So when it comes to establishing child support, state attorney generals stoop to just about anything to make sure some adult male gets identified as the child’s father.  To them it really doesn’t matter if it’s the right guy or not.” https://nationalparentsorganization.org/blog/20615-fraud-corruption-in-child-support-enforcement

Restraining orders, often urged on by lawyers as a legal tactic, are also administered upon the father prior a Child Support hearing, preventing the father from any contact with the children or the mother. Therefore, there’s little chance for spouses to arrive to any mutual agreement, prior government or legal interference. States and lawyers don’t profit if they’re not part of the formula. http://valleypatriot.com/the-abuse-of-restraining-orders-to-gain-an-advantage-in-child-custody-proceedings/

Additionally, restraining orders coerces the father to leave the household with months of no contact with the children. This allows mothers to alienate the children against the father.  It also negatively portrays his character in the Child Support courts, which makes it more likely for less custody time and for higher support payments.

Such restraining orders also need no evidence to obtain and mothers are never punished for lying. For example, the famous T.V. host David Lettermen had a restraining order upon him by a New Mexico woman, as his accuser claimed he spoke to her in code on his TV appearances. In West Virginia alone, 81 percent of restraining orders by females against males were discovered to be false. None of the petitioners were punished. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-worst-thing-a-woman-c_b_837636

Attorney Christine Sullivan writes in the Valley Patriot that, “The restraining order is often times used as a legal tactic to gain an advantage in child custody proceedings. It is a page out of the dirty lawyer’s handbook.” http://valleypatriot.com/the-abuse-of-restraining-orders-to-gain-an-advantage-in-child-custody-proceedings/

In Child Support courts, most of the time, a mothers’ accusations are also not thoroughly investigated and the presumption of guilt is nearly always upon the father. Worse, in consequence to the monetary awards entailed, lawyers even seek to ascertain an unfair judgment against the father as well.  In an actual custody case, a mother and her attorney faked a domestic violence incident for leverage in court in Fulton County, Georgia. The father’s attorney also cooperated with the duo against the father. https://myadvocatecenter.com/case-studies/attorney-ethics-rules-no-teeth/

Judge David Hanschen of Texas summarized that the constitutional right of Due Process is being regularly violated by attorney generals using deceptive or fraudulent methods in order to coerce indigent fathers to sign away their rights in Child Support cases. https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/family-court-judge-sheds-light-on-unfair-child-support-practices-in-texas-6420102

The most compelling evidence however, exposing the corruption and fraud of the Child Support system, is revealed by Divorce Corp Director, Joseph Sorge. His research focused on the actual costs of raising a child in comparison to what state governments are demanding. He revealed that the amount the State demands, is double to quadruple the actual costs of raising a child. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=196XCAXfqrI  SouthFloridaCorruption.com concurs with Joseph Sorge’s findings and states,“Child support is actually child extortion and alimony. It is often four to five times the actual cost of raising a child.” http://southfloridacorruption.com/Download/top_88_divorce_tips.pdf

In addition, Divorce Corp also discovered that some Family Courts are imprisoning American citizens for blogging about the corruption of Child Support. Judges are also holding Facebook users in contempt of court for criticizing the Child Support system. And Child support lawyers are contributing to campaign funds for Child Support judges. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/divorce-corp-documentary_b_4577155  SouthFloridaCorruption.com also revealed that states like Massachusetts where 83% of citizens voted for shared parenting , which is better for children and parents but not profitable for state governments, still have not changed to shared parenting, despite the public’s desires. http://southfloridacorruption.com/Download/top_88_divorce_tips.pdf

Stephen Baskerville, a former member of Virginia’s Advisory Child Support Review Panel, states in the Washington Examiner that Child Support is, “Simply government-organized thievery.” https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/when-child-support-becomes-extortion-families-lose William S.Comanor in, “The Law and Economics of Child support Payments,” with the help of scholars, describes the Child Support system as, “An obvious sham and disaster…the most onerous form of debt collection practiced in the United States.” https://www.elgaronline.com/view/1843761211.xml

Child Support Systems in Other Nations

When juxtaposing the American Child support system to others worldwide, the former fails miserably. In comparison to Europe, nations which have more wealth, the American child support system is completely exploitive, irrational, and inefficient.  When compared to developing nations, nations with worse records for women’s rights, the American Child Support system is inhumane and unfair.

A preponderance of contemporary comparative analyses of Child Support systems worldwide usually emphasize the heuristic of how much is collected and administered as a successful system. However, there is more to that heuristic. Successful Child Support systems are humane, replicate an environment prior divorce while collecting money efficiently, and eliminate the criminalization of the indigent.

Journalist Bryce Covert in ThinkProgress  states, “American fathers have the highest obligations among 14 of the richest countries, even if they are poor or unemployed (in eight countries, an unemployed father doesn’t owe anything). The U.S. is one of four that doesn’t exempt some portion of the noncustodial parent’s income for basic living expenses. Only five countries are so extreme as to jail fathers who don’t pay.”  In addition to European nations such as Austria and Finland not imprisoning for Child Support, Australia also doesn’t

Covert, like many others, rightfully laud the European system of Child Support.  Nations like Sweden and the Netherlands provide mothers with Child Support, despite non-custodial parents paying or not. Covert continues, “Such a system seems to work — 95 percent of these parents get child support payments.” https://thinkprogress.org/the-brilliant-idea-from-europe-that-could-revolutionize-child-support-dd3416db9bfb/ In the United States, only 40 percent of custodial parents get their Child Support payments. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2018/cb18-tps03.html

In Sweden, a 50/50 arrangement entails no child support.  Sweden has one of the highest shared parenting rates in the world. Research has proven shared parenting is best financially and psychologically for both parents and children. https://www.childandfamilyblog.com/child-development/share-physical-custody-stress/ While in America, only 17 percent of custody cases involve shared parenting. https://www.deseret.com/2016/2/5/20581666/what-shared-parenting-is-and-how-it-can-affect-kids-after-divorce#sad-child-on-a-swing-inbetween-her-divorced-parents-holding-her-separatedly

While the average monthly Child Support payment in America is $465.00. https://www.wevorce.com/blog/child-support-facts-and-figures/  In European nations as Sweden, it is as low as $137. https://web.archive.org/web/20110719085154/http://www.forsakringskassan.se/privatpers/foralder/separerar/underhallsbidrag/ In addition, most European nations also base Child Support more on the incomes of each parent, rather than time spent with the child or who possesses custody, as in America. http://www.ncsl.org/research/human-services/child-support-and-parenting-time-orders.aspx

But perhaps what is the most effective and humane in the European system is an emphasis on pre-government intervention or what are termed cooperation-dialogue sessions. These sessions entail the spouses conversing on custody and support arrangements with a mediator. For example, in Sweden, according to the ChildandFamilyblog, “Only 2% of custody arrangements in Sweden are imposed by a judge.” https://www.childandfamilyblog.com/child-development/share-physical-custody-stress/

These sessions are also free of charge for the indigent whereas in America, the indigent won’t even be granted an attorney. In addition, only after several sessions and no agreement, do lawyers and the courts become involved. https://www.juristjouren.se/vardnad-och-underhall_kopia.html

In summary, the European system eliminates the inhumanity, gender inequality, and inefficiency created from the American Child Support system. Both parents share custody and pay less, mothers get paid more, and criminalizing the indigent doesn’t occur.

But it isn’t just Europe that puts Americans and the United States to shame. Developing nations, despite being classified as worse on women’s and human rights, have better systems.

In Jordan and Iraq for example, the parent with a higher income must foot the majority of costs for raising the child. If a spouse remarries, child support obligations for the opposing parent simply end.

Also, there is a 50/50 shared custody arrangement between mother and father divided by early and adolescent years of the child’s development, with an option of the child choosing which parent to remain with. https://www.international-divorce.com/ca-jordan.htm

In Israel, gender equality awareness has come to a discussion unlike in America. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked recently proposed a bill in the Israel Kenesset wherein Child Support would be based on both parents’ incomes, rather than gender. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israeli-bill-would-revamp-child-support-1.5434301 Kulanu MK Merav Ben Ari proposed a bill to scratch child support entirely and just enforce joint custody. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/237085

Even in Africa, in Botswana and Lethoso, if the mother is financially stable, there’s no need for the government to enforce Child Support payments and there is a maximum cap on the amount of Child Support collected. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1966884?seq=2#metadata_info_tab_contents Unlike in America, where even the U.S. President Donald Trump pays $300,000 a year, former baseball star Alex Rodriguez $115,000 a month, and actor Eddie Murphy $51,000 monthly. https://www.ranker.com/list/expensive-celebrity-child-support-payments/matthewcoleweiss Such money has better use for the public than to spoil any child like this.

In Latin American nations like Chile, the child support system is also fairer. The amount is based on necessities only and prosecutions for arrears are relatively low, according to John Cobin of EscapeAmericaNow. Personal assets of a father are not at risk of being liquated to support a child. Debtors’ prisons are a practically moot concept and imprisonment for severe arrears may be fifteen days as opposed to a year or more in the United States. https://escapeamericanow.info/debtors-prisons-in-usa-and-chile/

America has a lot of catching up to do. It has a problem understanding money isn’t everything and governments sometimes create more ills than good.

Conclusions

It is a doubt that American Child Support will be reformed any time soon. Editorials urging Child Support reform have appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Denver Post, The Baltimore Sun, The Boston Globe, The Charleston Post And Courier and in a report by National Public Radio, yet nothing has materialized. https://dailycaller.com/2018/04/09/state-child-support-laws-destroy-families/

The American Child Support System needs to rid itself of misandry embedded within its foundation by erasing the crutch called the Deadbeat Dad myth and upgrade its system to match contemporary American gender reality. It absolutely has to stop criminalizing innocent poor fathers and cease violating their fundamental U.S. constitutional and human rights.

More importantly, it should stop the corruption and fraud which persists in its institutional and procedural behavior of profiting from the misery of human suffering, while augmenting the separation of families, to its own profit.

Bruce Eden, Director of Dads Against Discrimination stated, “The longer the state engages in social engineering of families, it delays the day that the state is out of the killing business of families. Death is a product of state Family Courts and its judges and attorneys. They view it as the cost of doing business in the ever expanding fraud business model that is styled as family court.” https://www.dailyrecord.com/story/opinion/letters/2018/09/05/letter-dysfunctional-family-courts-destroying-lives/37723129/

Finally, America should suck in its pride and catch up and learn from the rest of the world.  The American Child Support system has to accept that government intervention in family affairs is not always the answer, it’s sometimes the problem.

Authors Irwin Garfinkel and Annemette Sorenson stated, “The United States fosters parental irresponsibility, is inequitable, exacerbates already poor family relations, and impoverishes single parents and their children. It would be difficult to imagine a more dysfunctional system.” http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.903.7087&rep=rep1&type=pdf

One thing for certain, we can no longer look to America for an example to learn from, in regards to Child Support. On the contrary, civilized nations and humans with hearts beating within their chests should condemn with every breath the American Child support barbarity.

As Oscar Wilde once observed, “America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence, without civilization in between.”