On Father's Day, should we remember all the men in prison for their inability to pay child support?
Sad but true: http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/2009/06/21/sacksed_0621.html Interesting quote: "For example, in one case highlighted by the Boston Globe, a divorced father who worked in the real estate industry had been paying $6,000 a month in child support, plus additional expenses such as health insurance and tuition. When the real estate industry crashed, he fell behind and, with an application for a downward modification still pending, was handcuffed in court and jailed for 30 days. The Bergen Record recently detailed the case of Peter Triantafillou, a divorced dad who agreed to pay $5,000 a month in child support in 2006 while earning a good income as a trader. When the economic downturn hit, he was laid off twice and now earns only $60,000 — exactly the amount of his child support obligation. He says: “They had an arrest warrant on me. I had to go to jail for two days. I could understand if I was a deadbeat dad. Or I was on the run or something. But I’m here, picking up my kids after school. I’m involved. Just because I don’t have that much money to pay anymore doesn’t mean I should be chastised.†National Public Radio reported the case of a Cape Cod, Mass., father who lost his job in January but is still required to pay $3,466 a month in child support and 65 percent of college expenses for two of his children. According to NPR: “He petitioned the court to pay less child support but … had to wait two and a half months for a hearing. Then the judge denied his request to temporarily lower his child support payments and scheduled a trial for July … typically, it takes six months from the time a noncustodial parent petitions the court to pay less because of a job loss to when the court makes a decision.â€" "I'd rather think of all the children suffering because their father are to selfish to pay child support." Sox, The question was not about men who can pay but don't. The question was about the men who are jailed because they cannot pay. Please try to pay attention. Thanks. "I read the question. Then I told you what I'd rather do. Please pay more attention to my answers, thanks." Sox, I'd rather think about pretty much anything other than your non-answer. Sox and MBlue, I think your answers speak for themselves. You have no problem with putting inocent men in jail, or do not consider it a issue worthy of attention. Thanks for clarifying your position. *an issue* Some great answers here. Thanks! BratRich, that was quite eloquent. MBlue, If your original answer demostrated any empathy for fathers imprisoned for their inability to pay child support, I missed it. It seemed to me that you were too busy distracting from the issue by attacking men who can pay but won't and men who are in prison for other reasons. Maybe I should have read very closely between the lines . . . "oh, and all of what I say applies to women too." MBlue, How convenient is this afterthought? It almost makes it sound like you are being fair-minded. Almost. As we all know, the draconian child support system was designed primarily by feminsts who don't like men and who are well aware that men will be disproportionately impacted because women alost always get custody. *almost always*
Gender Studies - 11 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
Men who are in jail for unrelated crimes also don't have their child support suspended. They become "deadbeat dads" against their will while behind bars. Adds: Wow, MBLUE. You're not very forgiving, are you? Especially since over half of the people in jail in this country are there for victimless crimes...
2 :
I'd rather think of all the children suffering because their father are to selfish to pay child support, thanks. EDIT: I read the question. Then I told you what I'd rather do. Please pay more attention to my answers, thanks. EDIT: That's because you care more about fathers too half assed to help feed their children than those very same children suffering. You obviously view child support as some evil institution bought about by feminism.
3 :
Very sad. Sox, I like to think of the selfish women who had kids but were too immature to maintain a family. The majority of these men are good men who have had the misfortune of impregnating skanks.
4 :
Yep, men aren't worth anything in our society unless they're working for women, or paying women. And Sox, "too selfish to pay child support"?, are you kidding me? Its not a matter of selfishness, its a matter of NOT BEING ABLE to pay. Courts place an essentially arbitrary income to a man, and then make him pay a certain percent. Clearly you aren't capable of independent thought, and you simply mirror the party lines. A man could make 80k a year. But the courts could simply say he makes 100k a year, and charge him 75k in CS, Alimony, legal fees, and etc. Its about imputed income, not reality. He then would not have enough money to live. It will also take a long time to change his income if he gets laid off. He could get thrown in jail for simply working in a bad economy. Its about the children though. Who gives a crap about men. Edit: I dont care about fathers more than children. I care about men who get wrongly imprisoned for losing their jobs in an unstable economy. They aren't "half assing", they try to support their kids, but are not able to. And don't put words in my mouth. I do not view CS as evil. It is necessary for the welfare of kids. But imprisoning fathers due to unavoidable circumstances does not help the kids in any way. It actually prevents him from getting a new job to support them. Thus, it HURTS the children to imprison the father, along with being unethical.
5 :
steve-o wants us to feel bad for the dads that are in jail for unrelated offenses and then can't pay their child support. Maybe they shouldn't have broken any laws in the first place? If they're in prison for another crime, they aren't good fathers anyways. And yes, it's unfortunate that there's so many deadbeats out there that the system is built towards them... making it harder to protect the men that honestly just caught a tough break and don't have the money. It's a question of letting a guilty man go free or putting an innocent man behind bars. Sadly enough, our parents weren't lying when they told us "life isn't fair" EDIT: when did I say I had no problem with it!? I said "unfortunately" and "sadly" ... I was speaking about the injustices of our justice system. It does suck that the bad fathers ruined it for the ones that have just "honestly caught a bad break". And I wish something were done about it. And if you honestly feel bad for the men that are put in prison for another offense and then are unable to pay their child support... then you really aren't seeing the big picture of that situation. When someone is sent to prison, they don't get to put their job on hold, their family's life on hold, etc. Why should that carry over to child support? The inmate made a conscious decision to break the law and ended up in jail. You don't get a free pass from child support just because you're a criminal. You want to support your kids, help them lead a productive, good life, stay out of jail. You're telling Sox to read the question carefully and you didn't even read my answer carefully. EDITx2: After reading the other answers and looking at their avatars I have one question: Is it because I'm a girl? :-( No, steve-o, actually I'm forgiving of men who broke the law, completed their punishment and didn't bi*ch and moan about how unfair it is that their kids didn't starve/go without clothes/otherwise live in poverty because they were in prison and couldn't support them. If you want to be a good dad, you stay out of jail. It's not hard, there's plenty of law-abiding citizens who haven't been put in jail ever. EDITx3: last one, really I'm done. So you sent that nice email, and then continued to attack me on here. I repeat: "not cool sammy" To clear things up, I was only irritated that steve-o would compare the situation that these poor men are in who have lost their jobs with the situation of a real criminal in prison. And my source wasn't an afterthought, but merely a guess of what the next response would be... "oh well if the roles were switched, you would say the woman shouldn't be held accountable for her child support." So if it's possible to state this any clearer: I agree, those men are in a shitty situation and it's sad and I wish something could be done to prevent it from happening again.
6 :
This is unbelievable. The whole system is so F*^*ed up. Sox, these men can't even pay! That's pretty heartless of you.
7 :
Heavenly Father! If you are there, and tune into earth frequency sometimes, you already know its Father's day! We, sons and fathers, have died to save our kith and kin for centuries. Sacrificed our days and toiled under dark stars. We stayed away, missed our children's smiles and missed the touch of their tiny fingers. We worked through our lives till grey hair, so our children can grow. We, sons and fathers, went out in millions and laid our lives so our children's mothers and motherland can stay free and prosperous. But Oh Father! A Father is not valued anymore. A father is not human anymore. He is remnant of your glory. His life and time is less worth than the money he earns. He can not save the life of his unborn child. And he can not be a father to his born ones if the kings decide. The spring of compassion and love from the mother-earth has dried. So Father, Send us a miracle. Let some compassion for your reflections show. Let some justice for your sons prevail. Heavenly Father! Let your sons be the Fathers.
8 :
Sad.. It's pathetic and hypocritical how society shame/demonize men who can't pay child support but at the same time have no problem with women who avoid parental responsibility by having abortion or just drop the baby at the fire station..
9 :
Sox, The father is not the only one required to provide a certain amount of money toward the care of the children, so is the custodial mother. But, when she loses her job, she just takes away from her children by reducing what she is obligated to provide for them. She is under no threat of jail for losing her job and providing less for her children, only the father is. Also, she can get a reduction hearing in 30 days, along with an increase in his obligation for extras, such as her percentage of the cost of a private school. This is a civil rights issue. If she's allowed to reduce her obligation to the children, because of a job lose, so should he, or both should face the threat of prison, equally. Now worse than all that, they have to let out soft crime criminals in order to house these fathers. The states no longer have the money to house criminals of all types, but because federal law requires that deadbeat dads take precedence in jailings, others, such as muggers, have to be released. Which do you want in jail?
10 :
'On Mother's Day, should we remember all the women in prison for their inability to pay child support?' What about this question? There are plenty of mothers, who do not take care properly of their children. More children are mistreated by mothers than by fathers, and boys are more frequently mistreated than girls. What about these mothers? What happens with them? Are they in jail? Do they pay child-support to the father and other people who take care of their mistreated children? About child-support, it should be calculated on a monthly basis. If a father is jobless, how can he pay? If a father is ill and in hospital and has no income, how can he pay? Yes, on Father's Day, we should remember fathers, all fathers, who have good intention towards their children.
11 :
The child support law is against the constitution of this country. I believe there is some sort of a paragraph in the US Constitution which states government cannot induced involuntary slavery or some thing to that nature. If a father don't have a job and cannot get one, he should not have to be imprisoned. I called that involuntary slavery. When a father cannot get a job, or unable to work, which is more likely now due to global recession,(which was caused by the idiot greedy politicians and shaking hands with their corporate lobbyist) the father cannot be determine to be label a dead beat dad, and should not be jailed. Then ones that should be imprison are the ones committing fraudulent activities and racketeering of the American fathers of their ability to make a living for them and their children. The District Attorney has made collecting child support as a financial a industry. I have no idea how much they collected but I do know there is somewhat like 14.4 Billion Dollars still out standing of so call unpaid child support. With 14,4 billion dollars they can build dozens of more concentration camps in this country deserts. For people like me who are not afraid to tell the truth and of course the fathers of all the$14.4 billion unpaid child support. Actually what Child Support really is, is another form of taxation for having children. The world would not look to kindly on government in which parents get taxed for having children so they call it, Child Support. The lawyers, judges,court clerks, the DA and everyone else that is connected, to collection of child support gets to be employed and feeding and clothing their children. That is the present nature of this government we are suppose to take care of our kids, so at a later time, this government can kill them in some future war for the want of oil or to keep the Wall Street Investors happy and rich. The child support law is and another incidence where this government is trying to institutionalize the kids, by breaking up family values and independent thinking, that is derived from a 2 parent family structure. Which benefits the coming of the New World Order. The only way to beat the child support law is go to jailed as the civil rights activist did so in the 1960's. And when governmental idiot bureaucrats have half the adult male population in jail then the law might become more lenient or abolished this unfair law.
