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Neal, I appreciate your perspective usually, but you are so off the mark with your comment about "deadbeat dads" and it's obvious you've never seriously looked into the whole fatherhood/child support situation. The fact is, the vast majority of divorced dads pay child support in full and on time. The fathers who don't pay? Most of them live at or below the poverty level. Child support awards are not based on the actual costs of raising a child and the awards are frequently over-inflated. The result is that low-income fathers cannot pay the amount the law requires and still have enough left over to actually feed, house, and clothe themselves. Sure, there are a few divorced dads who make the rest of us look bad, but by and large fathers are doing the right thing. And in most states, they have no choice anyway. Should they choose to spend their money on cigarettes and beer, as you say, they lose their driver's license, their professional license, have their wages garnished and their tax return intercepted. Temper that with the fact that the vast majority of mothers initiate the divorce in the first place, and not for reasons of infidelity, abuse, addiction, or abandonment - but because "he doesn't meet my emotional needs" or some other such nonsense. Most fathers fight the divorce but are unable to prevent it. As a result, they are kicked out of their homes, relegated to being a visitor in the children's lives, and are forced by the State to hand over huge sums of money to the children's mother - who frequently interferes with custody just because they can do so without penalty. Someone really needs to educate you.
By JimBeaux

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