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Originally Posted by Kanzeon  That's true. But children get shafted in one way, and they are the only ones who didn't choose anything.
Somebody needs to pay for kids, There are two likely suspects. Their petty problems are virtually irrelevant in light of the child's needs.
Yeah, walking away from a defenseless child is how a real man stands up for himself. I guess I missed that.
But the solution offered in this thread is a nonstarter, because it is abandoning children. It may suck but you can't walk away. Every child wants to know his or her father. If that child knows the father - as is his or her RIGHT - he or she is entitled to some relationship with him, and to support.
The 1 out of 1000 births where the man did use a condom and the woman had the child against his will aren't sympathy cases. Man up, deal with life. |
Ok, here's the thing, which I think got lost in the things I've written. I don't think child support is a bad idea. I do think that our current system is absolutely awful and abuseable, and that we'd be better off without it.
If we're going to keep child support, the system needs to be redone a bit. The biggest thing that needs to change is that courts need to stop getting a cut of the money, so they will start ruling fairly on child support cases. After that, we do need to account for everyone's needs. You are right when you say the child's needs outweigh the needs of the parent though.
That said, I think child support should be dealt with on a case by case basis. Child support should only be paid out when it will significantly improve the child's situation. Furthermore, the custodial parent should still be required to have a job or other means of earning income, or be working hard to find one (When remarried or with other similar arrangements, the current partner of the custodial parent may have this job instead if that is their agreement.). They should not just live off the child support payments of the other parent. If the child support won't make a difference in the child's circumstances, it shouldn't be paid out.
Also, if child support will make that much of a difference, it ought to be considered that perhaps the parent who can afford the child support payments ought to have primary custody instead of the one who can't. Again, how well this would work would have to be determined case by case.
In addition, if deceit or trickery are involved from either party, this should also be considered when it comes time to rule on child support. It won't be the only thing taken into account, as that would be unfair to the child, but it does still need to be addressed.