Essay about We Need Stronger Child Support Laws

Misery, abandonment, and no love, how can one let a child grow up with thoughts so negative running through their minds? Children are removed from their homes, forced to live in strangers houses, and expected to behave like they live in a stable living environment. All this is occurring so fast, that they can’t process their situation and feel like they don’t have anyone in the world that loves them. Although our nation claims to be doing the best they can with child welfare, the entire program has focused their efforts on removing children from their homes instead of focusing on the child’s emotional needs. Mr. President, we need to fix this issue now because children are the future. When a family is torn apart because allegations of abuse, neglect, or financial issues, placing a child in foster care, rather than trying to fix the problem, can only further damage a child’s well being.

Reynolds (2004) stated that five out of every six custodial parents are mothers, and he goes on to say that one out of three of those custodial parents receives a full payment averaging about five thousand dollars. Often times a judge makes the decision to grant custody to the mother based on the idea that a mother has a closer relationship with the child because of giving birth. However, it is important to remember as Smith (2003) reminds us that fathers love their children just as much as mothers, and to call them non-custodial parents is offensive. Often times when parents get divorced the mother has been a stay at home mom and the father has been the primary bread winner so, when a mom is awarded custody as you can imagine it becomes very difficult for her to balance the children and the one (or more) jobs that she has to work in order to support the family.

In situations, when the non-custodial parent who has been ordered to pay child support fails to do so, the other parent can depend upon federal and state family law to mandate appropriate enforcement procedures. Parents who are delinquent on their child support are commonly referred to as “deadbeat parents.” The term is typically used to reference state laws created to deal with a parent’s refusal to abide by the court’s child support order. These mandates ensure that child support payments are submitted in a timely manner.

This is to help maintain the home for the child which many have misconstrued as monies for the parent. This has been an ongoing debate and non-custodial parents feel they should know where their money is being spent. Courts have opposed this as of today. When child support was introduced in 1975, many non-custodial parents would refuse to pay and many children were thrust into poverty. Currently, not paying child support according to Child Support Laws (2014),”made it a Federal crime to willfully fail to pay past-due child support payments.” Punishment can include loss of driver's license or passport, not able to obtain credit, and possibly not able to obtain

Growing up having kids is something that you simply assume would happen. It was never even a question you always knew that one day you would be a parent and that having kids seemed like a natural step in becoming an adult. Your thoughts are to meet someone,  get married, and eventually have children.Sometimes life doesn't work out that way. Many women have trouble conceiving depending on age and how the body reacts to developing a child. Some people don’t have to try to get pregnant but others aren’t so lucky they have to continue to try until your results come out positive, so to speak. But trying to conceive and failing after many attempts can be overwhelming and frustrating always trying to stay positive that this time will work. It’s important to start the process of finding out  what test’s you have to take to know if you're able to have children; and what are options for infertility.

Many of them have the mindset that they are supposed to be the provider for the family. By only working part time or taking the unpaid time off fathers feel they are not doing the right thing by bringing in a steady income for their family. If they were offered a few weeks off that allowed them to receive 70% of more of their current hourly rate, I feel that more fathers would take advantage of this time to spend with their new child. Not only will they be able to spend time and bond with their new child but also be bringing in a steady income during their requested time off from

Becoming a parent is beautiful yet stressful time in many people's lives. Emotions of joy and worry fill the mind of expecting parents as they work to provide a loving and financially stable home for their family. Both parents wish to actively support their child and their spouse during this time of transition, however, corporations are making this task difficult. Maternity leave is a benefit that most companies provide, but only for their female employees. Male employees are not given the same opportunity to share the responsibility of childcare with their wife or to develop a bond early on with their child. Providing fathers maternity leave would give them time to dedicate themselves to the growth of their child, allow the mother to heal from giving birth, and promote equality within the family unit and in the workplace.

Another problem is the fact that since the courts is not enforcing the parent to pay child support; the parent thinks that they can continue blowing it off and living their life as if nothing happened. Child support has been given a bad rep for as long as I can remember due to the fact that many people who are filed for it aren’t paying it the way they should be and it makes the parent who is actually caring for the child upset because they are left taking care of that child by themselves and left struggling.

Laws in most states mandate that reasonable efforts be provide to families who become involved with child welfare agencies.  Social workers, on behalf of the agency toil to provide reasonable efforts to families.  Presumptively, reasonable efforts are provided for families to mitigate the issues that brought them to the attention of child protection agency.

Child support is a complex and detailed process even with the strict calculation guidelines in place. The parents can agree upon an amount or the court may adjust the amount according to the situation.

The United States is the only country among 41 others that does not legally stipulate paid maternity leave, which leaves this legislation at the discretion of the individual states (Livingston, 2016). Currently, parents in California are covered by California State Disability Insurance, and receive 55% of their salary for six weeks (“About Paid Family Leave (PFL),” n.d.). California is one of four states that supplement the national Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, which guarantees unpaid maternity leave for 12 weeks (“Why So Few Women Take Maternity Leave | Time.com,” n.d.). It is my recommendation that the California House of Representatives vote to pass bill AB-568, an assembly bill that allows public school and community college employees fully paid maternity leave.

The first case that was presented involved a man that was currently incarcerated in the Vanderburgh County jail. The inmate was able to plead his case, telling the judge that he was not able to work because he was injured, and therefore had no income to pay for child support. After looking at the past payments the inmate made through the court, it revealed that before he was incarcerated he had made one payment to the child’s mother. He claimed that he was out of work because he had broken his leg, but failed to provide an statements from his employer stating he was either let go or not able to work because of an injury. All payments had stopped for whatever reason. The judge found the inmate in contempt of court for failure to obey a court order. He could not prove to the judge that he deliberately disobey the court’s order to pay child support. In the end, the judge found him irresponsible and sentenced him to 90 days in jail along with a $1000 fine. After he was sentenced, he was escorted out of the front of the courtroom by the bailiff.

Paid parental leave should be equal and for both parents once a child is born

We all care about a family, we would all drop everything if they were to extremely sick out of nowhere. The only thing that is stopping us from doing this is our work. As medicine keeps on advancing, people will start to live longer than in the past. That would mean that we would have to be very careful with our parents, but how are we going to take care of them if something were to happen to them and not just the elderly but everyone that we care about. Our children, our sisters and brothers, our uncle and aunts and cousins, who knows what could happen to all our loved ones. If we were to get some sort of program or law that would let us be able to take care of our families, then we should make sure that we have job protection and some sort of income that would help us out during the tough times. We should also make sure that every person that is working has the same benefits as every other worker in the U.S. In Lisa Belkin’s article “Paid Family Leave”, she states that we, as a country, should have paid family leave like many other countries around the world. It should not just have to deal with maternity or paternity leave but it should also deal with our sick relatives. The benefits that would come with this are good but the problem that most people have with this program is where the money would come from and if this program were to affect everybody or just a select handful.

Since Mr. and Mrs. Green intend on having joint custody of the children, it looks as if all aspects of rearing the children, including expenses as well as decision-making would be shared among the parents. Although it is "shared", that does not signify that it will be equally shared. The court will determine, based on the formula contained in the Kentucky Child Support Guidelines, what each parent pays. Furthermore, since Mrs. Green is without income as a homemaker, it seems as though some sort of child support payment should be paid in regards to the children while they are residing in her home. Also, if Mr. Green takes a job, earning less income due to health problems, this may affect the amount of child support he would be obligated to pay, but it shouldn't keep him from being required to pay some sort of child support. This job change can cause the court to deviate from the guidelines. However, the court may look at Mrs. Green's unemployment as being voluntary. Thus, the court may not use that issue in determining the child support Mr. Green should be obligated to pay. The court will probably not order Mrs. Green to obtain employment, but in looking at the facts, there is no valid reason as to her unemployment, and it may be in the