check this out.........if you havent all ready

[impressivedjq]

http://waysandmeans.house.gov/legacy.asp?file=legacy/humres/107cong/4-11-02/records/menshealthnetwork.htm
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            This from your congress WAYS and MEANS Committee!!!!!!!!!                                                                                                                                                                                                                 And they still don't get it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[antonin]

Of course they don't: the assumption here is that the mother should and always will be the custodial parent and the dad a visitor.

[gmaoftwo]

Don't you just LOVE this part:


Increased parenting time ("visitation") for non-custodial fathers will promote reconciliation between the mother and father and foster marriage.

LMAO!!!

[StPaulieGirl]

This is a step in the right direction, imo.

Arrearages Hurt Families and Discourage Marriage
Child support reform is directly linked to welfare reform and the encouragement of father involvement and marriage.  The goal of increasing marriage for out of wedlock births will not be met as long as the non-custodial fathers are burdened with child support arrearages that are unreasonable and do not reflect their earning capacity during the period that the arrearages accrued.  Such men are simply not marriage material.

State policy makers often identify arrearages as a factor keeping non-custodial fathers from becoming more involved with their children.  Many of these arrearages are accumulated due to illness, unemployment or underemployment and would not exist if the child support order had been modified, based on the parent's actual income, to properly conform to the state's guidelines.  These fathers want to be responsible and pay child support, but they simply do not have the means to pay.  If they obtain a job that allows them to contribute to the upbringing of their children, they find that they are already thousands of dollars in debt and financially ruined.

Additionally, unwed fathers inherit an average of $10,000 to $15,000 child support debt at the time of paternity establishment, a debt they cannot afford to pay.  Many of these men suffer from a lack of education and job skills.  This instant debt drives them away from their families while encouraging them to join what has been termed "the underground economy."

[p]I personally know someone to whom that last sentence applies to.  The magical appearance of arrearages will sink most people financially.  Don't forget that the debt accrues interest that would make the Mafia proud.

[p]What would really balance the situation, is for a father who is unemployed (for whatever reason) to be able to collect welfare benefits on behalf of his children, like women do.  This is where the law really discriminates against men, and would help foster equal custody rights if it was amended.  This would have let a man I know retain custody of his 3 children while waiting for his hearing for permanent disability.  While his meth toking wife was with him, they collected welfare.  He really is disabled, btw.  However when she moved out, left him with the kids, then eventually entered rehab, he lost welfare benefits, the kids, the house, and ended up with a paltry monthly check to live off of.  The kids however get their own SS checks.  Actually mom gets them, but he is technically paying child support.  I don't want to go too far into it.

[Kitty C.]

They keep throwing the old hash around:  'Child support reform is directly linked to welfare reform and the encouragement of father involvement and marriage.'

ENCOURAGEMENT??????  Every time I see, this I want to puke!  Encouragement AIN'T the problem, it's getting all those a$$hole mothers to get off their high horse, take responsibility as a PARENT, and realize that the child MUST have both parents.  Getting the PBFH's to stop denying visitation, forcing them to 'co-parent', and kicking the proverbial crap out of them when they hinder the father-child relationship will go a HELL of a lot further than encouragement!

[Kitty C.]

They keep throwing the old hash around:  'Child support reform is directly linked to welfare reform and the encouragement of father involvement and marriage.'

ENCOURAGEMENT??????  Every time I see, this I want to puke!  Encouragement AIN'T the problem, it's getting all those a$$hole mothers to get off their high horse, take responsibility as a PARENT, and realize that the child MUST have both parents.  Getting the PBFH's to stop denying visitation, forcing them to 'co-parent', and kicking the proverbial crap out of them when they hinder the father-child relationship will go a HELL of a lot further than encouragement!

[StPaulieGirl]

Yeah, and think about this....why has it come to the point where the government needs to tell us how to be parents???

Well because, imo, they've been actively engineering the exact crisis they now say they want to fix!  Now they're going to promise men that they can get visitation through government intervention?  Many years ago, people were too afraid of public repudiation to act the way they do now.  If someone had a tendency to be a pbfh, they knew enough to hide it, or be shunned.  Maybe it's time to go back to the old ways?


Next thing we're going to hear is that it takes a village to regulate our bowels...

If they really want to be helpful, they will help men enjoy the same rights as women towards welfare benefits and custody.