Child Support

Harrison 1

Desmon Harrison

Professor Albers

English 1301

12 October 2010

A Biased Child Support System

For many years women have fought aggressively to get laws passed through our legal

system. Equality was one of the most important. I believe that women should not be treated any

differently than men. In actuality, women are treated better than men in some circumstances.

One way women are treated differently than men, is in our family court system. In our family

court, men are less likely to get a fair trial than women. According to the Texas Attorney

General men make up 95% of non-custodial parents. I wonder, are those numbers high because

men do not want their kids to be with them, or is the court not giving men an equal chance?

Men are paying billions of dollars a year in child support, even though I believe non-custodial

parents should have to participate in equally supporting their children. Our federal government

officials are being bias toward women when it comes to fathers and child support orders.

This biased system has led to financial issues men are experiencing due to the recent

downfall of our economy. In a 2009 USA Today article “Job losses hurting child support”

reports that “in Texas, the amount of child support withheld from unemployment checks

quadrupled in April of last year from $2.5 Million to $10.7 million”, says Janece Rolfe of

the Child Support Division. The economy is giving good fathers the label “deadbeat.”

If a father loses his job child support does not stop. If arrear (back child support) are involved

they only increase. In an article titled “When Beating up on ‘Deadbeat Dads’ is Unfair,”

Chron.com writers Glenn Sacks and Jeffery M. Leving says, “by federal law, child support

orders cannot be retroactively modified…Even men who fall behind on their child support

because they had a

Harrison 2

heart attack, broken legs, or cancer cannot have...