Armys of Deadbeat Dads

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Armys of Deadbeat Dads
The popular notion that vast armies of "deadbeat dads" are sneaking around
the country turns out to be a myth.

In the largest federally funded study ever undertaken on the subject of
so-called "deadbeat dads," Dr. Sanford Braver of Arizona State University
has found that men who walk out on the family and evade child support do
"not exist in significant numbers."

The myth was largely based on a simple mathematical error in Dr. Lenore
Weitzman's 1985 book "The Divorce Revolution," which claimed that women and
children after divorce suffer a 73 percent drop in their standard of living
while men enjoyed a 42 percent increase.

As Braver noted in his 1998 book "Divorced Dads, Shattering the Myth" that
resulted from his study, Dr. Weitzman much later admitted her mistake and in
contrast Dr. Braver found that "divorce economically benefits mothers
noticeably more than fathers."

Dr. Braver's work has never been challenged.

Dr. Stephen Baskerville, a political science professor at the Howard
University in Washington, D.C., researched the practices of the divorce
industry. He exposed the links and crossovers between those that make the
rules in the divorce industry and those that profit from them, including
therapists, social workers, consultants, private child support enforcement
companies and, of course, lawyers.

Baskerville concludes in his 2003 article "Divorce as Revolution" that
"Whatever pieties they may voice about the plight of fatherless, poor, and
violent children, the fact remains that these practitioners have a vested
interest in creating as many such children as possible."

Compared to these studies, opinions like those of Trib columnist Mike Seate
("Deadbeat dads work to avoid manhood," Jan. 13) and stories on the local TV
news, are simply second-hand repetitions of the myth without research. All
they do is add weight to the myth.

The natural result is that all fathers suffer from the stereotype as
exemplified by Eric Heyl's April 6th Trib column "Single dad, son subsist
with a cup." Where was the outcry, the indignation, or the officers
tracking down the mom who abandoned her son and provides no support?

The last U.S. Census revealed that child support was agreed to or awarded to
only 38 percent of custodial dads versus 63 percent of moms; that dads
received the full amount of child support at half the rate of moms; and that
the percentage of families in poverty headed by custodial fathers has
increased while decreasing for moms. Yet we hear nothing about this.

In my own experience, though I have full legal and 96 percent physical
custody of my children, I feel the deadbeat dad stigma by good, well-meaning
people at family court and I see the results in their decisions. I was
ordered to financially support a noncustodial mom based on her sympathetic
claims that were contradicted by a court-ordered evaluation. Mom was later
exposed for hiding income from child support, but I was told that even an
easily provable contempt charge would probably result in no penalty for her.

Were our genders different, I believe that the noncustodial parent would be
supporting the children, not taking support away from them. Even in full
traditional gender reversal cases where dad stays at home and mom works, New
York Judge Robert Smith recently said he doesn't think such men get their
fair share.

While in Allegheny County it seems politically correct to beat dads dead,
across America others are trying to solve the problem.

New Hampshire found their child support guidelines "to be unfair and
inappropriate" and Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly approved an equal
custody resolution that would curtail the power of the divorce industry.

Georgia's Supreme Court struck down their child support guidelines as
unconstitutional and their legislature is considering a new, more realistic
model.

Virginians introduced a "Family Bill of Rights" that reaffirms parental
rights and another bill to begin countering the "no-fault" divorce epidemic.

We western Pennsylvanians are good people: parents, lawyers, governmental
officials, reporters, and editors. Let's work to create a gender-neutral
atmosphere that will help family court to reserve punishment for just the
bad apples in the bushel, men or women.


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The only thing necessary for the triumph
of evil is for good men to do nothing.

Edmond Burke