MI: Duped 'dads' seek relief - Legislation would reform rules on who pays child support to protect men forced to provide for nonbiological kids

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...TICS/603200361

Duped 'dads' seek relief

Legislation would reform rules on who pays child support to protect men
forced to provide for nonbiological kids.

Kim Kozlowski / The Detroit News
Steven Simpkins / Special to The Detroit News

Having shelled out $80,000 in child support for a child who isn't
biologically his, Doug Richardson is fighting so other men don't find
themselves in the same situation.

Legislation pending in Lansing would require courts to withdraw child
support orders when DNA tests prove that people are paying support to
children who aren't biologically theirs. Should dads like Doug Richardson be
forced to pay child support for children who aren't their own?

Over 15 years, Doug Richardson shelled out an estimated $80,000 in child
support for a boy who genetic tests have shown is not biologically his.

To make matters worse, he says he's had to pay support to his ex-wife and
the boy's biological father when the two were together -- then to the
biological father after the couple split.

"This has torn me up for 15 years," said Richardson, 40, who has been trying
to get a judge to free him of his court-ordered payments. "I've had to file
bankruptcy. I have back taxes. It has destroyed my life."

Richardson is heading to court this week to change a situation that
activists say numerous men face. Bills in the state Legislature seek to
provide relief, including one that would require courts to withdraw child
support orders when DNA tests prove that people are paying support to
children who aren't biologically theirs. Similar laws have been passed in at
least 12 states.

For now, the issue is in the hands of family court judges who make decisions
based on the child's best interests. Many fathers say judges aren't on their
side, even when science is.

It is devastating for fathers to learn that a child they loved as their own
is not theirs, say those who support changes in state law. But, to require
these men to be financially obligated is morally wrong and is similar to
jailing innocent people who have been set free in recent years by DNA tests,
they say.

"New laws are desperately needed in Michigan to provide protection and
relief to men who have been duped, unintentionally or not, by mothers who
choose who they wish to be the legal fathers of their children," said Murray
Davis, a Southfield activist and father. "Michigan remains among a group of
unenlightened states that continue to 'aid and abet' fraudulent paternity
establishments."

Issue is complex

Groups that work on behalf of women receiving child support agree this is a
complex issue that can be unfair to the father and child. But they worry
most about the children.

"Obviously, if someone is not the father of a child, they should not be
financially obligated to pay," said Debbie Klein of the Virginia-based
Association for Children for the Enforcement of Support. "But how can a
judge order someone not to pay child support and know that child is going to
be plunged into poverty?

"This is an issue where there is no one correct answer."

But there is a simple solution, said Davis, who founded DADS of Michigan
after he fought having to pay child support to his ex-wife when he learned
his former best friend fathered two of their three children during their
18-year marriage.

The mother should be required to identify the biological father, so he can
pay the child support, he said. The putative father should be given the
option to continue his relationship as a dad without financial obligation.
And, the child should be told the truth about who the biological father is,
Davis said.

"The state of Michigan should be holding the mothers accountable," he said.
"But, they don't do that."
'It's an injustice'

Rep. LaMar Lemmons III, D-Detroit, has introduced legislation for the second
time to address this issue. Though a bill he introduced two years ago died
in a Senate committee, he hopes this time it has a better chance of passing.

"It's an injustice to be forced to pay for a child that isn't yours," he
said.

Child support was created for children from broken families so they wouldn't
have to live in poverty. A noncustodial parent, who most often is the
father, is required to pay the support until the child reaches 18 or
graduates from high school, whichever occurs later.

A man becomes a legal father in Michigan when he is married to the mother at
conception or birth or signs a voluntary affidavit of parentage, typically
at the hospital when the child is born, said Marilyn Stephen, director of
the Office of Child Support in the Michigan Department of Human Services.

In cases in which it is uncertain who the father is when a child is
conceived out of wedlock, a mother can file a paternity lawsuit against the
man in question. He is given the option of taking a genetic test to
establish paternity. If the tests show the man is not the father, the suit
is dismissed. When the test shows that the man is the father, an order for
child support follows.

There were 9,700 genetic tests administered last year to establish
paternity, the results of which eliminated 27 percent of the men who were
thought to be the parents of children conceived out of wedlock, according to
the Office of Child Support. Cases seeking child support orders were
dismissed against those men.

But those genetic tests were done on one-fifth of the 46,000 children born
out of wedlock last year. The majority of those births were acknowledged by
both parents, and fathers groups say most of the time there's no DNA
testing.

Stephen said she is aware there are some cases of men paying child support
for children who are not biologically theirs, but her office doesn't track
them. She suspects there aren't many among the state's million cases of
child support orders.

Finding out by accident

Activists for fathers, however, believe there are more cases of paternity
fraud than are reported, pointing out that DNA tests are done on only a
fraction of people who bear children every year. Often, fathers just don't
know and find out by accident.

That was the case for Shane Shamie, a Rockwood man who was married for
nearly 10 years before he found out the daughter they had four years into
their marriage wasn't his.

"My heart sank," said Shamie, who had a DNA test to confirm his suspicions
that he wasn't the biological father. Still, he has continued to support his
daughter financially and emotionally since divorcing her mother. .

"When you are in a position like I've been put in, a person has to make a
decision that's not in your own best interests," said Shamie. "It's in the
best interest of your kids."

Other fathers, like Michael Williams of Detroit, agree they don't mind being
a parent to a child they raised, but they want out of their financial
obligation.

"I don't think it's fair for me to be held responsible for children who are
not mine," said Williams, who had seven children with his high school
sweetheart, whom he married. But, he later learned through DNA tests that
only two of the children are his. It's unfair to financially support a child
that is not yours, Richardson said.

He was a father for less than five years when he learned his son wasn't his
biological child. Richardson got married when he was 19 after his
then-girlfriend told him she was pregnant with his child. The couple had a
second son during the marriage who is biologically Richardson's.

Richardson learned before their divorce that another man was the father of
the first son, and DNA tests confirmed it in 1992. Richardson's ex-wife
declined to comment.

Her attorney, Robert Dunn of Bay City, said too much time has elapsed for
Richardson to get any relief.

"It is strong public policy in Michigan to quickly resolve the issue of
parentage and not allow the issue to dangle for years and years. It's unfair
to the children."

Richardson said he is also working to change the laws so other men don't go
through what he has endured.

"This has got to come to an end," he said. "It's just a continuing case of
fraud that is costing me dearly."

Good for him!!!! Enough of this bull****