A vicious cycle

An article in the Dec. 1 New York Times reports that almost half of the 50 U.S. states pass none of the money collected for child support to families on welfare; most of the other states pass along only $50 per month to the custodial parent.

In Wisconsin, a federally approved experiment gave all child support money directly to the custodial parent. The results revealed what probably seems like common sense to most: “Studies of the Wisconsin experiment showed that when support payments were fully passed along to mothers, more fathers came forward and paid more of the support they owed. ... As families receive more support money, they are less apt to require public assistance, making up for any short-term loss of revenues. And fathers are more likely to establish lasting patterns of payment and connection with their children.” (New York Times, Dec. 1)

Of the total uncollected child support—$105 billion in 2006—half was “owed” to the federal and state governments for welfare costs. The article states that in 2009, due to legislation passed in 2006 by Congress, states will be “permitted”—not required—to pass along up to $100 for one child and $200 for two or more children.

Year after year, so-called “deadbeat dads” and “welfare moms” are demonized in the mainstream media. The media say they’re heartless, abandoning and/or profiting off their own children. It’s always people of color that are portrayed. Rarely if ever portrayed, however, is the hardship these parents face in finding jobs, or simply surviving.

Meanwhile, as the custodial parent, mostly mothers, scrape to find money to pay the bills in a worsening economy, the prospects for the noncustodial parent are made bleaker. A 2006 article entitled “Plight Deepens for Black Men, Studies Warn” cites two factors that have slowed Black employment. One is the high rate of incarceration; the second, the stricter enforcement of child support.

“Improved collection of money from absent fathers has been a pillar of welfare overhaul. But the system can leave young men feeling overwhelmed with debt and deter them from seeking legal work, since a large share of any earnings could be seized.

“About half of all Black men in their late 20s and early 30s who did not go to college are noncustodial fathers. ... Some fathers give up, while others find casual work. ‘The work is sporadic, not the kind that leads to advancement or provides unemployment insurance,’ [Georgetown University economist Harry J.] Holzer said. ‘It’s nothing like having a real job.’” (New York Times, Mar. 20, 2006)

And so the cycle continues. The Dec. 1 article confirms this: “Young fathers with little education or job prospects find themselves in arrears and facing jail time or the loss of their driver’s license as a result, making it all the harder to start earning and paying.”

For all the scapegoating of poor people of color, it’s the government that is callously profiting off of poor children and their parents. While the government is busy collecting money from individuals, claiming that it is needed to cover the cost of welfare, it spends billions on war and the prospect of expanding war. The same children that the government collects child support for, it will later try to recruit to fight its wars. At the same time, huge sums of corporate welfare—in the name of tax breaks and subsidies—are the rule and not the exception.

When it comes to supporting its people, the capitalist system in the United States has produced deadbeat governments—year after year, whether Democratic or Republican—and welfare corporations. As the economic and political crises deepen, the grassroots movement will grow, demanding that all mothers and fathers receive the support they need to raise healthy children and live healthy lives.