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Returning From War Is Hell
Matt Welch, who wrote this fantastic piece about men who are victims of paternity fraud -- accusations that they've fathered children of women they have sometimes never even met, let alone had sex with -- linked to this Phyllis Schlafly piece about the injustice being visited upon divorced dads serving in Iraq:

Most of the reservists called up to serve in the Iraq war have paid a big price: a significant reduction of their wages as they transferred from civilian to military jobs, separation from their loved ones, and of course the risk of battle wounds or death. Regrettably, on their return home, those who are divorced fathers could face another grievous penalty: loss of their children, financial ruin, prosecution as "deadbeat dads," and even jail.

Reservists' child-support orders were based on their civilian wages, and when they are called up to active duty, that burden doesn't decrease. Few can get court modification before they leave, modifications are seldom granted anyway, and even if a father applied for modification before deployment the debt continues to grow until the case is decided much later.

These servicemen fathers cannot get relief when they return because federal law forbids a court to reduce the debt retroactively. Once the arrearage reaches $5,000, the father becomes a felon subject to imprisonment plus the loss of his driver's and professional licenses and passport.

Likewise, there is no forgiving of the interest and penalties on the child-support debt even though it is sometimes incurred because of human or computer errors. States have a financial incentive to refuse to reduce obligations because the federal government rewards the states with cash for the "deadbeat dad" dollars they collect.

Laws granting deployed service personnel protection against legal actions at home date back decades, but they are ignored in the family courts. Child kidnapping laws do not protect military personnel on active duty from their ex-wives relocating their children.

This injustice to our reservists serving in Iraq should be remedied by Congress and state legislatures before more fathers meet the fate of Bobby Sherrill, a father of two from North Carolina, who worked for Lockheed in Kuwait before being captured and held hostage by Iraq for five terrible months. The night he returned from the Persian Gulf he was arrested for failing to pay $1,425 in child support while he was a captive.

Just last week, a Wilkes Barre, PA judge sentenced 28 to jail for failure to pay small amounts of child support, one as little as $322. One of the most common punishments for falling behind in family-court-ordered payments is to take away a father's driver's license, costing him his job, then demand that he make his child-support payments anyway, and throw him in jail when that proves impossible.

Matt's link on Reason's blog via Radley Balko

Posted by aalkon at March 11, 2005 7:54 AM

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Comments

Come on Amy, you're not thinking of the children. THE CHILDREN!

Posted by: Charlie at March 11, 2005 8:43 AM

Kidding aside, Charlie, it doesn't behoove the children to have a father who's handicapped by the law so he can't drive or work.

Posted by: Amy Alkon at March 11, 2005 8:49 AM

I had to think for a minute before I responded to this posting. There's so much wrong here you can't really point to any one thing. It's situations like this that let me use the word "flabbergasted" effectively.

I am flabbergasted, so all I can do is joke.

Posted by: Charlie at March 11, 2005 2:18 PM

The fact that guys serving in the military don't get automatic deferments/reductions and leniency is beyond belief.

Posted by: Deirdre at March 11, 2005 2:33 PM

Some lawmakers made that set of laws establishing punishment for not paying child support in order to prevent children from being harmed. Fine. When the application of that set of laws leads to the exact opposite of what it was intended to accomplish, i.e., bringing about harm to the child, then how can the system remedy this conundrum? The system can't. But the people who administer the set of laws can step in and adjust for unforeseen circumstances. Judges can interpet. Agencies can withhold punishment in special cases. It's the people who run the system who have failed the servicemen who directly or indirectly have risked their own well being to enable this very system to exist and proliferate. These dispicable bureaucrats and judges have allowed the unfair punishments brought upon these servicemen. And don't tell me the law's the law. Look at all the convicted criminals given probation, or cases thrown out of court on a judge's say so. And where are the high echelon people at the upper military levels, the presidential and cabinet levels? If these are federal laws, there is someone at some level who can commute these sentences. State laws, the governators. Support your troops, indeed.

Young guys...seriously consider vasectomy if you can look in the mirror and say a child is not something you truly desire. Plenty of women don't want one either. I can guarantee that.

Posted by: allan at March 11, 2005 6:30 PM

I forgot to add something I came across about the guy who shot a deputy, judge, reporter, and apparently another US Border agent in Atlanta recently. Another case of a seemingly well intentioned law leading to a bad result. According to one news writeup, Georgia has a new law that criminals, sorry...defendents, no longer can be handcuffed inside a courthouse. It would infer criminality apriori to jury members. Therefore the shooter's image of being a criminal was successfully prevented from harm as he shot the deputy in the face with her own weapon, killed the judge hearing his case and the court reporter, then hijacked one or more cars before being apprehended this morning. Looks like the death penalty was not an isssue for this killers' side of the equation. He had no qualms about applying it in that Atlanta courtroom. Wonder if he was relieved the jurors wouldn't see him in cuffs. Oh, what an injustice it would have been.

Posted by: allan at March 12, 2005 11:48 AM

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