To wonder why there is no will to make parents pay

[Sadoldbag]

Just wondering why there is such lack of will by political classes of all types

To make absent parents pair there fair share my ds is 14 and I have had now over the years I was once offered £5 a week by the CSA but I was told that I would have to provide NI details, bank details ECt for ex how would I get that from a ex

if I didn't feed or my child warm ss would class this as neglect but this is pretty much tolerated from a absent parent

There seems to be no real sanctions and if you are lucky to get them to pay the amount is tiny which makes me laugh

*i think a lot of welfare issues could be sorted if absent parent was made to pay there share
Many rely on welfare because the absent parent is not doing there share.

My auntie lives in the states and her ex was jailed for 3 months until he paid his child supported he still refused so a order was made his home and car was sold what was owed was given to her and the change to him

He now pays his child support on time every month*

Sorry just having a rant

However, what do you do if the NRP did not leave, or wants to be RP?

Apparently it's a criminal offence in the US to not pay child support, I believe you can be imprisoned for nonpayment (I'm sure someone with more knowledge than me will be able to confirm).

I often think we should do the same, as I'm with the op in thinking it's neglectful not to pay.

Sorry just to explain further - as the op said about non-payment in the states, I think you can also be held in prison until you pay...

Nicky it would be a possibility however ex would first tell us were he lives oh and after 14 years ds can't even re call what ex looks like so a few stumbling blocks

Yes, Op why don't you give up your children to the man who is happy to not give any money towards their general upkeep (food money!)

awesome parenting advice niki

I don't think YABU at all OP, I find it bizarre people are allowed to not provide food and rent money for their child and still be allowed contact? If you didn't feed your children you'd certainly lose them.

Also think it's one of the things we have right in the USA

Veg is it true that you can be held until you pay?

Carold

Makes no odd who left who or who wants to be NPR

That smells very much like excuses I heard to avoid payment

You should still pay no matter what I also think on a side note parents of homeless children should be billed for there care

Nicky after child turns 5 you are no longer able to claim income support as a mother,You have to claim job seekers allowance so that you are actively seeking work. Absent fathers claim job seekers and pay £5 a week from it in child maintenance deducted by the Government.

Apparently it's a criminal offence in the US to not pay child support, I believe you can be imprisoned for nonpayment

I often think we should do the same, as I'm with the op in thinking it's neglectful not to pay

No, it's not a criminal matter it's a civil matter in the US. But if a NRP doesn't pay then they are in contempt of court and can then be jailed.

In many states there is no legal right to have a lawyer in these circumstances if you can't afford one yourself. If it were criminal then they would be entitled to have a lawyer. So lots of the very poorest are simply being put in prison for being out of work.

A 2009 study by the Urban Institute in Washington, found that only half of the child support debtors in California prisons had any reported income in the two preceding years. And the median net income of the others was a mere $2,881.

www.urban.org/publications/411838.html

So, you want us to go back to the days of debtor's prisons do you?

Also one idea I have if the CSA have to come after you then you should be charged extra for being a twat and making them force you to pay

And I believe that the whole family come should be taken Ito account not just npr because when I apply for anything mine and oh income is counted

bono

That is exactly the point I made. So why were you saying that the emphasis is all on the mother?

Nicky

If you only have a £1 you make sure your child is fed and go to bed hungry

So even those on welfare can give a token amount which should be taken into account by a judge but in the uk many who have good incomes won't and don't pay and frigg all happens.

I honestly feel absent parents who refuse to pay should be prosecuted for child neglect & abandonment on criminal charges in the same as I would if I left my kid home alone and swanned off to Turkey for a fortnight.

A few high profile cases such as Cecil Parkinson doing prison time and having to resign from public office would ram the message home that you shouldn't produce a child unless you are prepared to raise it.

It needs to become as socially unacceptable for a man to abandon his parenting responsibilities as it is for a woman to do so. The culture whereby it's acceptable to go around creating multiple families, yet not supporting them needs addressing at all levels of society.

Women too have a part to play in this cultural change. I've lost friends because they have been second wives who deeply resented child maintenance being paid to the children of the first wife, and I find this morally repugnant. We need to start rejecting as romantic partners men who boast of their refusal to support their own flesh and blood, rather than supporting them in this disgusting lifestyle choice.

The CSA has had the legislation in place for years to remove passports, send in the balliffs, take away driving licences etc yet it chooses not to, and politically there is no will to make it do so. This is especially true if a man claims to be self-employed, yet the tax man is getting tougher on checking income - can't the CSA use this data? In some of the US states the message has gone out that child support is not optional or some massive favour, it's a compulsory obligation. We in the UK need to do the same.

So would a non-paying, non-earning parent in the US not receive any benefits that a deduction could be made from?

I agree that the maintenance should be paid by the government and added to the tax code of the absent parent - and if out of work then the balance owed should be paid out in addition - like backpayments monthly till the balance is paid off -so a minimum amount is expected regardless of income and that increases in line with earnings as the earnings of the absent parent rise.

Amen to that

Yes, those 'poor' NRPs who avoid finding work to avoid paying for their children. My heart bleeds.

• In addition to monthly payments when absent parent is back in work - the payments made out to the dc should not stop when the absent parent is out of work - they just owe it back when back in work.

Debtors prisons for child support avoiders, mmmm it could work...

It takes two hundred twenty thousand pounds from birth until the age of eighteen to raise a child. Mothers and taxpayers are bearing the brunt of that cost. Absent fathers pay nil out of that. It has to be addressed and like other posters have said socially unacceptable.
Why an earth would you send a child to live with her father that doesn't pay for her? He would be the sort of bloke that would go all out to make sure sadoldbag would pay her way in maintanance if she did let dd live with him.

So would a non-paying, non-earning parent in the US not receive any benefits that a deduction could be made from?

Depends on why they are non-earning. If they had been self employed, working part-time, temping or been sacked from their job then no.

Also, if they haven't worked enough in the last five years then they won't get anything either.

Then unemployment benefits only last for 6 months anyway. There have been some schemes that extend these figures but I believe they have recently been cut.

So, generally speaking, after 6 months out of work in the US you are more or less stuffed.

Here in the US, you can lose your driver's license, they can take your tax refund money, and they can put you in jail.

When we're talking about absent parents not paying in the UK, are we talking about working people? Here, if the parent is working at a job that reports to the IRS (which is most jobs), the court will order the employer to to deduct the child support obligation directly from the earnings, and then it will be dispersed to the custodial parent. The same thing happens with Social Security Disability, Unemployment Compensation, and Worker's Compensation. Only SSI income is exempt.

Bongo baby

You don't know the half my sisters ex actually asked her for money. To cover the summer holidays as kids are expensive apparently says the deadbeat who pays nowt

I giggled when she told me

Why would you send your child to live with a man who refuses to be a responsible parent?

And in response as a child is entitled to both parents this means that a nrp is perfectly within his/her rights to ask for joint custody and as maintenance is reduced for nights spent away I'd say that's fair.