Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder
- Acknowledgments
- 1 The Limits of Studying Entrepreneurial Episodes
- 2 Child Support Enforcement: The Current System
- 3 Charity Workers and Local Law Enforcement: The Beginnings of American Child Support Policy
- 4 Social Workers as Challenger Entrepreneurs
- 5 Conservatives as Challenger Entrepreneurs
- 6 Women Leaders as Challenger Entrepreneurs
- 7 Fathers' Rights Groups as Challenger Entrepreneurs
- 8 Innovation and the Vibrancy of American Entrepreneurship
- Index
7 - Fathers' Rights Groups as Challenger Entrepreneurs
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder
- Acknowledgments
- 1 The Limits of Studying Entrepreneurial Episodes
- 2 Child Support Enforcement: The Current System
- 3 Charity Workers and Local Law Enforcement: The Beginnings of American Child Support Policy
- 4 Social Workers as Challenger Entrepreneurs
- 5 Conservatives as Challenger Entrepreneurs
- 6 Women Leaders as Challenger Entrepreneurs
- 7 Fathers' Rights Groups as Challenger Entrepreneurs
- 8 Innovation and the Vibrancy of American Entrepreneurship
- Index
Summary
By the mid-1990s, two types of stories were circulating in the inner circles of the child support community. First, there was the story of Charles Fink, testifying before the New York State Senate in 1996 on a joint custody bill.
I also firmly believe that the least important feature a father can give his child is money. And on the subject of child support, I don't believe that a father should be forced to pay if he is being refused visitation. Personally, I paid child support for 5 years while my estranged spouse sporadically denied my visitation. In the summer of 1992, I attempted to pick up my children for summer visitation and was refused. After years of motions to the courts, psychological forensics and over $100,000 in legal fees which left me bankrupt and homeless, I decided to enact my own punishment. I have refused to pay child support for 3 years. I have been thrown in jail, where my life was threatened by hardened criminals. After all of this, if you think taking my driver's or professional licenses will coerce me to pay support without access to my children, you are sadly mistaken. I had a father. He taught me that anything worth having was worth fighting for. He taught me right from wrong. It is wrong to deny a child a father. The only way to get me to pay support will be to let me see my children.
[my italics]- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Politics of Child Support in America , pp. 160 - 193Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003