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Deadbeat Parents

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Deadbeat Parents
Deadbeat Parents

Since the beginning of time, there have been children born out of wedlock. When children are born out of wedlock it is still the responsibility of both parents to contribute to the needs of a child both ethically and legally. However that is not happening much of the time in today's world. When a child is not cared for by a parent, it "looks" bad on them to society. However since child support laws have been enacted, ethical reasons to take care of a child are now overpowered by legal reasons. Now there are more and more parents being dubbed "deadbeats" for failure to take care of their children financially. Since the women's movement there has been a social shift in the United States. Mathew Beach, a child support caseworker for Hamilton County, says "single parenting is skyrocketing, and with that so are the number of non-paying parents." Mr. Beach also stated "the taxpayers are footing the bill for children who have irresponsible parents. Most of the children who do not receive support from both parents often times fall into the welfare system, which ultimately cost taxpayers millions of dollars every year." Fortunately for the children with non-paying parents and taxpayers, laws have been established to help relieve some of the child support cases. Child support laws go back to the 1970's. According to Ohio Jobs and Family Services, "congress passed the Child Support Enforcement Program in 1975." This program was started to make sure that both parents were paying for their children. The laws and regulations have continued since then. Even former President Bill Clinton got in on the search for deadbeat parents, according to CNN.com. The article quoted Mr. Clinton as saying, "One of the main reasons single mothers go on welfare is the fathers have failed to meet their responsibilities to their children." He is also quoted as saying "One way or the other, people who don't support their children will pay what hey must."

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