It's nearly midnight at the House of Genius, and I can't sleep, so this is as good a time as any to prognosticate on one of the most complex problems facing families in America today, right?
As of 2003, according to the Census bureau, there were about 12 million single-parent families, including about 18 million children in the US. I'm quite sure that number has multiplied astronomically in the 9 years since, but this was the most current data I was able to nail down while operating on a single cup of cocoa. Either way, that's a LOT of kids who probably OUGHT to be getting child support from somebody. Statistics say that about 40% of them aren't.
I've been the mom in that situation. I've heard all of the excuses and the lies. I've wrestled with state enforcement programs, stood in courtrooms and pleaded with judges until I'm blue in the face, and now that the children concerned are grown, (and I'm still owed thousands in back child support, by an ex who is a federal employee, earning $15,000 a MONTH, and paying $34.50 biweekly toward his arrears, in spite of a current court order requiring a significantly higher payment), I have a solution to the problem.
The answer lies in Social Security. Men like my ex do not really care about the kids involved. All they care about is avoiding making child support payments. So I say... let them avoid it. In fact, quit trying to force them to pay child support at all. Instead, take their payments from their future Social Security.
If the parent doesn't want to meet the needs of the children now, while the children are small, then why should the government meet the needs of the person, when they are old? If he owes $40,000 in back child support, then suck it right out of his Social Security fund today, and send it to his kids. Maybe then he'll think - I need to work a second job, so I'll have a retirement one day. Or maybe he'll decide that he just needs to pay his child support now. Either way, the kids are taken care of. And isn't that the whole point?
