A bad economy tends to spawn domino effects of harm. As workers lose their jobs, the folks who depend on their paycheck -- whether the bank that owns their mortgage or retail store owners or service employees -- all take a hit as well. Least able to protect themselves, and wholly unable to find another source of support, are the children of laid-off workers. As a recent article in the New York Times suggests, the picture can get especially complicated when the paycheck that's lost was formerly provided by a non-custodial parent in the form of child support.
Since the beginning of this year, New York's family court system has been deluged by requests for reduction in child support orders by parents (mostly fathers) who have lost their jobs and can no longer meet their mandated obligations. In many if not most cases, judges have no choice but to reduce the support order until the father can find a way to pay. Needless to say, this doesn't always sit well with the custodial parents (usually mothers) who have to figure out how to provide food and shelter and clothing on less and less money. It's a bad scene all around.
Some of the stories out of New York are utterly astonishing, like the couple formerly making a combined $400,000 a year who both lost their jobs simultaneously, and are now trying to live on $800 a month in unemployment benefits. But most are not nearly as rich to begin with, like the man making just over $16K a year (how do you live on that in New York?) and required to send 23% of his salary to support his child in Georgia. The mother is angry, the father is angry, both are broke and, of course, it's the child who suffers most of all.
Even those of us not currently factoring child support into our monthly responsibilities are finding ourselves having to make choices in terms of what we can and can't afford for our kids these days. I know I'm not alone in weighing the yoga classes, summer camp, and new bike ideas more seriously than ever. I want this economic nightmare to end for all kinds of reasons, but most of all so that our kids don't have to worry about money -- or, in the very worst cases, about food and shelter.
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