posted May 12, 2008
The enforcement of parental responsibility through publication of a Deadbeat Parent's Hall of Shame by the Bradley County's Sheriff Tim Gobble is perhaps a laudable goal. However, what always seems to be overlooked in an article such as 2 Apprehended On Dead Beat Parents "Hall of Shame" On BCSO Website posted May 12, are the details.
Granted, there are bona fide cases of individuals who have selfishly fled their parental responsibility and walked away from the children who so desperately need their help. But mind you, the measurements we seem to use in order to determine parental responsibility are seriously flawed. Child neglect should never be measured exclusively in dollars.
How sad that money, and the payment of it, seems to be the only basis upon which we are able to convey the concept of parental responsibility. Because if we are to extrapolate that to everyone then perhaps the most parentally deadbeat act of all, the abortion of an unborn child for the purposes of maintaining a life of expedience for its parents should be included.
The other important fact to know is that under current federal law no child-support order may be retro-actively modified. So, if an individual who is obligated to make child support payments, becomes financially incapacitated and for whatever reason fails to obtain a court order for the redetermination of their child-support obligation; regardless of the amount they have been previously ordered to pay, that individual begins accruing a financial obligation, with interest and court costs an amount of which may bear little resemblance to what they are capable of ever paying.
So while Sheriff Gobble's use of slanderous publication, and the libeling of "deadbeat's" may be an effective law enforcement tool, I am certain no one who has obtained an abortion because they believed they were currently incapable of affording children, would appreciate their picture on this same website.
Moreover, if you are the child of one of these "deadbeat" parents, who is to say that the humiliation of having one of your parents exposed in this way, is not some form of child abuse.
Tony Gottlieb
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I just finished reading the article about the "Dead-Beat-Dad" most wanted list in Bradley County. I think that is a wonderful idea, and Hamilton County should follow their lead.
D. Moore
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Children do not ask to be brought into this world; however, when they are, they deserve nothing more than the love and affection, care and support, knowledge and discipline of their parents. Sadly, it just doesn't happen a whole lot these days. It is never the child's fault, ever.
If you procreate, it is your responsibility to give your all to assure what is needed for that child is provided. However possible. Period. Hard times do not equal $17,000 to over $45,000 (or $100,000 or $250,000 I have seen on other similar sites) in arrearages. Hard times might be struggling as you work two menial jobs to keep a roof over your head and to pay your bills, but anyone neglecting to request a modification of a court order when "financially incapacitated" has become mentally incapacitated.
True, I might pitch a fit if I were injured to the point of unconsciousness for a few years time, but you just cannot convince me that just because someone is broke, he or she cannot find enough coins to make a phone call to a child support agency requesting a review of the extenuating circumstances.
Whoever is receiving the child support is dealing with the same strained economy, the same astronomical food and gas prices, and doing so for more than one. It is quite true that "neglect should never be measured exclusively in dollars," yet I somehow cannot imagine these listed parents are offering much else in the way of "parental responsibility" to detract from the financial one. Once again, it is not the child's fault, yet it is always the child that suffers.
Further, equating "humiliation" of a parent appearing on an online list of non-payers to child abuse, can only be uttered by someone who has never seen true child abuse first-hand. My parents cared for 63 foster children in a span of four years, and I assure you, I wish some of them had only that "problem."
I also must ask how the website can be "slanderous" when it in no way refers to "false charges or misrepresentations." I have confidence the sheriff's department publishes only those figures verifiable through the courts. Nor can I comprehend "libeling" when again, the "exposure to public contempt" is backed by "just cause" and can be verified.
Finally, while, for now, abortion is legal, failure to comply with a court order is not. Children are a responsibility, and I'm all for public humiliation of those who fail to stand up to theirs.
Beth Draco
Hixson
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Mr. Gottlieb, I have read your article twice now and I have to say, your comparison of abortion to parents who do not pay child support is atrocious and crass, and I won't bother explaining why, as you would never get it.
I can also tell you from my experience of having a deadbeat father, that having them ousted on a website is not child abuse. Leaving a child's mother with no money and walking out the door with a bare pantry should be child abuse.
So, while you may think that a website would be embarrassing to a child, what is more embarrassing is not having proper food, clothing, and school supplies. Going to school not having showered because your water was cut off is far less embarrassing than having a parent labeled a deadbeat.
I would have loved for my father to have been called out and forced to pay. I commend the sheriff for having the intestinal fortitude to do something about a problem that plagues many single mothers and fathers, the deadbeat parent.
Briann Lambert
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