From a recent story from FOX NEWS. Dads, we've been right all along. We're not the bad guys. I've known this for several years just never had the time nor rescources to gather all the information. But this recent article from FOX NEWS has got all the details. Sure there are more deadbeat Dads, only because more Dads are made to pay child support, but in percentages MOMS crap out more often that Dads do. And there are probably more DADS than there should be, but only because they got SCREWED when their ex got a free lawyer! Read on.

 
Single dads are sick and tired of being
labeled "deadbeats" when it comes to
paying child support. And data suggest
they have good reason to be upset.
 
The percentage of "deadbeat" moms is actually higher than that of dads
who won't pay, even though mothers are more consistently awarded
custody of children by the courts.
 
Census figures show only 57 percent of moms required to pay child
support -- 385,000 women out of a total of 674,000 -- give up some or all
of the money they owe. That leaves some 289,000 "deadbeat" mothers
out there, a fact that has barely been reported in the media.
 
That compares with 68 percent of dads who pay up, according to the
figures.
 
Men who are due child support are also getting tired of deadbeat moms'
excuse that they can't pony up the money, and some courts have
responded.
 
California lawyer Eudene Eunique in February was denied a passport
because she was $30,000 behind in child-support. Instead of spending
money on visiting her family in Mexico and on business contracts, the
appeals court ruled Eunique's money should go to her kids.
 
Meanwhile, warrant officers in southwest Florida earlier this summer
dubbed an effort to list the area's top deadbeat moms who owed up to
$19,000 in support as "Operation Father's Day." Included on the list
were Trudi Dana, 43, who owes $19,001 and 29-year-old Mary Mahadie
Friar, who owes $16,493.
 
Of course, the problem of deadbeat dads remains a serious one. Many
more men than women have to pay child support, making the overall
number of deadbeat dads much greater.
 
The statistics show 4.3 million moms out of 6.3 million who are
supposed to receive child support actually get it. That leaves the
alarming figure of about 2 million deadbeat dads, putting them more in
the media spotlight than deadbeat moms.
 
But men also still pay much more in child support. The Census Bureau
last month also released numbers showing fathers paid an average of
$3,000 to custodial moms in 1997. Women paid little over half that.
Moms also get about 60 percent of what they are owed, whereas dads
only get 48 percent.
 
Not only are the dads paying up more when they don't have custody, but
when the court does hand the kids over to dads, they work more than
moms who have custody.
 
While 7 percent of custodial moms work more than 44 hours a week,
24.5 percent of single custodial dads work more than 44 hours. And only
about half as many custodial dads get government help than moms.
 
Some dads say it's not for a lack of laws that moms are getting away
with not paying up.
 
Bill Henry is head of Dads Against Discrimination of West Virginia and a
single dad. In 1983, his first ex was ordered by the court to pay $25 a
month in child support &endash; which he did not start actually receiving until
1987 &endash; even though the state minimum then should have been $75 a
month.
 
Henry said dads are often discouraged from pursuing custody battles by
attorneys and often don't like to make waves in the system, as long as
they get to regularly see their child or get complete custody.
 
"A lot of men are afraid to ask for child support simply because they
think if they're asking for child support, they won't get a chance to get
custody," Henry said.
 
California dad Scott Downing has also experienced child-support snafus
and said courts continue to give dads the short end of the custody stick.
"The laws are there, but it's the way the courts interpret those laws," he
said.
 
Single dad David Wood of North Carolina has similar concerns.
 
"My frustration É is not so much there's any biases in me getting child
support É it's just the whole system needs a lot of work. If you don't get
aggressive with it É you have to really work to get it if someone doesn't
want to play the game" and pay up.
 
Wood, whose ex-wife has had trouble in court, said there are four men
he knows of just at his workplace who are currently or are going to be
single dads, or are grandparents of kids who had deadbeat moms.
 
"It's not the exception anymore," Wood said, adding that before he
became a single dad two years ago, "I would have almost bought into
that stereotype" the dads are usually the deadbeats. But "that
philosophy is just 30-40 years out of date."
 
But more moms that don't have the kids simply can't afford to pay child
support since they are poorer, said Geraldine Jensen, president of the
Association for Children for Enforcement of Support. Studies show the
average income for non-custodial moms is only $15,000 a year, whereas
non-custodial dads average about $40,000 a year.
 
And moms who don't have custody of the kids often remarry and have
more kids, and often choose to not work.
 
But "that's certainly no excuse," Jensen said. "It doesn't matter if you're
a mom or dad, you should meet your child support obligations."

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