Honoring Our Fathers - Chicago Street Journal - June 15, 2017 Edition

February 2017
4 June 2017
Chicago Street Journal
Continued from Page 1
HAPPY FATHERS’ DAY
Recent changes to Illinois’ Child Support guidelines
reinforce this priority of fathers as first and
foremost a wallet. The new guidelines attempt to
recognize children need, and want, a greater relationship
with their father’s, how they go about
expressing that recognition is somewhat suspect.
According to the new guideline a father will pay
full child support until the child spends more than
145 overnights per year with Dad. At 146 overnights
with Dad, the state will give Dad a significant
break on child support. The formula begs the
question of why 24 hours makes a child so much
less expensive to raise.
Throughout the child support industry this is
known as the “cliff effect.” Effectively it means
Dad, or sometimes Mom, but in all cases the “non
-custodial” parent will have difficulty ever getting
equal time with the kids because of the effect of
money transfers from the paying parenting to the
receiving parent. In the world of family law and
child support agencies the idea of equality, on
multiple levels, is non-existent.
What drives this train however, is not necessarily
the child’s best interest but the fact that states receive
significant money from the federal government
to operate child support programs. This
money is not awarded to the state for keeping both
parents engaged, it flows when one parent is effectively
removed from the parenting equation.
The inconvenient truth for divorced and never
married parents is that government has monetized,
politicized and criminalized the relationship between
children and one of their parents, most often,
their father.
There are currently two systems in our society for
parents who cannot afford to support their children.
For custodial parents, primarily mothers,
the government offers medical insurance assistance,
housing assistance, cash assistance, food
assistance, child care and education assistance.
For non-custodial parents, primarily fathers, who
cannot afford to support their children by paying
child support, the government offers driver’s license
revocation, wage garnishment, tax refund
intercepts, interest on unpaid support balances,
arrest and incarceration in debtors’ prison.
Sadly, it is our children, and by extension society,
who pay the price for these misguided policies.
Social science research is overwhelmingly clear
on this point. Children who have shared parenting,
meaning both parents are engaged in their
kids’ lives to the maximum extent possible, have
better outcomes than children who are raised primarily
in single parent headed households.
This is not to say there are not children who turn
out superbly well being raised by single parents.
However, the data cannot be denied. Children
who retain a significant relationship with BOTH
parents, even when those parents are no longer
together as a couple, do better academically, have
higher employment rates, are less likely to use
drugs, are less likely to commit suicide, are better
at maintaining long term relationships, for girls –
are less likely to become pregnant as teens –, and
overall live longer lives.
As we celebrate Dad this Fathers’ Day, let’s do
something meaningful for the over 23 million kids
in America who have no, or limited, contact with
their fathers, let’s welcome Dad back into family
life as an equal participant. Our kids need and
deserve nothing less than a full relationship with
him.
Michael McCormick joined the ACFC board in 1998. His professional
background developed in the financial services industry,
working with nonprofit organizations in the area of corporate
and member development, as well as community relationship
building. McCormick acted as the primary spokesman for
ACFC during the Elian Gonzalez situation. He has been interviewed
extensively by the media regarding shared parenting.
McCormick authored shared parenting bills and initiatives
have been introduced in several states. He provides legislative
testimony and has presented at multiple public policy and professional
association gatherings. His commentary has been
carried in numerous national publications.