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Is child support only the father’s responsibility?

In the era of smashing patriarchy and establishing equality, the rights that can benefit women and uplift them are often talked about. Whereas, rights bring responsibility and accountability which is still not an “ important enough” discussion yet. Often fathers are portrayed as being a bit more strict and distant from the child when it’s compared with the mother. Even if a couple decides to separate, the father needs to be there to take his child’s responsibility and pay child support amount. The norm is completely justified until or unless it’s not misused. 

Misuse of Child Support

While demanding equality, we are asking society to treat every gender as equals. And if opportunities are subject to be equalized, responsibilities should also be.

Family courts are no doubt biased when it comes to mothers over fathers. Often Child support amount is unjustified and most of the times it is not even used for the child’s welfare. Instead, it supports a living for the mother too. Ultimately, many women take advantage of this fact and do enjoy the child support amount leaving very little or no pressure on them to work hard and earn.

Many case studies are a live example of how women use child support to fulfill their own needs and name it as their “right”. But ironically, even child support is offered only till the age of 18. That means even children are considered to take care of themselves on their own once they are adults.

Both the parents should be responsible to take care of the child. A lesser considered fact here is that the child needs emotional and physical care as well. Hence, how can a mother look after her job and child alone? The whole idea behind this statement is to understand that a child belongs equally to both the parents and the responsibilities either being financial, emotional or physical should be taken care of equally.

According to a previous story from 2018, the singer Britney Spears and Kevin Federline, the father of her children, were at odds over Federline’s request for a revision of their child support order. Sources say that the father asked for twice as much money as he was getting at the time, but Spears’ staff told him no.

Even though it may be easy to dismiss this case as nothing more than celebrity gossip, reports about the incident show that there are some problems that can happen whenever someone wants to change their child support.

What may cause someone to ask for assistance?

Modification requests for child support frequently follow an incident that significantly changes the financial situation of one or both parents. This could mean anything from finding out about a serious health problem to getting a promotion or losing a job.

However, you don’t have to wait until one of you schedules a global tour to submit a modification request. A request for adjustment may also be prompted by the passage of time. A parent can really ask for a review of support every 36 months in North Carolina.

Differences in how support is spent

When a parent asks for a raise in child support, the parent who is currently paying it may become combative over how it is being used. In other situations, he or she can say that the receiving parent’s bad money decisions are the reason why more money is needed.

This can lead the paying parent to request an audit of the receiving parent’s spending, as it did with Spears and Federline. But unless a child’s welfare is in question, courts usually won’t ask for a record of how much child support was paid.

Alternative dispute resolution methods aren’t always effective.

However, parents should be aware that unless the court approves the amendment, it is not an enforceable court order. Many times, the topic is simply too divisive for parents to resolve on their own. In other words, any adjustment of child support will probably involve the courts.

How can the gap be reduced?

Any legal decision given by the court is going to be implemented of course but a minor change can bring revolution and the change begins with individuals. Ideology is the first step that should be taken care of while trying to establish equality. The arguments are definitely theoretical but it’s high time we consider women to take care of their households financially too and men to help the child with emotional and physical growth too.

  1. If both parents are working then their income and working hours should be compared and a set amount of child support should be divided accordingly among both of them.

  2. If both the parents are allowed to be in touch with the kid through legal orders then joint custody should be considered. Fathers should also get time with the child and take responsibility for raising the child and not just financial support.

  3. If the woman is completely fit to work, then she should not depend on child support for her own living. Instead, being a working individual will boost her confidence.

Let’s not forget equality here

Child support is a strong parental requirement as soon as it is not misused. Gender equality is quite an outrageous topic now. But when we say gender, it does not mean just uplifting women. It’s about being sensitive to each and every gender and establishing actual equality. Children should not be used as a shield to get support and an excuse to not try.

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