June 10, 2010
Fathers & Families” Ned Holstein, MD appeared on The Curtis Wright Show on several North Carolina radio stations on June 10. Wright brought up the issue of child support, explaining that his second child just graduated high school. A divorced father, Wright said he had to fight hard to be a real father, not just a visitor and a paycheck.
Holstein said that Fathers & Families believes that children need to be financially supported but that current court-ordered child support is often excessive. It can also provide an incentive for a parent to abandon the marriage and demand sole custody. Holstein said that sometimes the financial obligations force divorced fathers to work long hours so they can’t spend much time parenting, yet mothers rarely get orders that they must seek work or have large incomes imputed to them. Holstein added that people on both sides of the aisle politically should oppose the current divorce system, for various reasons. Conservatives, he explained, should oppose much of what family courts do because they are an unnecessary intrusion of government into the details of family life. Liberals should oppose what Holstein called “runaway gender bias” in family court.