December 17, 2015
By Ned Holstein, MD, MS, Founder, Chair of the Board and Acting Executive Director
In 2016, we will launch a major child support offensive to go along with our longstanding advocacy of shared parenting. We will examine the child support follies of every state, just as we did the custody laws of every state a year ago. We will examine, analyze, publicize and push back the child support follies of each state!
We need your financial support now to make this happen. Please go to our Donate page to make your tax-deductible gift right now.
- Did you know that in the Canadian province of British Columbia, child support can go on forever? If an unemployed slacker “child” moves back in with the custodial parent at any age, even 35 years old, “child” support must be paid.
- And did you know that some states in the USA have proposed the same thing?
- Or that in Ohio and other states, only the actions of NPO prevented an automatic escalation of child support when the cost of living goes up. So if the cost of living had gone up 10%, so would your child support order, even if your actual income had stayed the same, or gone down.
Our opponents shoot out an endless stream of ever more unjust proposals to increase child support, and increase it……….and increase it more. Only NPO has the will and the moxie to fight back. But we need your financial support before December 31 in order to launch our child support initiative in 2016. Please make your tax-deductible gift today!
Here are some other things you may not know about child-support:
- Recent economic studies show that child support orders in most states are about double the true cost of raising children.
- Custodial parents “double dip” because they get tax breaks to help pay for children’s expenses while they also get child support that is not reduced to reflect the tax advantages.
- In some states, we have prevented the passage of laws stating that alimony can be awarded for child-related expenses, even when child support is also ordered, thus making the child support formula meaningless.
- In many states, child support orders are made based on the earnings your ex claims you make at a hearing you were never notified of. If she claims you make double your actual earnings, you are in deep water.
- In most states, the child support formula was developed by people who profit financially from higher child support orders.
- But how many people in America know these facts? Or understand the huge role that child-support windfalls play in creating bitter, expensive custody battles? Or that the federal government spends about $5 billion per year to enforce your child support order, and spends essentially nothing on enforcing your parenting time order? Or that you cannot be a good parent if you have to work 80 hours per week to pay your child support?
Our job is to bring these facts, and many others, to light, and to push back against those who think you are nothing more than an ATM. We are tired of being the target of every bureaucrat and politician who thinks they can get some attention with another half-wit idea to increase child support.
It is time to fight back!
Our main battle in recent years has been shared parenting. Now we are adding a second prong to the pitchfork — child support. To do this, we need your financial help. Please give right now.
If you are thinking of making a gift of $1,000 or more, I suggest you write a check to National Parents Organization to avoid the charges of internet intermediaries, which add up on larger gifts. Please mail your gift to
National Parents Organization
P.O. Box 270760
Boston, MA 02127-0760
With your help, we will bring an end to the days in which non-custodial parents have been little more than indentured servants.