Dear Ms. Miles,
I am going to put this in very simple terms. The current "child
support" practices of this state are BLATENTLY UNCONSTITUTIONAL as they in
NO WAY reflect the cost of one parent's share of the financial support of a
child or children. Child support awards based upon the "Income Shares
Model" are well beyond excessive. Child support awards are too high. Why do
you think that there are the amounts of fathers in JAIL who can't pay these
atrocious awards? Why are the amounts of so called deadbeats who can't pay what
they are being ordered to pay or refuse to pay because it's too much money?
There you have it in simple terms.
My organization has a team working on and is in the process of rebutting your
Recommendation 67 on a point-by-point legal basis in an attempt to demonstrate
how far off these supposed recommended laws really are from anything that even
resembles fair and honest.
We are well aware of the motive behind the excessive child support awards and
there are many citizens of this Commonwealth that are also becoming aware of the
truth about this unconstitutional scam. Some of our members have talked with
their elected representation about this problem and were surprised to find out
that their elected officials had NO IDEA that the state profits by federal
kickback from high and unreasonable child support awards. This is very
interesting and will help us narrow this down to who is responsible for this
outright theft from parents who, due to a baseless judicial decision disguised
as the "best interests of the child" which is standard procedure in
Pennsylvania, are no longer allowed to be parents to their OWN CHILDREN.
The truth of the matter is that the state and its child support machinery
can't assess and collect the millions if not BILLIONS of dollars in child
support if there was equal custody legislation in place however, we can't seem
to get any type of legislation in place that protects the rights of parents and
their children from judicial discretion with an agenda to make as much money as
possible for the state. Each and every piece of legislation that does nothing
more than PROTECT OUR RIGHTS dies in Senator Greenleaf's committee for some
unknown reason (but we already know the reason).
So, in essence, it's all about "child support". This means that
it's all about the Supreme Court Procedural Rules Committee and the Supreme
Court's ability to write LAW in the form of procedural rules (which should NOT
be happening in the first place) including excessive child support guidelines,
which ensure profit for the state at the expense of INNOCENT parents and their
children. Parents (MOSTLY FATHERS) can rest assured of one thing in Pennsylvania
under the current child support regime… if they can no longer pay the
excessive awards, they will be locked up in debtor's prison but they will be
told it's due to civil contempt. Is this still America? This is the BOTTOM line.
We are not going to go away until fair and reasonable laws are enacted and those
who are responsible for perpetrating this fraud on the citizenry of Pennsylvania
are held CRIMINALLY accountable and punished accordingly.
From reading correspondence between you and numerous people who are trying to
get this point across to you, I don't think you realize the impact your
committee has on the general public or the extent to which your recommended
policies reach into the lives of the people who live in this state and the
outright HARM that they are causing families and children by making it
PROFITABLE for one parent to abandon the family for a windfall in child support
due to fraudulent guidelines. The fact of the matter is that the blame for this
social dilemma must be placed on those responsible for causing it, your
committee, and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania until the legislature takes
back its responsibility to the people to legislate honest and fair laws from the
judiciary, which should never have this type of power in the first place.
Our organization is NOT against supporting children financially when a court
ordered transfer of funds in necessary between parents however, it needs to be
fair, honest, and reasonable, and most important ACCOUNTABLE. I am going to
include below an introduction to the COSTshares child support guideline, which
is based on actual costs and factual data unlike the Income Shares Model that
Pennsylvania currently uses. I suggest you take a look at abandoning the Income
Shares Guideline, as it is based on FRAUD and putting in place (or in your case,
recommending to the Supreme Court) the Costshares guideline, which is based on
the truth and factual data.
I hope you and your committee is listening to the many letters you are
receiving on this subject.
Sincerely,
Dave Vincent
Center for Children's Justice Pennsylvania Chapter
http://pfcr.childrensjustice.org
pfcr@childrensjustice.org
