New Website To Get Tough On Parents Who Don’t Pay Child Support
Posted January 26, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It used to be that the sins of the father were visited on the son.
But that won’t happen anymore if Queen’s Park has its way.
The government has confirmed it plans to use a power higher than taxes or fines to get deadbeat parents to pay what they owe in child support – the force of shame.
Beginning next month, the Liberals will post the pictures of parents who owe money to their kids on a new website. The idea – a kind of modern-day Scarlet Letter to publicly pressure those in arrears to hand over the money they owe.
It’s a controversial decision that has many wondering if the cure is as bad as the disease. Police in some GTA jurisdictions have also tried the same thing with drunk drivers, to continuing criticism.
But Renate Diorio, of Families Against Deadbeats, welcomes the idea.
When her marriage ended in a bitter separation, her ex refused to support their two kids. She took to the Internet with her own site to get his attention. She’s glad the province is following her lead.
“This is something we wanted 12 years ago,” she agrees. “It was more or less the best tool to trace and locate and to find somebody.”
And she’ll never forget how the non-support affected her life and that of her children.
“I lived with my parents at the time and if they hadn’t been there I would’ve been in dire straits or had to go on the welfare system.”
Alberta and some American states have so-called deadbeat websites and they’ve been somewhat successful.
But some call it blackmail.
“It’s not humane because it doesn’t take reality into account,” complains Danny Gillespie of Fathers Resources. “That’s not to say there are people out there who don’t want to pay. But I’ve found in my practice by and large that that is not the case.”
The government’s response? “We’re trying to make them pay and if it does embarrass them, too bad,” asserts Minister of Community and Social Services Madeleine Meilleur.
Like it or not, the government has already started gathering the pictures for the site. It will be online in February.
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