Unemployment, Child Support & Bradley Law

"Only 4% of non-custodial parents whose earnings drop by more than 15% are able to get a reduction in support payments."

Nothing has changed regarding reductions in child support since 1995, but the hold of invasive government methods has. Yet Bradley Amendment tracking, record-keeping and enforcement was hardly a problem to the majority of the American populace before the second term of the Clinton administration. Technology and its crushing grip had not come to full bear where the Bradley Amendment was concerned. That has changed. Computers, invasive privacy procedures and the attitude of law enforcement has created a new way of life for untold millions of men and a few women. The prospect of unemployment, chronic underemployment and homelessness is an increasing fate for an increasing millions of American men and women during this economic downturn with or without Bradley Law. The Bradley Amendment makes economic recovery for its' victims almost impossible.

The Bradley Amendment has created a zero tolerance or mandatory measure for non-custodial parents, even in a depressed economy. The Bradley Amendment dictates that it is impossible for any judge to ever reduce or remove child support arrears accumulated for any reason. Most states will not voluntarily reduce child support during terms of unemployment or underemployment to match with income. To make matters worse, unemployment benefits and underemployed parents are tapped up to 65% of income for judicially declared child support without reprieve or remorse. The system is unrelenting. The reality remains that few non-custodial parents are able to get simple legal assistance or the cooperation required to reduce child support during a life crisis, resulting in a permanent catch-22 for millions of American citizens who mostly happen to be men.

There is no effective way out for non-custodial parents, so one of the effective costs of child support enforcement and Bradley Law include 5,000 additional suicides yearly and 100,000 additional men in jail at any given time. This results in additional unemployment during good economic times and is likely to increase dramatically during bad economic times with little hope for a new legal underclass of American. Otherwise responsible dads are driven further from their children during a time when 'responsible fatherhood laws' encourage fathers to stay involved with their children by advertising on billboards. The Bradley Amendment has created a new nation, but not for the better. Instead, we have collectively created a nation of quiet and unrelenting unconstitutional terror and despair. The law enforcement that claims to protect us has become an instrument of terrorism.

Elaine Sorenson, A Little Help for Some 'Deadbeat' Dads, Washington Post, 11/15/95, p. A25