Dear Mr. President:

Some parents leave their children, don’t have contact with them, and don’t help financially. Why? Because there is are no government programs to make them pay. State courts can order child support, but what happens when the orders are not followed? A warrant is ordered. What if they move out of the state to outrun their warrants? Absolutely nothing. Why? Because the state has more important things to worry about.

My mom works hard to pay our monthly bills. In the spring, she has topped 90 hours a week making just enough to pay our bills and put a little away for retirement. My dad left when I was six months old, and he never looked back. He got married, and had more kids. While he was married, he followed his orders to pay $450 per month to my mom and me.

He divorced his wife, left two more kids, and skipped town. He has three restraining orders to follow and he has violated all three. After he got divorced, just to stay away from paying, he would pay $50, or he would pay $.90. Yes, ninety cents. Ridiculous, I know. This kept the law off his back. He was making in effort. Can you believe it? $.90 is making an effort? Out of $450? No, that is not a good enough effort.
He still doesn’t pay for me or my brothers. Now there are four warrants out for his arrest, but the state will not go pick him up. They claim that he’ll get arrested if he gets pulled over. He won’t. He knows how this works. He’s been through all this before, and he won’t stop. He’s still making an effort. We deserve more than a few dollars a month. One of my brothers has epilepsy and another has ‘emotional issues’. Probably bipolar…like me. His efforts are miniscule.

I have defied all the rules when it comes to children living without their biological fathers. The National Fatherhood Initiative says that fatherless children are more likely to partake in crimes, teen pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse, and get bad grades. I am a good student. I have strictly stayed away from drugs due to my fathers’ drug filled past. I will never follow him, I have promised myself this. But will my brothers follow in my footsteps or our dad’s? Addiction is in our blood.

The White House website says that the Responsible Fatherhood Working Group is helping men to become a part of their children’s lives. But what happens when the kids don’t want him. He has caused enough harm already. All I want is support. This program you have started says that it “aims to encourage dads to support their own children”, but the separate states don’t seem to think that this is an important enough goal for them.

Do we deserve this? Worrying about everything from jail time to pregnancy to poverty? No and that’s why you need to put a program in place, maybe something like community service, to force these dead beat dad’s to help support their kids. I know that there already is a program to encourage support, but I’ am asking for something a little harsher. Something for those fathers that keep fleeing the system. Those fathers that use their kids for cheaper taxes.

The federal government needs to make more demands for the sake of fatherless children.

Sincerely,



Anna T.