Child Support in the Courts

Child Support in the Courts 

By: Dylan Zito – YMCA Arlington – Career Center 

Marriam Webster Dictionary defines child support as: “payment for the support of the children of divorced or separated parents while the children are minors or as otherwise legally required.” In Virginia, child support is legally required in divorce cases.  

Set up in the year 1975 by President Gerald Ford, child support is typically ordered in cases of divorce by a judge. It can also be ordered if a third party is caring for the child. The person whom it is filed against much pay a set amount of money each month, which is based largely upon the custodial parent’s level of income and the number of children.  

If the parents of the child are unmarried, a paternity test will be needed in order to file for child support. The father can do this voluntarily but if he does not, the mother may need to obtain a lawsuit to establish paternity. In Virginia, child support is a legal right in order to insure the child’s proper care and upbringing.  

While most people view child support a good thing, many people are against it. They claim it is unfair and state that the child support system is failing to keep up with the times. People also claim that they are losing their jobs due to missing child support payments. Shawn Garrison says in his article 4 Problems With Modern Child Support, that “The core of the problem with modern child support laws is that there is too much emphasis on enforcement and not enough focus on getting fathers involved in their children’s lives”.  

Commonwealth Senate Bill NO. 3 would make it so this child support is no longer required in the state of Virginia by removing the section on child support from the bill in question. The bill was amended in committee but did not make it to the floor.  

The patron for this bill is Madison Lewis, Nandua High School. Lewis chose this topic because she felt like removing child support from the courts and passing it on to social services would let it be more personal and help decrease common issues that arise. Lewis feels the topic is important because child support needs to be more in favor of kids and support their needs, not the parent’s needs. She thinks her bill did not pass because people got confused and didn’t comprehend what the bill was trying to do when it was amended in committee. 

While the bill didn’t pass in committee, the vexed, complex issue of child support and whether or not it should be legally required and by whom will still be heavily debated by Virginians for years to come.  

  Pictured: Commonwealth Senate floor during debate     References 

“Child Support Basics.” Findlaw, family.findlaw.com/child-support/child-support-basics.html. 

“Child Support.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/child support. 

“Citizen's Guide To U.S. Federal Law On Child Support Enforcement.” The United States Department of Justice, 7 July 2017, www.justice.gov/criminal-ceos/citizens-guide-us-federal-law-child-support-enforcement. 

Garrison, Shawn. “4 Problems With The Modern Child Support System.” Dads Divorce, 6 Mar. 2019, dadsdivorce.com/articles/4-problems-with-the-modern-child-support-system/. 

Pao, Maureen. “How America's Child Support System Failed To Keep Up With The Times.” NPR, NPR, 19 Nov. 2015, www.npr.org/2015/11/19/456632896/how-u-s-parents-racked-up-113-billion-in-child-support-debt. 

Robles, Frances, and Shaila Dewan. “Skip Child Support. Go to Jail. Lose Job. Repeat.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 20 Apr. 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/04/20/us/skip-child-support-go-to-jail-lose-job-repeat.html.