Other Definitions
deadbeat dad (dict)
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Deadbeat DadDeadbeat dad is term used by special interest groups and the Democratic Party to demonized and then criminalize divorced fathers. This is a highly pejorative term, used primarily in the United States that refers to a father who has children in the care of their mother but does not pay court-ordered child support, or monetary payments meant to go toward the financial support of the children. In his unsuccessful campaign for president, Al Gore promised harsher measures against deadbeat dads, including sending more to jail. The Clinton administration passed several child-support programs, including the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act, the Directory of New Hires, and the Federal Case Registry. There is no empirical evidence that large numbers of fathers voluntarily abandon their children. No government or academic study has ever demonstrated the existence of such a phenomenon. Academic and governmental research on the topic has found the opposite to be the case. In the 'Myth of the Deadbeat Dad', Dr. Stephen Baskerville wrote, In the largest federally funded study ever conducted on the subject, psychologist Sanford Braver demonstrated that very few married fathers abandon their children. Overwhelmingly it is mothers, not fathers, who are walking away from marriages and thus separating children from their fathers. Other studies have reached similar or more dramatic conclusions. Braver also found that when they are employed, virtually all divorced fathers pay the child support they owe and that the number of arrearages estimated by the government is derived not from any actual statistics but from surveys. In the absence of empirical evidence, the deadbeat dad is best viewed as an urban myth or perhaps a hoax to support political agendas. See also
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