Law in Contemporary Society

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SamHersheyFirstPaper 8 - 31 Mar 2010 - Main.SamHershey
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 The abandonment of mothers and children is a grave and rampant problem. According to the 2005 US Census Bureau, over 20% of custodial mothers, i.e. single mothers with minor children, do not receive any child support from their children's father. While mothers who know the identity of their children's father have potential recourse through the courts, mothers who remain ignorant of the identity of their children's father face a hopeless situation. For that reason, efforts to identify and legally bind absentee fathers have proved essential to achieving justice for these women and their children.

Deceived "Fathers"

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<		Still, through the enforcement of stringent paternity laws, a new class of victims has been created. DNA testing has enabled men across the country to discover that the child they have been raising is not theirs at all. These men are doubly deceived--not only in remaining faithful to an adulterous wife, but also in supporting her lover's child. Different states adopt different approaches to this problem, but the laws of the vast majority of states offer no sympathy to the deceived man: Not only must he continue to pay child support, but also the true father, if he is known or discovered, bears no financial obligation. These states operate under the old English common law notion that birth in marriage establishes paternity. Although the law originally operated to avoid bastardy, it now serves a further function in preventing mothers and their children from facing abandonment.
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>		Still, through the enforcement of stringent paternity laws, a new class of victims has been created. DNA testing has enabled men across the country to discover that the child they have been raising is not theirs at all. These men are doubly deceived--not only in remaining faithful to an adulterous wife, but also in supporting her lover's child. Different states adopt different approaches to this problem, but the laws of the vast majority of states offer no sympathy to the deceived man: Not only must he continue to pay child support, but also the true father, if he is known or discovered, bears no financial obligation. These states operate under the old English common law notion that birth in marriage establishes paternity. Although the law originally operated to avoid bastardy, it now serves a further function in preventing mothers and their children from facing abandonment.
 

Rights in the Balance


Revision 8r8 - 31 Mar 2010 - 16:50:07 - SamHershey
Revision 7r7 - 23 Feb 2010 - 23:09:10 - SamHershey
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