A duty not a right

It has always been that way and that is the way we have always done it. A parent who can not or will not carry out his duties and responsibility as a parent can have his rights as a parent terminated. This follows common sense. A parent who abuses her children and can’t be rehabilitated is dangerous to the child. He or she should not be allowed to make decisions for the child or about the child. Also they shouldn’t be allowed to visit with the child.

There was a woman in Alabama who was married and had two children. She also had a child from a previous marriage. Her husband and the father of two of the children molested her older child. She divorced him in February 2003. The divorce judgment awarded custody of the two children to the mother and ordered the father to pay $540 per month in child support. In August 2003, the father pleaded guilty to his crime against his step child. In October 2005, a juvenile court granted the mother's petition to terminate the father's parental rights to their two minor children. When his rights to his two children were terminated he quit paying the child support.

On January 4, 2007, the mother asked the court to find that the father was in contempt of court because he had not paid his child support. The court decided that the father was $16,730 behind in his child support. The father asked the court to reconsider its ruling because his rights to his children had been terminated earlier. The court did and decided that he did not have to pay the child support. After this the case went to the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals which decided that he did not have to pay the child support.

On September 30, 2009 the Alabama Supreme Court decided that even though the father’s rights to his children were terminated the responsibilities that he owed to the children had not terminated. Over the years lawyers have just always accepted as fact that if a parent’s rights were terminated so was his duty to pay child support. This is no longer the case. Parents who have lost their rights to their children now have the responsibility of paying child support unless a court releases them from that responsibility.

A parent who places a child for adoption may have to pay support until there is a final decree of adoption. This new understanding of the law will be best for many children. The parent who still has custody of the child will not have to bear the financial burden of the child alone. It does seem harsh that a custodial parent of a child has to face all the monetary needs of the child while the abusive parent does nothing. Also, there are many children “in the system” who get no support from either parent. The State of Alabama pays for their needs out of collected tax revenue.