There should not be such a thing as child support, and anyone who has looked closely at the system knows this. Child support was never about the child—it’s a lie perpetuated by the courts and their enablers in the Support Collections Unit to justify a massive, government-sanctioned scam. The real goal? To funnel billions of dollars into state coffers, with a willing assist from the federal government, while victimizing fathers and enabling a corrupt system.
The Financial Incentive: Federal Matching Funds
At the heart of this scam is Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, which provides federal matching funds on a 1:1 basis for every dollar the state collects in child support. This means that for every dollar a state collects in child support, it gets a matching federal grant. The system incentivizes states to pursue aggressive child support enforcement, because more collections mean more money flowing into their welfare programs. This isn’t about helping kids—it’s about padding state budgets.
Much of the collected money doesn’t even go to the children. It’s funneled into welfare programs, which overwhelmingly benefit single mothers. Welfare recipients often depend on Section 8 housing, WIC, and college funds, all of which are supported by child support collections. The state’s financial motivation is clear: they want to keep women dependent on welfare programs while ensuring fathers continue to pay.
- TANF Cases: Cashing in on Welfare: When families get public assistance through TANF, guess what? The state gets to pocket part (sometimes all) of those child support payments. They’re allowed to keep 20-30% of collections on these cases, and some states won’t stop until they’ve recouped every penny they spent on welfare. This isn’t about helping kids—it’s about refilling the state’s welfare budget at dads’ expense.
- Fees and More Fees: If you thought the state was just content with collecting child support, think again. States and counties often charge you fees just for the “privilege” of being in the system. They hit you with processing fees, filing fees—basically any excuse to squeeze more money out of you to keep their bureaucratic machine running. It’s not about justice, it’s about profit.
- Interest: The State’s Favorite Bonus: Can’t make a payment on time? In many states like California, New Jersey, and Ohio, they’ll slap interest on your unpaid child support. That debt starts racking up, and guess who benefits? Yep, the state. Interest on unpaid child support isn’t to help the kid—it’s just another way for the state to fatten its wallet off struggling dads.
- Performance-Based Funding: The Bigger the Catch, the Bigger the Payout: States are competing for federal dollars, and the better they are at collecting child support, the more they get. The Child Support Performance and Incentive Act of 1998 ties federal money to how well states can enforce orders. More collections? More cash for the state. This system’s rigged to prioritize dollars, not dads.
Fathers Pay—Even in 50/50 Custody
Even in cases where fathers are granted 50/50 custody, courts often force them to pay child support. How is this possible? It’s because the courts use income disparities to justify the payments. The father, who often earns more, is expected to “balance” the household by paying the mother, even when they are sharing equal time with the child. This shows the system is not about the child’s needs, but about continuing the financial exploitation of fathers.
This 50/50 custody scam exposes the true nature of child support—it’s not about the welfare of the child. If it were, the state would implement systems that track how the money is actually spent. Instead, as long as payments are made, no one cares if that money is being spent at Victoria’s Secret or on the actual needs of the child. Fathers are milked for cash while mothers are given free rein to use the funds however they like.
Courts, Attorneys, and Judges Profit Too
The entire legal infrastructure is designed to keep this system running. Attorneys and judges profit enormously from child support cases, especially as legal fees skyrocket in contentious divorces. Many judges are incentivized to issue orders of protection that expedite the process of stripping fathers of custody, allowing mothers to gain the upper hand in court. Once the custody decision is made, fathers are trapped in a system where they pay, or face legal consequences like license suspension or incarceration.
This is modern-day slavery for fathers. When a father is forced to pay child support, his wages are garnished, and the money goes straight to the state child support office. Why? Because the state benefits financially by taking its cut of those payments. The system is set up so that fathers are turned into wards of the state, constantly forced to fund a system that doesn’t care about their rights, or their ability to be a parent.
The Real War: Not on Deadbeat Dads, But on All Dads
The idea that child support is designed to make “deadbeat dads” pay is nothing more than a narrative concocted by the state and media. The “deadbeat dad” trope arose in the 1980s, fueled by media sensationalism. A CBS segment in 1986 featuring a man who bragged about fathering children and refusing to pay child support painted all fathers with the same brush. This led to harsh legislation aimed at squeezing money from fathers, regardless of whether they were active and engaged parents.
Recent studies show that most fathers, especially those from low-income backgrounds, want to be involved in their children’s lives. However, the system systematically pushes them out by prioritizing payments over parenting. It doesn’t matter if a father is willing to provide emotional support or split custody—what matters to the state is how much money they can extract from him.
- Federal Reimbursement: The federal government reimburses 66% of state administrative costs for enforcing child support, including collecting payments, locating non-custodial parents, and processing payments. States receive incentive payments based on performance, typically amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
The Hidden Agenda: Keeping Women as Voters and Enriching the State
Child support laws serve a dual purpose: they provide a financial windfall for the state and help secure a voter base of single mothers who rely on welfare programs. This creates a political incentive to keep the current system in place. Feminists and state agencies have no interest in changing the status quo because they benefit financially. Women receive welfare, attorneys and judges profit from the legal battles, and the state gets its federal matching funds. It’s a carefully orchestrated system of exploitation, and fathers are the ones footing the bill.
As Kathryn Edin, a sociologist at Johns Hopkins University, once said, “With our right hand we’ve pushed these men away; we’ve said, ‘You’re worthless.’ With our left hand we’re picking his pocket….That’s how it feels to him.” Fathers are marginalized, treated like ATMs rather than parents. The courts ask, “Don’t you want to take care of your child?” But what they really mean is, “Don’t you want to fund the state?”.
The Only Way to Win is Not to Play
The child support system is a rigged game, designed to exploit fathers, enrich the state, and keep women dependent on welfare programs. This is not about the best interests of the child—it’s about money. Fathers are trapped in a system where they are forced to pay up or face punishment. As long as federal matching funds are in play, the system has no incentive to change. Men, the only way to win this game is not to play.
