Bill Of No Rights For Non Custodial Parents
We, the sensible and responsible people of the United States, in an attempt to ensure that all children receive every possible opportunity available to them, and to promote positive behavior as examples for all children, hereby establish some common sense guidelines for non-custodial parents and liberal policy makers within the government who appear to be confused by the belief that non-custodial parents are entitled to certain rights and privileges, and that excuses should be made for irresponsible people who, in virtually every aspect of their lives refuse to accept any responsibility for any of their actions. We hold these truths to be self-evident: That the rights of children are more important than the rights of irresponsible non-custodial parents and that non-custodial parents and liberal policy makers require a common sense "Bill of No Rights."
ARTICLE I: You do not have the right to start a new family if you are unable to financially afford the family that you already have. If you did start a new family, and now argue that paying child support will hurt your current family, then you need to start making sacrifices for both of your families. Get another job. Reduce your standard of living. Stop being selfish and thinking only of yourself.
ARTICLE II: You do not have a right to an easy life. None of us has it easy - and responsible people are willing to do whatever is necessary to ensure that their children have everything that they need - even if it means working two jobs.
ARTICLE III: You do not have a right to expect the American taxpayer to provide your children with free health care or to provide you with educational programs or job training. That would be nice - but the rest of us have made sacrifices to obtain insurance for our families and to learn the skills that are needed to survive in today's world and there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn't make those sacrifices too.
ARTICLE IV: You do not have a right to a reduction in your child support obligation just because you exercise your visitation rights. The emotional well being of your children and your ability to develop a relationship with your children should be your highest priority in life and is worth any financial sacrifices that you will have to make.
ARTICLE V: You do not have the right to happiness. Being an American means that you have the right to pursue happiness as long as your pursuit of happiness is not detrimental to others. Your children should not suffer emotionally or financially because of your pursuit of your own individual happiness. If they do, then you should be entitled to absolutely no happiness in your life at all.
ARTICLE VI: You do not have the right to blame your inability to get a job or to pay child support upon your environment; the failure of your own father to be involved in your life; your race or religion; your lack of education or anything else that you may dream up. You are the master of your own destiny and if you can't motivate yourself to learn the lessons to be successful in life, then you have no right to complain when the judge sentences you to jail for contempt of court.
ARTICLE VII: You do not have the right to withhold the payment of any portion of your child support when you have other bills that need paying. Your children are more important than any other financial obligation that you may have. The only financial right that you have is the right to reduce your standard of living so that all of the needs of your children can be met. You also have the right to get a second job so that you can meet all of the obligations that you have created for yourself.
ARTICLE VIII: You do not have the right to demand visitation rights if you do not exercise those rights responsibly and fully. If you have not seen or talked to your children for a number of years, and then demand to see them now that you are having to pay child support, the rights of the children to feel secure with you take precedence over any visitation rights you may believe that you have. If you have repeatedly failed to visit the children after promising them that you would, you have no right to insist that when and if you do show up that you be allowed to exercise the visitation rights that are contained in the court order.
ARTICLE IX: You do not have the right to complain about the amount of child support that you are required to pay. When you complain, you are putting a dollar value on the lives and well being of your children and demonstrates to everyone that you are self-centered and shallow and do not have the best interests of your children as your top priority in life.
ARTICLE X: You do not have the right to demand that the custodial parent provide a financial accounting to you for the child support that you are either paying, have paid or are required to pay. No matter what amount you are paying or are required to pay, you are getting an exceptional value for your expenditures. The amount of support that you are paying does not come anywhere near the costs of raising a child. The custodial parent is making far greater financial sacrifices - and devoting his or her entire life to the children and doing the best that he or she knows how to.
ARTICLE XI: You do not have the right to have the child support obligation reduced because you buy school clothes for your children or have the children for a few weeks during the summer or over holidays. The costs of maintaining a home for the children continues whether they are there or not.
ARTICLE XII: You do not have the right to relinquish your parental rights just because you do not want to pay child support. If you do not have a relationship with your children, it is solely and 100% your fault. If you claim that you don't have that relationship because the custodial parent denied you visitation you are living in a fantasy world.
ARTICLE XIII: You do not have the right to complain about the manner in which the custodial parent is raising the children. If you do not like what is being done with the children, you do have the right to get involved and help the custodial parent by spending more time with your children. If you do not exercise that singular right, then you are entitled to no other rights at all.
ARTICLE XIV: You do not have the right to expect some other man or woman that is involved in the lives of your children to provide full financial support for them. That man or woman is not there to replace you, the biological parent and that person will never be able to take your place in the lives of your children unless you, by virtue of your own actions, allow that to happen. If you allow the "step-parent" to replace you in the lives of your children, then the "step-parent" has every right in the world to insist that you act responsible for once in your life and insist - and demand - that you contribute financially to the well being of your children.
ARTICLE XV: You do not have the right to expect - or to ask - the courts to grant you leniency when you have failed to pay the child support that has been ordered. You acted irresponsibly, and as compensation to the custodial parent who had to make sacrifice after sacrifice while you were not paying child support, you now should be required to make sacrifices as well. Life is not a one way street. You should be held fully and completely accountable for your actions and are entitled to no considerations or concessions. You are not a victim of the judicial system - or what it may do to you as a result of your irresponsible actions. You put yourself in that position. At that point, you are no different than any other criminal who has demonstrated that he or she is unable to live by the rules of society.
Copyright © 1998 Child Support Intervention. All rights reserved.
