by Miguel Polanco-Plata

Created on: April 26, 2009

Many people that have chosen to write a response to this section I don't feel have considered all the possible reasons the parent may be a so called dead beat. For one they may not be able to pay child support while the other parent may be covering all the Childs expenses. Is that to say that the parent is a dead beat? I know an individual that now during this economic crisis is not able to contribute financially to his child but emotionally has never left his Childs side. Is that a dead beat dad? Or if the situation was to flip and the father was never to be seen but all the finances were covered, would he still be a dead beat dad or parent? Just the other day I was watching a talk show where a young teenage girl was trying to get pregnant without telling her boy friend that she was sabotaging her birth control and his condoms. Would that young parent who never wanted and thought he was practicing safe sex still be considered a dead beat dad if he never wanted a child. He thought that all steps were being taken to prevent a child from coming into this world. But because of another parent he had no control over the decision? Put yourself in a place where you are the person male or female and your partner tricked you into having a child. Would you want to have a responsibility you never asked for?

Male Version: You and your girl friend are sexually active and you both agree to wait until you are ready and married to have children. She on the other hand really does not feel that way she wants a child now and feels that if you have one together you will not leave her. She says she is taking birth control and breaks the condom. You both have sex and she becomes pregnant. Should the male parent be forced to take care of a child that was forcibly brought into this world planned by only one of the two parents, and if he chooses not to be jailed?

Female Version: You and your boyfriend are sexually active and have agreed to wait until the time is right to have children; you are financially unstable and want to wait until you are settled to have a child. Your boyfriend wants a child so he switches your birth control with a sugar pill and poked a small hole in the condom with a needle through the wrapper, that way you see him open the wrapper never really knowing that the condom is damaged. Should you be forced to keep the child knowing that you cannot support it financially? If you give the child up for adoption despite the father's wishes are you a dead beat parent?

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