While there is conversation about poverty in Maine, let’s start dialogue about the deadbeat dads that cause much of the poverty we are seeing.

Poverty in Maine is partly due to what society has allowed. Divorce is too easy. People are encouraged to do what is good for them, and dads are allowed to just walk away from the responsibility of raising a family. These dads act more like uncles, renting video games and buying new toys, while neglecting child support and health insurance. The state ends up shelling out millions of dollars to cover the health care needs of these children.

It is the custodial parent, who is left behind, who is pushed to work and raise the children. The absent parent is busy doing his or her own thing, often hiding under the guise of being self-employed so their wages cannot be garnished and their income remains hidden.

The child support enforcement division is overwhelmed with the number of deadbeat parents in the state. It is grass-roots organizations such as Babes Respond Against Deadbeat Dads that will have to come up with creative and legal ways to collect child support due the primary care parent.

If communities worked together to encourage and enforce deadbeat parents to support their families, we would see a decrease in the tax burden that such people have put on our state.

Linda Sherwood, Auburn

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