Earlier this week I received a Way2Go Card debit card in the mail, and I did not know why.  I tried to find out why I received this debit card that I did not request, and I wrote an internet article about it.

In response to my internet article, a woman who works for the State of North Dakota replied, saying something like child support enforcement payments might begin being paid using Way2Go Cards.  Later in the week, both North Dakota Job Services, and the North Dakota Department Of Human Services Child Support Enforcement, posted notices on their websites that they will begin using Way2Go Cards on June 1, 2017.

I was looking at the North Dakota Department Of Human Services Child Support Enforcement website, and I saw some things that I didn’t like.  I have met some men that have had tremendous problems involving child support, and here are some of the reasons why, that I found on the website:

Contempt of Court

An obligor who intentionally fails to comply with a court order for child support can be held in contempt of court.  Consequences for contempt of court can include jail time, fines, license suspension, and an order to complete work activities.

Criminal Nonsupport

An obligor who willfully fails to pay child support as ordered can be prosecuted in a North Dakota court for criminal nonpayment of child support.  Criminal nonpayment of child support can be a Class C felony, which has a maximum punishment of five years’ imprisonment, a fine of $5,000, or both.

Attention Women!  I don’t know how you think that taking away a father’s driver’s license is going to help them pay child support!  If they can’t get to work, can’t keep their job, and can’t get a job because they can’t drive, how are they going to pay child support?

Attention Women!  Once someone gets a felony conviction, they are barred from most types of employment!  How are they going to pay child support when they lose their job and can’t get another job because of their felony conviction?

There are many circumstances where women become pregnant and have children, and it was not a good idea:  Teen sex where pregnancy was unintentional, young couples where pregnancy was unintentional, relationships that did not work out, marriages that did not work out.  Sometimes it turns out that the father of the children was not a good person, not caring, not intelligent, not responsible, mentally ill, an alcoholic, a drug addict.

The father of the children may be unwilling or unable to pay child support.  Examples of fathers who may be unwilling to pay child support are assholes, bullies, mentally ill, alcoholics, drug addicts.  Examples of fathers who may be unable to pay child support are stupid people, idiots, imbeciles, fools, mentally ill, alcoholics, and drug addicts.

If the father of your child is stupid, an idiot, an imbecile, a fool, mentally ill, alcoholic, or a drug addict, he will probably not be able to get a job, or keep a job for very long.  Fathers like this will never, ever be able to be current with their child support payments.  Jail time, fines, and driver’s license suspension is not going to help them become current with their child support.  It may make the mothers feel better, the jail time, fines, and license suspension, but it makes the fathers not able to get a job, keep a job, or keep a place to live and transportation for themselves.

Jail and prison, is for criminals, for people who have committed a crime.  Fathers who are stupid, an idiot, an imbecile, a fool, mentally ill, alcoholic, or a drug addict, are probably not able to get a job or keep a job for very long.  They are therefore not very likely to always have money each month to pay child support.  This is not something that is criminal, that should result in jail time, fines, and driver’s license suspension.  This is only going to further reduce their ability to obtain or keep employment.

Prison time for not paying a debt?  I thought that we got rid of debtor’s prisons about three hundred years ago when the first colonists came to America.  I thought the first colonists and the first elected representatives in the United States all knew that you can’t have debtor’s prisons.  People have no way to pay debts when they are in prison.

I think that there are many mothers who like these laws, but they like these laws because they inflict punishment on the fathers, not because they provide support for their children.

Some legal methods to obtain court ordered money judgements and collection of debt are wage garnishment, bank account garnishment, liens on property, liens on vehicles, and seizure of certain types of property that are not necessities.  We don’t have debtor’s prisons in the United States.  We should not take away a person’s driver’s license because they owe someone else money.

Because of the irrational and punitive laws that got passed in North Dakota, I think that it should be called the North Dakota Department Of Vindictive Women.