Parents should be legally identified and held responsible [2]

The full resolution is: "The parents of each child should be identified as a legal requirement and the parents shall be held responsible by the government for the costs of raising the child. " Parents should be held responsible for the care of their children. Unidentified fathers cannot be held responsible. The problem is growing due to the large number of births outside of legal marriage, many with unidentified fathers. In the US in 2007: * Number of live births to unmarried women: 1,527,034 * Birth rate for unmarried women: 47.5 births per 1,000 unmarried women aged 15-44 years * Percent of all births to unmarried women: 36.9 . http://www.cdc.gov... Therefore we need a system by which responsibility can be legally imposed on the parents of a child. A system is proposed to identify parents and hold them responsible. This has been identified by professional social workers as a significant problem: "Fathers and paternal relatives are often overlooked or underutilized resources for children involved in the child welfare system, and children themselves suffer the consequences. Focus groups and surveys in New York State identified the lack of timely identification, location, and case plan involvement of fathers as factors that contribute to long foster care stays, lengthy termination of parental rights procedures, and less positive outcomes for children in foster care. Identifying the father early in the case and helping him become involved in his child's life is particularly important. " - Identifying Absent Fathers and Paternal Relatives Relatives . http://www.childfocuspartners.com... In the case of a dissolved relationship, the following definition applies: "child support or child maintenance is the ongoing obligation for a periodic payment made directly or indirectly by a non-custodial parent to a custodial parent, caregiver or guardian, or the government, for the care and support of children of a relationship or marriage that has been terminated" . http://en.wikipedia.org... The article goes on to state, "The right to child support and the responsibilities of parents to provide such support have been internationally recognized. The 1992 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, a binding convention signed by every member nation of the United Nations and formally ratified by all but two, declares that the upbringing and development of children and a standard of living adequate for the children's development is a common responsibility of both parents and a fundamental human right for children, and asserts that the primary responsibility to provide such for the children rests with their parents. " A system is proposed as follows: When a child is born: a. Within marriage or outside of marriage, if both parents sign a certificate asserting parenthood, they are deemed the responsible parents. Within marriage existing laws of parental responsibility shall apply. Lesbian couples shall be treated as if married for purposes of parental responsibility if both sign the certificate of parenthood. b. If the father does not claim parentage, the mother is required by law to name the father or provide to authorities a list of possible fathers. The authorities shall use DNA testing to confirm paternity. If the mother fails to comply, the mother shall be held guilty of a misdemeanor and punished by 60 days in the county jail or a juvenile facility, as appropriate, to be served within two years at a time set by the Courts. c. If paternity cannot be determined by information provided by the mother, an investigation shall be conducted by authorities to determine paternity. Any man who denies paternity and is subsequently identified, shall be punished by 60 days in the county jail or a juvenile facility, as appropriate. d. Authorities shall have broad authority upon reasonable suspicion to collect DNA from potential suspects in a paternity investigation. (This is typically done using a mouth swab. ) e. The parents shall be required to provide monetary support for the child until the child is eighteen. A system for attaching wages shall be implemented. The Courts shall be responsible for determining the amounts. Failure to notify authorities of income shall be punishable as a felony. f. If the child is legally adopted, the financial responsibility of the birth parents ends. g. If the child receives support from the government, the parents bear a lifetime responsibility to repay that support. h. In cases of rape or incest, the mother bears no responsibility to identify the father. Financial responsibility is as determined by present law. i. If an investigation was required to determine paternity, a fine shall be assessed upon the father. I probably have not covered all possible contingencies. In some cases those may be covered by existing law, or the proposed system can be reasonably extended to cover them. The resolution stands upon the principle of identification of parents and holding them responsible within the general framework of the proposed plan. To enforce the moral responsibility for parents to support their children, to reduce the financial burden upon the taxpayer, and to discourage irresponsible parenting, the resolution is affirmed.