Duped Dads! Colorado Child Support Bill Touches Complicated Financial and Personal Issues
Child support is often a major consideration during many divorces, but what happens when the man later learns through a DNA test that he is not the biological father of his children? This issue of “Duped Dads” has been addressed in a recent Time article and is now causing much controversy in Colorado. Senate Bill 56 – the Colorado “Duped Dads” bill – was introduced last week. This child support bill would undo a current Colorado law requiring a father to pay child support for children over the age of five even if a paternity test shows that man to not be the biological father, according to a story in the Rocky Mountain News.
The Colorado “Duped Dads” bill would allow men like Dylan Davis to get out of paying child support. The 36-year-old Davis learned following his divorce that his twin-children were not biologically his via a DNA test. Davis still pays $663 a month for child support, but has no contact with his children, who now live out of state with their mother. According to a Citizens Against Paternity Fraud statistic cited in the Rocky Mountain News story, nearly 1 million men are in similar predicaments in the United States.
Senator Shawn Mitchell sponsored this Colorado bill which he says will provide justice to duped dads. While he acknowledged the importance of children receiving adequate support, Mitchell said that such support should not be “based on an injustice.” Opponents to this Colorado child support bill argue that allowing men to walk away from child support payments can not only have a severe financial effect but also a lasting psychological impact on the children involved. Arnie Goldstein, an associate director of a youth center in Aurora, Colorado, said in the story that “whoever raises the kid is the father” and should pay for child support.
A similar Colorado “Duped Dads” Bill failed to garner enough support two years ago. If this bill were to become law, Colorado would join Georgia, Florida, Maryland and Ohio as states which protect men who prove that they are not the biological fathers.
