odial mothers need the payments in order to provide an environment in which the minor child would not have to be raised in poverty and neglecting necessary things required for living. Of the 14 million custodial parents in 1998, 7.9 million had some type of support agreement or award for compensation for their children. The remaining 6.1 million parents had no child support agreements or the agreements were pending. Various reasons were attributed to the fact of 44.6 percent of all custodial parents not having made legal or informal agreements. Majority of the reason was due to the parents feeling that there was no need for a legal agreement. The other reasons rounded out to be that the other parent could not afford to pay, or the other parent provided what they could. When we view the government data that 6.2 million single custodial mothers do not receive child support, we cringe in disbelief, and wonder how custodial fathers can be so uncaring to their children. However, examining the data closer reveals a much different aspect of why things are the way they are. When the reasons for custodial mothers not receiving child support, or not even having a child support order to begin with, are examined, it becomes clear that deadbeat dads are a rarity. Of the statistics put out in 1998, only 13.3 percent of the total unpaid child support was due to a custodial father not being able to be located or the father not paying. The aforementioned statistics on non-paying custodial fathers represents that not all fathers abandon their responsibilities or their children. The reputation for custodial fathers is being ruined by the 13.3 percent of fathers who cannot be located or who are not paying a child support order. Most single, custodial fathers are good, loving people who will happily care for and love their children. However, we believe the worst of single fathers, we accept the negative images of deadbeat dads without question, only to fi...
