BBM:I will have to respectfully disagree with this. In the case where someone is only earning approximately $550 a month for disability, having to pay a quarter of an amount that you cannot even live on does not make sense. Especially when the children's other parent is capable of full time work, yet maybe doesn't. Sometimes the court only sees what is on paper, not the reality of a situation.
I have a friend (a good friend) who used to get all upset when her ex didn't send the child support. Her ex was a bozo, but he sent as much as he could and still be able to pay his own bills (he never totally slacked). My friend was now remarried and didn't even NEED the child support (her house was crammed full of "stuff", so there was at least plenty of money for that). Yet still, no matter how many times they went back to court he still had to pay the full amount of child support, even though he had less money than she did and his own new family to support. He was willing to take the kids full time, part time, whatever, to make up the difference in what he couldn't pay, but that wasn't good enough for my friend. She just wanted the money. And the court backed her.
So, I don't happen to agree that all parents need to pay child support to the parent raising the child, blindly. I think the courts need to look at the reality of the cases a little more closely.