Can State Support Be Terminated if the Mother Refuses to Identify the Father

[miek87]

My question involves paternity law for the State of: Florida

Hello, this is a question concerning my girlfriend and her daughter.

She currently receives food stamps + insurance for both her and her daughter from the state of florida. However, recently the state has requested the name of the father of the child so they wouldn't have to pay support. The father is a deadbeat criminal with a history of fraud and armed robbery! So she doesnt want him to be involved; however, the department of revenue is telling her she must tell them who he is or they will terminate both her medical insurance and her daughters and she will no longer receive aid... can they do this? Is there anyway to continue receiving support without having to have the biological father involved?

[Dogmatique]

Yes they can ABSOLUTELY do that.

Think about it - why should the taxpayers be supporting them when there's another parent to chase down?

[miek87]

Yeah that makes sense. My gf and her mother have been arguing over this matter for months, her mother wants her to not tell them who the father is and claims they are only threatening to do it but wont. I told her to be honest and just tell them before she loses medical insurance.

Will the state consider the fathers criminal history and provide proper support to the mother when it comes to custody and rights for the child? She has not been cooperating for fear of her child's safety as the father has a criminal history and she is concerned he would flee with the child. Actually he was recently arrested on a 2nd fraud charge in march and most likely faces prison time in the upcoming months.

Edit: The Florida Department of Revenue office claims nothing can be done since she did not file a charge against him during a prior incident (He kicked her awake and threatened to choke her if she ever cheated on him. She decided to leave him that day and a week later found out she was pregnant) and he would receive full parental rights despite his history.

[CourtClerk]

If dad hasn't had any convictions or documented evidence of violence towards the kids (or perhaps mom), he's going to have a right to visit the children if he pursues it. Which came first, the criminal record or the children?

As for mom, I'm surprised the mom isn't encouraging her daughter to support her own children as opposed to trying to get her daughter to play the state's hand. When you want someone else's money, you have to do what they want you to do.

[miek87]

In this case: The armed robbery was about 3-4 years before, but his recent violation was 5 months after the child was born. Currently he is not yet listed as the father. So he committed the most recent offense after the birth of his daughter but he is not listed as the father nor does he know about her yet.

Of course she (the mother of the child) doesn't want to have to rely on the support of the state but unfortunately they have no choice. Both of her parents were laid off this year(and are actively looking for work) and she (the mother of the child) is in school for cosmetology because she was having trouble with finding a job and felt that a license to practice something that she likes to do would help her find a job to support her daughter. It's not like they are living off the state because they choose to do so, it's more of a last resort while she tries to improve her chances of getting a better job since her last employer wrongfully terminated her and she has not been able to find a job since.

[Dogmatique]

He's about to find out about her.

It's time your girlfriend got a job or two; sometimes we have to put schooling aside and work to support our families. It does come down to choices, no matter how we look at things.

[CourtClerk]

In other words, he committed armed robbery and she found that so endearing that she had a baby by him?

[miek87]

Like I said above, she is really trying to look for work but was rather unsuccessful for months. Not to mention the lack of a baby sitter... rather than sitting on her hands while waiting to hear back from prospective jobs she decided to enroll in school since the program only requires 10 months to complete.

This was discovered after the fact after some investigation on her part upon finding out she was pregnant, and according to her the condom broke and she didn't want to terminate the pregnancy.

[Dogmatique]

Regardless, she needs to expect:

That Dad will be found, and the State will demand reimbursement;

That he will likely decide that he's not going to pay for a kid he can't see, and so he'll file for some form of custody and visitation;

That if he does so, he's eventually going to be getting kiddo for long periods - unsupervised. Even with his record.

[CourtClerk]

Like I said above, she is really trying to look for work but was rather unsuccessful for months. Not to mention the lack of a baby sitter... rather than sitting on her hands while waiting to hear back from prospective jobs she decided to enroll in school since the program only requires 10 months to complete.

This was discovered after the fact after some investigation on her part upon finding out she was pregnant, and according to her the condom broke and she didn't want to terminate the pregnancy.

And that's great... fine and good. But let me ask you this. Why is it that as a single parent myself, I have to work to support your girlfriend and her kids AND myself and my kids? She's had enough time to keep a social life going... because after all, she had time to meet and date you.