California’s Third District Court of Appeals has upheld the Yolo County Superior Court’s previous ruling that a state law requiring parents to pay child support for children placed in foster care. The father, Terrell Lowery, tried to argue that the exception which currently exists when the parent is a victim of a minor child’s crime should extend to him as a “derivative victim,” suffering as well in the aftermath of the crimes committed against his daughters.
From the article:
He contended that while his daughters were the direct victims of the minor’s crime, he was a derivative victim, because he had to bear the burden, financial and emotional, of the crime against his daughters.
Commissioner Dennis A. Umanzio disagreed, citing the plain language of the statute.
Interestingly enough, the article indicates that between 1993 and 2005, Terrell Lowery was responsible for paying child support to the mother of the boy in question at $475/month. In 2005, the boy went to live with Terrell, but the mother never paid child support. Further, the state doesn’t appear to be going after the child’s mother for child support while the child is in foster care, either. One has to wonder why.
For specific case information: Yolo County Department of Child Support Services v. Lowery, 09 S.O.S. 5138.
For full article: Parent Must Pay to Support Son Who Molested Stepsisters
