• •
Bl c Bush dviser id Pierce is
certainly "qualified to serve in
ny feder po ition" and t at
"Hi panics as ell as Blacks . I
be c�n idered as running­
m te .
ou, E FO SE TOR?
Although he h been in-
dicted on ultiple c rg of
criminality in the n ty and con-
oluted Ir n-Contr ho t ges -
f r-guns-for-mull h c m,
hb cling Lt. 01 Oliver
orth i being touted for the
U.. n tc. A draft orth for
n te volunteer" meeting
held in the right - . ng trong
holds of Falls Church, Va.,
here orth i much hero"
e i in the ite House Oval
Office of th United tates, Is
thi omeone' idea of a sic
jo e? If 0, like oldtime comic
B ter e ton, they ain't milia'.
ri n . t Edelm n
I f every teen ould wait until
he/ he i re dy to h ve a child,
teens ould not have to cope
with the difficult problems of
child upp rt. That is why we
mu t urge our young people to
it. But for tho e who have al­
ready had a child out of ed­
loc , learning about child sup­
port i important to the future of
mother, father, and child.
Therefore, in this column, I try
to ns er the mo t common and
urgent que tions young parents
h ve about the child support
proce .
T n m the n' to kno .
"How hard is it to prove who is
the father of my baby.
B caus of cientific advan-
c thi proce is n more
. implc and more accurate. The
child. upp rt office wilt b e it
patcrnity deci ion n 10 d te ts
ta on r m the po iblc father,
the m thcr, and th h b . If a
id to be the
father and d not clieve he is,
to right to ask for a
nc
n
)
. .. .
While most of us upper poor
and middlecl lobs are wres­
tling with income tax forms that
uld frustr te the mind of a
quantum physicist, and orrying
about here in the world we will I
scrape up the cash to pay the
humungous increased tax bite
this year, Pre ident Reagan and
his bride were laughing all the
ay to the bank. Reagan's
reported income was $345,359
I t year on which he paid, ac­
cording to a released report,
,638 in taxes down by more
than 10,000 from the amount he
paid last year on more than
S9,OOO less income. The Presi­
dent certainly benefited from
the tax-revision law he signed
last year and has stubbornly
declared he will resist oongres­
sional enactment of a law in­
creasing taxation of the rich.
CHILD
WATCH
in edloc -. Then· the court will
ct an amount of support that
the father should provide for the
child. If payments are not met,
they accumulate as debts to the
state.
"How call the child support
system help protect my rights as a
[ather?"
Child upport order often
include guarantees that fathers
have the right to visit their child.
Many teen fathers want to be in­
volved with their child, and find
way to help by buying diapers,
baby- itting or other informal
arrangements. If father do not
have money, they should be ex­
pected to contribute time and
energy to the care of their child,
until they can help financially.
There are far still too many
unanswered question about
child upport and teen parents.
As our states wo on overhaul­
ing our child support system,
they hould pay close attention
to the special needs of teen
p rents. They hould incre e
effort to edu te both 'parents
b lUt our child support y tern.
Our goal hould be to balance
re pon ibility more f irly be­
tween the top rent , while
protecting the best interest 0
the child.
Marian Wright Edelman i
President of the Children's
Defense FUI d, a national voice
for children.