No child can be born without the input of a male, but too
many Jamaican men are being allowed to get away without providing any
financial support for the children they father.
I have seen a video making the rounds in which Oral
Tracey of TVJ, an obvious misogynist, is maligning women based on bogus
statistics which have led him to claim that Jamaican women give the most
jackets in the world. (paternity fraud).
Using false data, he goes as far as to claim that
Jamaican women are even more prone to lying about their progeny than men, who
are notorious for denying that the many children they bear are indeed theirs,
so not supporting them!
Employing man bites dog journalism, (things
only make news when they are the exception, not the rule) he points to the
fact that 70% of the men who dispute paternity are correct when tests are done.
What he fails to tell us though is, what percentage of fathers go this expensive route to dispute paternity? In other words, if the population of fathers in the
country is a hundred and only ten men dispute paternity, by
what stretch of the imagination can that tell you anything?
I resented the entire tone of his maligning
commentary which seemed designed to do nothing but denigrate Jamaican mothers
en bloc.
Yes, there are too many cases of paternity fraud
in Jamaica, and that cannot be at all accepted. I dare say too, that where men
have been supporting children because of deception, the person who committed
the fraud, ought to be penalized and action allowed to recover the funds.
But children should never be left to starve while adults’
squabble or drag out things for years on end through our snail-paced courts!
Indeed, if serious steps were taken to ensure that
fathers support their children, you would see the cases of paternity
fraud drop to nil. For in many cases, it is to save children from literally
starving, why some women inexcusably saddle other men with the cost of supporting
children they did not father.
According to UNICEF, some 45% of Jamaican households
are headed by single women, but what no statistics reveal, is what
percentage of men who fathered children who live in those households, do
not make any contribution to the financial welfare of their children!
I suspect the
percentage would be in the nineties.
In the interim, most Jamaican women put the welfare
of their children over themselves, more often than not. How
regularly do you hear or read unlikely success stories where the story-teller
heaps praises on the mom for the great sacrifices she made to enable his/her
success? How often do you hear such tributes to Jamaican fathers?
I personally know of cases where women have nothing to
eat, but will do without food themselves, while they move heaven and earth to
ensure that their children do not go hungry.
Are you aware too that many fathers will happily
support their children as long as the mother has sex with him, but the
moment she moves on, he victimizes his own children by withdrawing financial
support?
That attitude is far more widespread than we care to
acknowledge, and crosses all class lines. It is both the women and children
that suffer in such situations, since at times, the women will even have to hold
their noses and give in, for if they don’t it is the children that suffer
most.
On the 10th November 2021, I sat up when I heard
a Radio Jamaica report that MP Heroy Clarke from St. James, had proposed
in parliament that DNA tests be used to determine the true paternity of every
child at birth.
His reasoning was that it would help cut down on murders.
I assume he was referring to when this is the consequence some women suffer,
when men discover they were supporting a child that is not theirs.
This is quite pathetic reasoning, but the idea
is good for other reasons.
To begin with it would make the bringing of
pedophiles to justice much easier.
For, do we really know the extent to which uncles,
step fathers, and even fathers got underage girls pregnant in our
country and just walk away? If the child’s DNA is on file, wouldn’t it be much
easier for the police to do the job of finding the rapists, getting their DNA
and arresting them?
In the present situation, while everyone knows who got
the child pregnant, the uninterested police just claim they can’t do anything
without evidence.
I dare say too that if every baby born was tested to determine
who the father is, it would cut down on jackets too. For before any law
is passed, it is necessary to have public education done and only a mad
woman would commit paternity fraud when the day the child is born,
all would be exposed!
I go further to suggest that attached to the step
suggested by Clarke, the legislation be the legal authority to
immediately garnish the earnings of the father, where necessary. This would
eliminate the totally unacceptable, expensive and frustrating process that
women have to go through in the long, tardy court system, while the children
perish.
So far, Mr. Clarke’s suggestion has been met with many
negative responses, especially by men. Yes, it will be expensive, but it has
to be financed by the state. Sure,
it cannot be accepted simply as suggested, but it should be thoroughly debated
and the best solutions found.
The state had no problem finding billions to deal with
the covid epidemic, which is just passing crisis while the long standing one
of male irresponsibility which has been at the root of so many problems in
our society, has never been seriously addressed!
Having children growing up in financially deprived
circumstances because fathers will not honor their responsibilities, is
proving to be far more expensive and long lasting, than any public health virus
that the society will ever have to face.
And if not paternity tests to bring them in without
a lot of time wasting and frustration, what suggestions do the naysayers
have to deal with this chronic problem with which this society has been
grappling with since slavery was abolished?
I fear though that in a parliament dominated by men,
it could die a quick, silent death. That is unless the women in
parliament take up the issue and mobilize the rest of the society in the interest
of so many thousands of our children and vulnerable young women who remain
voiceless victims.
https://youtu.be/rqa4N2N8MHo
