If abandoning your child at a church door is not the very definition of being a "deadbeat" parent, what on earth could be? But the pejorative "deadbeat" is almost always reserved for fathers, not mothers, and it's apparently the case here, too.

From Abandoned baby now with dad in Auburn (Associated Press, 10/6/08):

The baby girl who was abandoned at a Federal Way church is now with her father.

Clark Stevens was training with his National Guard unit in Wisconsin last week when he was called home to Auburn because he had a daughter.

Stevens says he didn't even know his ex-girlfriend was pregnant. Now he has bonded with his daughter, Mariah Verle Stevens.

Nurses at a Tacoma hospital called her Autumn Doe after she was found Sept. 28 at Steel Lake Presbyterian church in Federal Way.

The mother later turned herself in to police and said she thought she had done the right thing.

Stevens has custody of Mariah who will be cared for by his mother. He will be deployed the next 10 months in Iraq.

Rick, a reader, sent me the above along with the following two predictions:

1)  The mother will not be assessed child support.

2)  She will change her mind about the baby, get custody, and get child support.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 9th, 2008 at 3:37 pm and is filed under Child Support/Child Support Enforcement, Single Mothers, "Single Mothers by Choice", Single Fathers, Teen Fathers. You can trackback from your own site.