Some people can’t afford marriage. Some people can’t afford to have children. And many more couples can’t afford life after a divorce.

But economic status rarely stops any of these events from taking place. Babies show up.

Public hearings by the state Advisory Committee on Child Support Guidelines held in Montgomery are heated. Dads think their ex-wives are soaking them and moms who get the children say they need more financial help.

Whatever the state does to update its guidelines for child support is going to leave some people mighty unhappy. Even so, many children are going to continue not getting the parental financial support that’s in the current schedule that judges use to establish payments.

At a hearing last week, child support policy expert Jane Venohr said that Alabama parents owe $2.2 billion in back support. She said those parents with income of less than $10,000 owe 80 percent of the back payments.

While some children will see an increase in support, provided the state eventually increases payments, one result is likely to be that the back payment grows.

In many of these low-income cases, parents who are not making payments and those not receiving them have never been married to each other and have children with different partners.

While the state is right to pay attention to giving former spouses equitable treatment, that $2.2 billion in back child support is the elephant in the room that is not acknowledged.

All children must receive proper care, but no one has figured out a way to relieve the public of the burden the 80 percent cause without involving social engineering.

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