Making Dad Cough Up: Kids Resort to the Courts

On the afternoon of March 9, Hsiao Tsu, a girl in her first year of middle school, accompanied by her mother Chia Kuan-yu, sat in silent protest at the main entrance to the Taipei District Court. Despite pleas that she go back to school from her principal, guidance counselor, and even the president of the district court, Hsiao Tsu stuck to her guns. She persisted in her protest at the entrance, even sleeping out in the open for three nights.

Declared Hsiao Tsu: "Until I get a response from the judicial authorities, I won't leave. Even if I am expelled from school, I don't care-I'll do whatever it takes!"

Blame it on the parents

Two years ago, Hsiao Tsu sued her father for abandonment, requesting NT$15 million for her future education. Hsiao Tsu won her case, but the judge ruled that there was no concrete basis for her NT$15 million claim, and also said that one cannot demand future education funds in a lump sum, and consequently rejected this claim in favor of one based on a standard selected by the court.

Still Hsiao Tsu refused to admit defeat. She argued that the judge was being capricious and arbitrary, and demanded that he be dismissed or punished. That is how she ended up with her Mom unfurling a protest banner at the Taipei District Court.

In fact, Hsiao Tsu is not the first child to sue a parent. There were numerous cases before hers. But none got nearly as much press attention. And after Hsiao Tsu's case hit the media, it inspired a series of "copycat" cases: Fang Wei sued her father Chyi Chin (a well-known singer), Hsiao Ching took her mother to court, Hsiao Hui sued her father for abandonment. . . . All of these suits were inspired by Hsiao Tsu's example, from which the children picked up both the initial idea and the steps to follow.

Hsiao Ching, a sixth grader, accompanied by her stroke-victim father, brought suit against her mother for abandonment. She even put out statements in the e-media saying things like, "I want my mother to know what it feels like to be in prison." Upon leaving the courtroom, Hsiao Ching said to reporters: "I call her Mom, but she doesn't pay any attention to me. What is she so afraid of?"

Next came Hsiao Hui, a 13-year-old girl from Chiayi City. Accompanied by her mother, she "rang the bell" (the traditional Chinese symbol of appealing to the judicial process) to accuse her father of abandonment. In the accusation, which Hsiao Hui composed herself, she stated that her father had gone to mainland China on business and never returned. Now, with her mother ill and things reaching a crisis point, she had no choice but to sue.

NT$15 million?

When Hsiao Tsu made her sweeping demand for NT$15 million, she said it was "a sum adequate to pay all expenses for schooling." The judge found, however, that there was no detailed accounting for the assumed expenses.

So where did the number NT$15 million come from? Chia Kuan-yu explains that Hsiao Tsu saw an article in the "Family" section of the China Times supplement which claimed that it costs NT$15 million to raise a child. So that's why she asked that her father provide that much money in support.

How much does it cost to raise a child? It's hard to calculate such a figure, and there is no standard answer. As a result, disconcertingly, each judge applies his or her own discretion to claims for child support, each using a different standard.

In a newspaper article, attorney Huang Hsien-kai wrote that some judges refer to the monthly household expenses calculated in the "Survey of Household Income and Expenditures" of the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics of the Executive Yuan. Others use the minimum monthly living expenses contained in the "Handbook for Social Assistance Services." And still others base their decisions on the deductions for dependents allowed by income tax regulations.

Jennifer J.H. Wang, a lawyer and vice chairwoman of the Awakening Foundation, says that in Taipei City, in the past most judges used the income tax deduction for dependents, which is only NT$72,000 per year. In the last year or so, many have changed over to using national per capita consumption expenses, which figures to NT$20,000 or so per month.

In Hsiao Tsu's case, however, the judge relied on the "1998 Survey of Normal Monthly Family Expenditures Per Person in Taipei City," produced by the city's department of statistics. The result was that Hsiao Tsu was found to be entitled to NT$26,654 per month from her natural father until she reaches age 20.

In another case, that of Hsiao Hsuan in Ilan, the judge instead referred to a pronouncement from the county statistics office to the effect that per capita monthly consumption in Ilan is NT$18,617. This became the basis for Hsiao Hsuan's child support, for which the two parents were ruled to share responsibility at NT$9309 each per month, to be paid in a single lump sum, covering the period from the date of the appeal to the day Hsiao Hsuan reaches adulthood.

Judges use different standards, but what is even more controversial is the failure of judges to implement the requirement in law that the parents' financial situation must be taken into account in calculating living and educational expenses.

The last resort

In fact, it is difficult to regulate family relationships by means of law, and even more difficult to calculate or compensate for family values in monetary terms. Ellen Huang, a national policy advisor to the president and also president of the Single Parent Educational Foundation, argues that the law should not be brought into family problems unless there is no other option. "Once you embark on the judicial path, there can only be animosity between parent and child." She says with some regret: "Hsiao Tsu was not in the wrong, but we should all be reminded to think carefully about the method she chose."

To be sure, recourse to lawsuits is not the ideal way to solve problems, especially family problems. Nonetheless, when there is no other way, the law is the final recourse. Chia Kuan-yu explains that they went through family mediation by a social worker, but without result. Though the judicial process has proven to be, in her words, "a very rough road," they had no choice but to go to court.

Kenneth H.C. Chiu, an attorney at Kew and Lord, notes that there are a number of reasons why in the past it was so rare to see a child sue a parent: People preferred not to air the dirty family laundry in public, there was very low consciousness of individual rights, and people's expectations were much lower. But society has changed a great deal recently. People are more conscious of their rights, and the expectations that children have of parents are correspondingly higher.

Children are not tools

But while it may be more common to see children filing suit against their parents, a lawsuit of Hsiao Tsu's variety is still, as Chiu puts it, "a rare species unique to Taiwan." It is inconceivable in civilized countries, he argues, for a child to be the plaintiff, up front and in the open, and go to court without any professional assistance whatsoever.

It is acceptable, says Chiu, for a suit to be filed in a child's name, but that does not mean the child has to appear in the actual trial. In other words Hsiao Tsu would never have had to appear in court to answer questions, but could have had her legal agent (her mother) stand in for her. Thus the United Daily News complained about a system in which "the decision of whether or not to go to court was entirely put on a 13-year-old."

From another angle, social critic Nan Fang Shuo says that while it is natural for adults to appear in the halls of justice, bringing a child to court is simply a sympathy ploy, making the case a matter of "sentiment" or "politics" rather than pure law. "Manipulating children is a blind spot of Asian society, where so much emphasis is placed on appeals to sentiment." Nan Fang Shuo says such tactics are understandable, but not desirable.

One gets a similar sense of injustice from the fact that children must prepare their own appeals without professional legal help.

Kenneth Chiu says that in Europe, where there is a highly developed system of legal assistance, the government provides legal information or help in criminal or civil cases to people who are economically disadvantaged. This system ensures that everyone can enjoy legal services, and can have the opportunity to secure their legal rights.

But in Taiwan at present, legal representation is only guaranteed in serious criminal cases. No assistance is provided for civil actions.

We want justice!

Things are getting pretty bad when a child has to take to the courts just to get enough money for a reasonably normal childhood, and it only makes it harder that society does not especially support such children in their efforts. And what kind of justice do they get in the end? Not much.

For one thing, lawsuits are very time-consuming. Hsiao Tsu has been in the courts for a year, and still hasn't seen a dime. If she needed that money to live, she would have starved to death by now!

Money for educational or living expenses can only be obtained after three judicial reviews, so the legal option is no solution in an emergency. And if the defendant manages to get rid of legal title to all his or her property while the trial is still going on, the plaintiff will get nothing even if he or she wins the case.

Jennifer Wang of the Awakening Foundation says: "Society must rethink, and the law must rethink, otherwise what will happen to kids like Hsiao Tsu in the future?" Among the many things that need to be reconsidered are the following: Costs for bringing suit should be lowered; trials should be made speedier; children should be allowed to collect some money up front; the parent(s) in question should pay as much as their economic resources allow; enforcement should be made more effective. . . .

Let's look for a moment at how the problem of child support is handled in other countries where divorce and single parenthood are more common than in Taiwan.

Statistics from 1982 show that in the US at that time, 80% of women who had the sole responsibility for raising and educating their children were entitled to receive child support. The average amount was US$4000 per year, which was on average about 13% of the men's income. Child support payments were determined using three criteria: The amount should be enough to meet the necessary expenses of the child, while being only a reasonable portion of the father's income, and while taking into account what both parents could give to the child.

Yet, because of inflation or changed circumstances as children get older, it is often necessary for the parent with responsibility for the child to go back to court periodically to have the child support payment increased. Otherwise, it would be increasingly difficult to meet the child's actual needs.

This assumes, of course, that the parent who is supposed to pay child support does not duck his or her responsibility, which is a big problem in American society. Studies show that the main reasons for failure to pay child support are emotional estrangement of parent from child, remarriage which imposes economic or psychological burdens on the paying parent, and poor relations between the two natural parents.

In the past, each state operated independently in handling this issue, but under the Clinton administration a new federal law was passed making it possible for "deadbeat dads" who had moved to another state to be tracked down through federal tax records. The law further makes it possible to have child support payments taken directly out of the parent's paycheck, and to suspend a parent's driving license in the event of non-payment. According to an article in Reader's Digest, the US government has in this way recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in child support payments.

It's not my fault

"He has the money to go play around with women, but not to support his daughter." "I just want a life like a daughter born to parents who are married." Hsiao Tsu's appeals in court draw attention not only to shortcomings in the law, but also to unfair attitudes in society at large.

"These days it's impossible for any parent currently married to be sure that he or she will not one day become a single parent," says Ellen L. Huang of the Single Parent Educational Foundation. Single parenthood is a growing trend, so society should not discriminate against single parents. On the contrary, it should be aware of the difficulties single parenthood poses. "Difficulties" refers here mainly to a lack of money, emotional issues, or extra burdens in the raising and instruction of the children involved.

It is especially difficult to be a female single parent in Taiwan, because the child usually carries the family name of the father, so the mother's family is less willing to accept or help the child.

According to the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics, Taiwan has nearly 500,000 single-parent families, with an average annual income of NT$850,000 or so, much lower than the figure for nuclear families (about NT$1.2 million), extended families living together (NT$1.4 million), and the average for all families in Taiwan (NT$1 million plus).

Besides financial problems, single mothers often encounter certain prejudices against single-parent families. Chia Kuan-yu relates that Hsiao Tsu's teacher once told the class: "All children who have the surnames of their mothers, raise your hands." Hsiao Tsu was the only one to put up her hand. Could such circumstances do anything but cause a child to feel hurt or isolated from her peers?

Many traditional attitudes are at odds with the realities of modern society, leading to confusion over issues of parental rights, parental responsibilities, child custody, and child support.

When traditions are no more

Custody is the best example. Kenneth Chiu says that often when parents divorce, the decision on custody is all-or-nothing. The side that loses custody often thinks this means they have nothing further to do with the child. The side that wins custody, on the other hand, is assumed to bear all responsibilities for raising the child.

In fact, loss of custody does not imply absence of responsibility for the child's welfare. In other words, even if a parent gets divorced or was never married in the first place, his or her obligations to the child do not change.

Chiu believes that it would be advisable to set up a system of family visitation. "It is only possible to maintain emotional attachments when people can actually meet. If there are family visits, this would alleviate some of the problems of child support."

In addition, children born out of wedlock are legally entitled to the same rights to support and inheritance as legitimate children. But this is not the way things generally work in society. Chiu says that it is common, after a funeral, to see the wife or legitimate children of the deceased asking the illegitimate children to give up all rights to inheritance.

However, many people draw the line on parental obligations at one point: While children have the right to demand support from parents, adults cannot demand support from absent partners. It was thus unreasonable, some argue, for Hsiao Tsu to call for her father to support her mother as well as herself, and there is no such right written into law. "Marriage is not a lifetime meal ticket," avers Jennifer Wang. Women must abandon this idea, because in the end each adult must take responsibility for him- or herself.

Where's home?

Hsiao Tsu once wrote a letter to Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou which read in part: "How I hope to be like the caterpillar, the butterfly, or the little bird, and have a warm and stable home. But right now I am like the wind or the clouds, blown every which way. . . ." Whatever may be the long-term impact on society of Hsiao Tsu's lawsuit, the only way to resolve the problem is to face it head on and honestly.

A good starting point is the program, begun last May under the leadership of the Ministry of the Interior's department of social affairs, to provide financial support to "families of women in special circumstances." Besides offering help in emergency situations, this program also provides services like public housing subsidies, family education, and family reconstruction. By using the rubric "women in special circumstances," moreover, the program sidesteps moral judgments and lends help to women regardless of their status, be they divorced, unwed mothers, or whatever.

Wang Shun-ming, an associate professor in the Department of Social Welfare at the Chinese Culture University, says: "When the family support system has broken down, and the structure is weak, society should offer support, not blame."

Hsiao Tsu is not the first child to cry for help, and will not be the last. The challenge for all parents, and indeed for Taiwan society as a whole, is to learn how to offer all the Hsiao Tsus a safe path they can tread to adulthood.

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"A child with a home is like a treasure, a child without a home is like withered grass. . . ." Who is going to fight for justice for children who have been left without parental support? (illustration by Lee Su-ling)

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In March the Supreme Court heard the case of Hsiao Tsu (left) against her father. Accompanied by her mother (at right), Hsiao Tsu had to appear in court to answer questions. Even in the face of a crowd of media people, she did not lose her composure.

(photo by Su Sheng-pin, Central News Agency)

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Ellen L. Huang, president of the Single Parent Educational Foundation, says that we should give more attention to single-parent families without being judgmental. (photo by Pu Hua-chih)