I've known cats who were in a situation where the mother and her family acted SO shitty every time they did visit their child that they just gave up and started to view the child as a debt and not a person. Shit happens all the time. Not all "deadbeat dads" are deadbeats and not all of them are avoiding their kids by choice. I knew one cat that consistantly drove 5 hours each way to see his kid and the bitch baby momma and her family would only let him see the kid for 15 minutes a pop and THEN only supervised by the chick's father who acted an ass the whole time doing shit like not letting him hold his kid and talking all kinds of crazy shit the whole time. He did that shit for a year, the courts weren't getting him anywhere and, finally, he gave up. He feels his only recourse to be able to have a relationship with this kid is to sue for sole custody, but the courts have seen to it that THAt won't happen and as long as supervised custody is in place, the crazy bitch and hjer family are going to do everything in their power to ruin any relationship he may have with his kid. I talked to him about it and his attitude is, she's going to have to explain what the fuck happened, not him and she'll most likely lie (because she's that kind of person), so he's not going to worry about what he can't control. A LOT of women who don't have the fathers of their children in their lives lie to their kids about why, it's that little secret nobody wants to hear. Some women just make it impossible and are MORE than willing to hurt their own child to hurt the childs' father and a lot of fathers in those situations feel it's better to just stay away and possibly save their kid some long-term grief in relation to their crazy bitch of a mother. I know females that have literally BEATEN their kids because they show loyalty to their own father.
I don't say this to defend "deadbeat dads", I say this to shed some light on the fact that it's not all about dad in all these situations.
Also, MANY so-called deadbeat dads pay MORE than they are required by the court in the care of their child and are still labelled deadbeats because their lying baby-mother under reports the father's contribution. He may be buying food, clothes, various classes, toys, spending time with the kid, but when the court date comes, the mother walks in with a couple of cancelled checks and says he did nothing because he bought his kid school clothes intead of writing her a check she could spend half of on herself. I even know cats that give their exes access to their bank accounts (atm cards) and the baby mom wipes them out monthly, yet will go into court in a second and say he's done nothing.
That pendulum swings both ways.
I got three kids, WITH MY WIFE and I'm glad of it because having a kid by the wrong bitch is nothing but a lifetime of bullshit. Seems like even the so-called most honest of women will lie in the face of a family court judge.