In Indiana, there is a bill being proposed that would collect winnings won in casinos by parents who are behind in child support payments and handing them over to the kids.

It’s getting a lot of support from Department of Child Services, Senator Schnieder and the Governor, but casinos are not on board with the idea:

The Casino Association of Indiana worries the legislation would cause a two-minute delay on casino floors while names of winners are checked against an electronic list of people owing child support.

They also site these reasons that would further complicate things:

….searching an outside database of people who owe child support could be problematic since not all casino floors have Internet access.

Also, more than half of casino gamblers are from out of state, so the chances of catching deadbeat parents are relatively small, he said. Smith also argued that child support collections are the government’s responsibility, not the role of private business.

First of all, why don’t all casino floors have internet access? I see the point being made about most gamblers are from out of state. However, Colorado casinos already have something similar in place and they don’t seem to have a problem enforcing it, even if it is a bit of a headache and not without complaint from the casinos themselves.

Second, let’s look at a few stats: In Indiana a little over half of payments are collected.

More than 165,000 noncustodial parents each owe more $2,000 in back child support, which adds up to more than $2 billion in delinquencies, according to the state Department of Child Services

And, really, what the hell are you doing gambling in a casino if you can’t pay your child support and/or are considerably behind?

I have my doubts that this proposed bill will actually be put into place, despite being backed by the Department of Child Services and various statesmen. Indiana isn’t the most ‘family friendly’/'family forward’ state.

I have succumbed to the fact that nothing I own belongs to just me. Even my personal sanctuary was tainted with kiddie cooties, when Dad had to put the kids in my special spa tub last night. He had no choice, as the other tubs were out of order, but that is another long and disgusting story. Grimy playground residue now decorates the non slip floor of my precious bath tub, because my husband forgot to rinse it out. Being that he took on the task of bathing all seven kids, it would have been down right bitchy to complain about the presence of spawn scum. After last night’s bath, it was quite evident that the separation of “Mom” and “Me,” is dangerously close to extinction. There is rapidly decreasing space for a “Me” in this house. As a result of last night, I’m currently trying to figure out how to install a secret spa tub in the back of the van. I tried to take measurements but the fossilized layer of fishy crackers and football equipment, kept me from being able to maneuver around. I may have to call in a professional. Once the tub installation is complete, I will be able to drive to an undisclosed location and take a relaxing soak, without fear of slipping on tear free shampoo slime and having an amputated Barbie leg inadvertently crammed up my ass…ouch!

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When I saw a link from And We Shall March to an article titled, “She’s her own twin,” I had to click on it.

Fairchild’s fight for her kids began when she was 26-years-old, unemployed and applying for public assistance in Washington state. Everyone in her family had to be tested to prove they were all related.

The Department of Social Services called Fairchild and told her to come in immediately. What Fairchild thought was a routine meeting with a social worker turned into an interrogation. The proud mother was suddenly a criminal suspect.

“As I sat down, they came up and shut the door, and they just went back and just started drilling me with questions like, ‘Who are you?’” Fairchild said. The DNA test results challenged everything she knew about her family. Yes, her boyfriend was the father of the children, and, yes, they were all related, according to the DNA, except for Fairchild. She was told she wasn’t the mother.

What do you know–she’s her own twin, the result of a rare medical condition called chimerism which results when two fertilized eggs fuse in the womb and grow into one individual. And because of it she almost lost custody of her own kids; at the eleventh hour, her lawyer found out about this condition from independent research and had her tested for it.

The state was still so suspicious of Fairchild that when she gave birth to another child, a court officer stood in the delivery room to witness an immediate DNA test.

“They took DNA from the baby and myself right then and there, after birth, and it came back that there is no way possible that baby is mine,” Fairchild said.

Even though they’d witnessed the birth, officials believed she was acting as a surrogate, possibly bearing a child for money.

Fairchild’s attorney was determined to solve the mystery. That’s when he came across Keegan’s chimera story in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“I asked the judge to postpone the case until these tests could be done,” Tindell said.

After the tests were done, there was proof that Fairchild was her own twin as well. The judge finally believed Fairchild was the biological mother of her children and dismissed the case.

“I probably wouldn’t have my kids today if they didn’t discover her situation. They wouldn’t have known to even consider me as a chimera,” Fairchild said.

?‚? Is science the villain or the hero of this story?