Single Parenting: Deadbeat Parents and Pizza Boxes

There was a story recently picked up by my local news feeds, that talked about the innovative idea of having photos of parents accused of failing to pay child support posted on the top of pizza boxes. So when a customer picks up his pizza or gets his pizza delivered he will see about 4 or 5 men or women, possibly in his area, that have not realized their obligation of paying child support.

My first thought was Ouch! My second thought: Here's another attempt at Tough Love.

First, Will they be caught?

Could this work? The answer - Possibly, since, yes I would imagine, most people running from the law don't actually eat out, they order food, as suggested by the original article. So that leaves the many pizza delivery guys and pizza store workers out there to be the main identifiers. Secondary identifiers are people who order pizza down the block from the guy in the mug shot. More identifiers might be those who step on the poster after it flies out of the garbage pail.

Still, with all those people working to try to make a clear identification what is also necessary to make this effective is to have the pizzerias agree to participate.

Say that just one-half the pizza places in one county in one state agree-such as Ohio. Then, truly this method is worth the try. That is a lot of pizza pies and if the trend catches on across a neighboring state (such as Pennsyvania) there is a higher chance of catching the deadbeat parent. This can really hit home, especially with younger parents who might be thinking of violating the law. I mean you can't get closer with the lesson "this is what could happen to you" than with WANTED posters on pizza boxes. I mean people in America eat a lot of pizza. For instance and ironically, the record for most pizzas ordered in one night was the night OJ Simpson (possibly one of the most famous of all child support providers) was on the run from the police on a Los Angeles Highway. That night 94 million Americans were glued to their television sets.