Parents still ordered to pay for college

I posted about the Divorced parents have to pay college tuition. Now there is an update:

THE 21-year-old student suing her estranged parents for university fees was back in court this week claiming they should be held in contempt because they refuse to pay.

Caitlyn Ricci filed a motion on Monday arguing that her parents, Michael Ricci and Maura McGarvey, violated a judge’s previous decision by failing to pay her $US16,000 ($19,200) tuition at Temple University, Philadelphia.

Ricci’s father said he has no intention of paying until his daughter reconnects with the New Jersey family. Ricci hasn’t spoken with her parents for two years.

“That’s fine. They can hold me in contempt of court. They can do whatever they want,” Mr Ricci told US TV station WPVI-TV. “I’m not going to pay. I’m not going to give them any money until my daughter has a relationship with me and we start to heal our family.”

Here is the dad's story (also here):

Most nights before I fall asleep, I have tears in my eyes thinking about the difficulty my family is going through. My daughter is suing her mother and me for $16,000 towards college tuition, and a judge has ruled in her favor. My daughter moved out, and I only ever see her in court. It’s certainly not what I wanted for my family.

Every day I wake up and miss my daughter. I miss talking to her, seeing her, asking her about her day, and being involved in her life. I understand that after she was kicked out of her Disney internship, a program she participated in to help prepare for college, she was upset and angry at the rules her mother and I set for her. She was kicked out of the program for underage drinking, and so we had to set boundaries. That included chores, a curfew, and summer classes. When Caitlyn left our home in February 2013, to go to her grandparents, we thought we’d let her go for a couple days and then she would come home. When we called her grandparents to ask that they send her home, they said, “No, she can stay here as long as she wants.” That’s when we knew we had problems.

There is a mindset that says that college is such a good thing that it is worth any cost, and parents should make any sacrifice for the good of the kids, and therefore should do whatever it takes to pay for college. This view is very destructive. There are decent alternatives. The girl can get college loans, she can attend a cheap community college, she can work to support herself, and she can reconcile with her parents.

Here is another attack on parents:

A tattooed-up Brooklyn middle school teacher with a criminal record left her three kids home alone so she could get ink — and then went on a whiskey-drinking binge at a Lower East Side bar until Thursday morning, according to police sources and social media.

Laura Aguero, 35, who works at M.S. 88 in Park Slope, and her husband, Alfredo Bobe,41, allegedly left their 4,5, and 12 year old kids by themselves while she got tatted up at Inborn Tattoo in the Lower East Side on Wednesday night, according to police sources and posts on Facebook.

“I’m getting tatted on ludlow (Inborn) so I’ll stop by to have a drink!!! Xoxo!” she wrote on Local 138 bar’s “Whiskey Wednesday” event page at 10:32 p.m.on Wednesday. ...

A spokeswoman for the Department of Education said, “While this alleged behavior is not school-related, it is unacceptable. Ms. Aguero Dupla has been reassigned away from any classroom, and will not be in contact with students.

Sounds wacky to me, but I guess tattoos and whiskey make for a good time for others.

But now it is criminal:

However, he didn't have his keys, so he punched out a glass panel on the front door.

The shattering glass woke up neighbors who called 911, the New York Daily News reports.

Police arrived to Aguero pacing outside the building while Bobe was inside the apartment.

The couple was arrested for after police learned the kids had been left home alone for hours, according to WPIX-TV.

Aguero-Dupla was charged with three counts of endangering the welfare of a child, while Bobe was charged with acting in a manner injurious to a child.

I assume the "three counts" is for the 3 kids. But millions of parents think that it is perfectly fine for a 12yo child to babysit 4yo and 5yo kids. Who was endangered? Maybe you think that a middle-school teacher should not have an evening of tattoos and whiskey, and I might even agree with that, but we have a society where that is legal and acceptable.