On paper, he has 20, possibly 21 children. With a minimum wage job, he can't afford to support them all. Desmond Hatchett, 29, told WVLT he wasn't out to set a record, though he certainly holds it in Knox County Juvenile Child Support Court. Hatchett's children range in age from newborn 11. There are at least 11 mothers; probably several more.Here's the video.
Constitutionally, there is nothing the state can do to limit him from having more. On Friday, his name appeared on the docket 11 times; Representing about 15 of his 21 children.
"Can you keep up with it all?" WVLT asked Hatchett.
"Yeah," he said.
"You know all their names, and ages and birthdays?"
"Yeah."
Hatchett's name is pretty controversial at the old courthouse. WVLT spoke with one mom who has two children with Hatchett. She is supposed to get $67.50 a month. But many times, she gets a lot less than what she's owed. They all do.
"It'll make it through half the month," the unidentified mom said.
She told Volunteer TV, Hatchett is the father of her two sons. And she says her 4-year-old is expensive enough on his own. "He's a heavy milk drinker. And milk is not cheap," she said. "It's frustrating, but usually, when I ask he give it to me," she continued.
It's due process-- the state is only allowed to take 50% of Hatchett's paycheck. That's 50% split multiple times.
Hatchett spent part of Friday afternoon jailed while a child support referee decided how to split up the $400 he brought to court. If he doesn't pay what he owes, he will go back to jail because he is on an automatic jail order. The mothers of Hatchett's children are supposed to get anywhere from $25 to $309 a month, but when his paycheck is garnished amongst them all, some women only get a $1.98 a month.
Hatchett says the women knew what they were getting into. They were all aware of his large family.
"I didn't intend to have this many. It just happened," Hatchett said.
Man, where do I begin? This story is so many types of wrong. I don't know what's worse, this, or that chick in Texas who just delivered twins by two separate daddies.[1]
Damn, Black folks, WTF? We're living in a postracial America. Theres a half-black dude in the White House. A sista just became the first black female CEO of a Fortune 500 company. T-Pain just bought a Big Ass Chain. Ain't be s'posed to be beyond this by now? Seriously.
I could turn this post into yet another of my "wrap it up, or get yourself fixed" soliloquies. I could blame these women for infinite wisdom of letting a guy who already has 2 baseball starting lineups of kids hit that raw. I could riff about HIV infection rates in DC being worse than sub-Saharan Africa. I could question why a person would keep making kids when he clearly can't emotionally or financially support those he already has. I could echo Cinco's common refrain that there are already enough people in this world and we don't need more. But I won't.
I'm taking a different angle altogether. Sorry if this is too gully for some of my squeamish readers, but answer anyway.
Question: Should the state of Tennessee be allowed to chemically neuter Desmond Hatchett, considering his reckless actions and the exorbitant cost being levied upon taxpayers to feed all these crumbsnatchers? Would jailing him be more effective, or is that merely running up the pricetag even more? How long before BET offers this dude a reality show? What would it be called?
29-Year-Old Father Claims To Have 21 Children [KAKE]
[1] Note, I did not refer to them as BabyDaddies. I'm beyond that term now. I'm post-BabyDaddy. See, Obama's already working!
