As a family law attorney who has seen this play out too often, control of the child and not wanting to pay support was always my number one motive for this case.
I have a cases where a parent has fought bitterly for the child they claim to adore. But when they think no one is watching they neglect the kid, put them in super unsafe situations and generally show they don’t really care.
Yet these are the cases where it’s super hard to get witnesses to testify voluntarily because they fear getting killed or harm to their kids, pets, parents. These are the cases I most worry about someone showing up and blowing me away at the office. No one is going to dare get between the parent and THEIR child. Yet nothing the parent does shows they actually love the child.
It’s about possession and control and that’s more important than anything to some people.