How much bearing does a father's financial contribution really have when considering child custody?

In MO. Parents never married and did not live together since just before the mother discovered the pregnancy. Father is on the birth certificate. Infant has been in the mother's exclusive care, and she has taken full responsibility for the child. Father was ordered to pay $499 by CSE when the child was 3 months old. He challenged the order, and filed for joint 50/50 custody. So this means the child support issue gets moved to judicial court and becomes part of the paternity/custody case so legally he doesn't have to pay anything until the judge decides on it when the case goes to trial. Child in question is now 9 1/2 months old. Father has only paid a total of $460 dollars since the child's birth, toward the child's care. I'm wondering how much weight is given to the issue of what a father contributes to the child's care when he claims to want that substantial amount of time/responsibility of the child, yet it would seem that if he isn't helping care for the child he isn't too concerned about his well-being.