I don't think he is the cause of the problem, but he certainly hasn't fixed it -- have you heard anything about child support in the last six years? It is a federal responsibility to some extent at least, since my MD court order would theoretically be enforced by Texas or New Mexico or wherever I happen to be, though I forget the term for that. Your cousin has a point -- if the dad goes to jail, he stops earning money. Ditto the driver's license. We went through that one, actually -- they were going to take away Mike's driver's license because he quit sending his money to the state, because they were misplacing it, and started sending it to me directly instead.
I had to write them several very haughty letters asking them to please not help me any more, and oh by the way would they please tell the Department of Motor Vehicles that they had made a mistake about that $50,000....I usually try to neither complain nor explain, but maybe I should tell you my experience, just to illustrate my contention that the system is incredibly fubar. Mike and I broke up in Maryland and I was rather naive at the time. I was told that I didn't need a lawyer and the state would collect my money for me. It sounded like a good idea... except that the money went into some sort of back hole in Annapolis and they would not tell me what they were doing with it -- they never talk to "clients" until there are six months worth of arrears. The people I talked to on the phone all told me I was lucky I was collecting anything, except it wasn't actually reaching me, and let's see, when we got to court the judge issued a court order saying Mike had to pay -- less that one third of what he was paying voluntarily. So of course he did. And I continued to receive a week's worth of money, then nothing for a month, then another two weeks' worth... Meanwhile, I had a big unexpected hole in my budget and could no longer pay the babysitter, so then I lost my job, then the house as I then had an even bigger unexpected hole in my budget. I'd call them and they would tell me snottily that they cuoldn't send me what they weren't collecting. I'd call Mike and he'd swear it was coming out of his check every week, and that someone had had a serious talk with the company bookkeeper about what would happen if it didn't. Long story short they finally found all this money two years later after everything went kablooie, and sent me a check, but meanwhile my credit was trashed and they were all proud of themselves, because they collected this money.... ::eyeroll:: They thought the idea of interest was hilarious. I took the matter of the payment amout back to court myself without a lawyer -- the State of Maryland would not represent me, said that expecting what the statute provided for was being greedy -- and reached an understanding with Mike on my own. What the law provided for based on both our incomes was five times higher than what had been ordered as a matter of routine. This, mind you, is the system when it works, with a parent who is working, making steady good money, and is willing to pay his child support. The law that is on the books is never enforced and nobody is trying to do so. And that, boys and girls, is how I learned why you run when the state wants to help you. The parents who don't want to pay their child support, well, that's just how the story goes and I've heard plenty of those stories chatting with mothers of my kids' playmates. Court orders of fifty dollars a month against well-to-do contractors and the like, which were simply being disregarded.... And that is why I laughed when you said Bush's position was that fertilization made you accountable, lol. You think this veto is really a matter of principle for him? I think he is very much uninterested in the welfare of children or even of fetuses. This is something that the religious right wanted, and he did not want to alienate them. For them it may be a matter of principle, though I question their priorities. To my mind, it is more important to keep the children who are already born fed, clothed and housed. There are plenty of religious people who would want us to do both, but they aren't making policy for the Rebublicans, it's the strident fundamentalists who are doing that right now... >> Dana wrote: >> it's usually billed as parents taking responsibility for their children. > >::DING!:: Divorced parents ... child support = money paid to parent >from other parent ... I get it! Guess I'm really out of the loop on >that cause the term "child support" is a dusty one in my head. It >sounded like some type of government program involving libraries or >something. > >Ok, so you're suggesting that Bush has been weak on enforcement for >divorced or separated parents? Wouldn't that be a state thing? Or if >it's federal, isn't there already laws covering that? I've heard >that, at least in my state, you can lose you license, go to jail, have >your wages garnished, etc. Where's the gap? > >Also I know that my cousin, who's ex-husband is on/off with the money, >doesn't push it because she doesn't want the kid's father in prison. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Introducing the Fusion Authority Quarterly Update. 80 pages of hard-hitting, up-to-date ColdFusion information by your peers, delivered to your door four times a year. http://www.fusionauthority.com/quarterly Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:211757 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
