Here's my story,

I was awarded child support, but like Unique I was just glad my kids didn't have to be carted back and forth and endure all the agony of visitation. I ignored the child support order and worked overtime, several jobs, and somehow we thrived.

Then I got cancer and suddenly had to plan for my kids after my death. I prayed a lot and visualized myself as the parent of all God's children on earth. I thought of what I would do if one of my children had something that belonged to the other. I would give take it away and give it back to the one it belonged to of course. Realizing that God had given me that ability, I went through the U.S. Child Support Enforcement Office to locate my ex and start the child support process.

I discovered that my ex had moved to Dallas and had a good job so I went through the whole process to get my kids some support. All the papers were filed, but Texas would not enforce the law to collect my kids support. And I was more and more afraid I would die and there would be only a small savings account and an even smaller insurance policy for my kids. I wrote letters with documentation of my case to every government official I could find. Nothing happened.

Finally in desperation I sent the infomation with a long letter with the names of the officials who were ignoring me to the Editor of the Dallas Morning News and they published it.

Boy did that ever jump start the political process. I got letters and even a call from Senators and Representatives who had previously ignored me.

Within a month, my ex called me from JAIL. The sheriff had picked him up and was holding him there. They took him to court and he NEVER missed another child support payment. The kids saw him once so they at least knew who their father was. I recovered from the cancer, worked less overtime, and had more time with the kids.

So that's my child support story. It's a lot of work, but I think there are ways to collect.

smile