Child Support Caseworker

by K.K
(Cleveland,OH)

I have 2 children. One just turned 18 and the other is going to be 17 in July. I have a court order for child support that was set in 1994, I believe. At the time the father of my children was not working and spent the majority of his life in and out of jail. The court said he was to pay $50.00 per month, per child at that time.

I have not had any contact with the father of my children up until recently when my daughter asked me to try and contact him, She wants to have a relationship with him, so I did. I contacted him through a friend of a friend and I had them give him my phone number. He agreed to meet for lunch, with me and my daughter. While at lunch he told me he was working and he was doing really good and I thought that if he was doing so well he would be able to pay the $100.00 a month to me since he has never paid anything before.

I contacted Child support myself and found out that he owes over $30,000 in arrears for our 2 children, They said he was receiving money from some sort of financial institution but was unable to tell me where the money was coming from, The caseworker asked for my address and phone number and was supposed to send me paperwork in the mail, I never received anything from them, about 2 weeks later I got what appeared to be 2 letters from CSEA and inside was 2 checks. One for $23.00 and the other for $28.00.

I again called the Caseowrker and asked him what was going on and he told me that the father of my children was receiving workers compensation payments. I have been getting bi-weekly payments ranging from $45.00-$123.00, But nobody seems to know anything other than that or if I will continue to get payments or what they will be.

I have learned that he is in the process of settling this worker's comp claim, If he is paid any money in a lump sum will my children see any of the money since he is in arrears? If my caseworker doesn't know, Who does?
He keeps trying to get me to go to court with him to sign papers, agreeing that he shouldn't have to pay the arrears, But, I am not going to do that. I don't know what to do. My kids could really use this money. Any advice or suggestions? Thank You!