Child Support Paid On One Child But Not Mines

by Casey Huffstickler
(Newberry, SC)

I am a single mother of a beautiful six year old boy working part time at a local fast food restaurant. The father of my son has another son who is six as well. The courts have already served and ordered him to pay child support on his first son but inform me that they cannot locate him for my son. In fact, I had to go BEG him to watch his son so I could work and when I arrived the Newberry County Sheriff's Office was serving him court papers for back child support. How is this possible? He has no job but has food stamps and his address has been current on his ID for many years. I feel that this is completely unfair and unjust to the one person that is hurt the most throughout this whole situation...my son! Not only does he have a dad that has never bought even one pair of shoes or one single stitch of clothing, but he has to go to school feeling left out because he has had the same pair of shoes for a year with holes in them. It burns me up how slack the courts are knowing they know exactly where his dad is. Please help me! I need to know what to do or where to go. My next step was going to be to call the local news station and see what they can do. It is bad enough that my son has a deadbeat dad who would rather spend time chasing women and smoking marijuana then spend time with him but why should he have to suffer when his half brother gets child support every week?