Getting child support when mother is on SSI

by Jay
(Ohio)

Back in 2002 I received an email from Children's services stating that I was named a possible biological father for a 2 year old girl. I took the DNA test and found out she was mine and decided to go for full custody. A year and a half later and 25 trips from Georgia to Ohio, the state of Ohio awarded me custody finally.

The biological mother stuck my daughter's hand in boiling hot water when she was a year and half old and had to have skin graphing taken off of her back to repair her hand. All the mother received as punishment, 5 years probation which is a slap on the hand, if I would have done that, I would be in jail for 30 years to life. Can't tell me the court system and the government is sexist because it is.

It is now 2011, 8 years of custody and not a penny in child support and I am owed over 11k in back child support and current child support. The state just gives me the run around and because she is on some kind of SSI, the state does nothing but if I lose my job for any reason, the state has no problem taking my money off the table for my son I pay child support for. I have 3 kids that I support and take care of and pay child support to my son that I hardly ever get to see. So if I miss a payment, I get threatening letters from Child support that they'll put a freeze on my bank accounts, suspend my license (which makes no sense), and put a lien on anything valuable.

I went to an administrative hearing in Georgia and they told me that if I lose my job I better sell everything I own including the clothes on my back to pay that support order. So I have paid 18k for child support and I am not supposed to recieve anything, how is that fair. I have a family to take care of as well. My daughter has suffered and gone without because I have to take care of my obligations while my daughters mother gets to sit on her butt on not do anything.

The funny thing is, I pay child support and she get's by with it and my taxes that I pay, pay for her to live and sit on her butt because she has never held down a job in her life. So because she is on SSI of some kind, the state told me she is still obligated to pay but they will not enforce it. I have signed 2 papers for felony child support and for some reason when I call to get an update, they never recieved it and then they send another one and it happens all over again.

I have just as much right to recieve child support just like anyone else and my daughter deserves that. So in my house, me and my fiancee' have 4 kids between us, I pay child support for one child and we don't recieve nothing for 3 kids.


So how am I supposed to give what my child needs if I don't recieve any assistance, I pay my dues and because of that, I have suffered as well. I have lost job after job because I was a single father and the jobs in america don't care if your kids get sick. It's either miss work or risk your child getting sick or children services stepping in because I didn't miss work.

So what options do I have? Don't pay child support and go to jail, lose my license, and they take my tax return because I can't hardly afford to live and support this family when I am due child support. In the time I have had custody, I have lost everything I have owned 3 times because of the lack of support while my taxes I pay, let her live and get a check to help her out, that is just wrong. I don't mind paying child support but with the economy and the job market, it's kinda hard to live and so I have to go to living and be labeled poor and low income. My son's mother that I pay child support to has a 5 bedroom house, has a good job because she was able to go to college with the help of family taking care of my son, and my child support has a nice SUV and is remodeling her nice home.

What do me and my kids have....I am unemployed because I was laid off from work, which I didn't make hardly any money because child support took 50% of my income because I was only part time. It wasn't hard to work there because my fiancee' worked there as well and we only have one car. I don't even own a car and haven't for almost a year.

I just don't understand why it is so hard for me to get child support for my child, which is court ordered. "Disability" or not, she still needs to help financially as well because my daughter deserves it. Don't we all by the constitution have the right to live life in the pursuit of happiness. I would have to find a job that pays $20.00 an hour or more just so that me and my family can have a decent life but instead we do without because she is on SSI and they won't even put me on welfare because......you guessed it, she is on SSI and because of that, they can't get child support from her. Kinda of a double standard wouldn't you say.