Hi! This is all kind of new to me, so, I guess... here is our story.
In September of 1996, I met the man who is now my husband. (Rob) At that time, he told me that he was the father of two children. Briana who lived in Arizona, and Marley who was due any day in the state of Washington. (We did and still live in Ohio.) I accepted that.
By October of 1996, Rob was trying to set up child support for Marley. (He would have done the same for Briana, but we were unable to locate her since her crazy mother moved around so much.) By December of 1996, paternity was established, and child support began coming directly out of his weekly pay checks. We received pictures of Marley, sent gifts, and wrote letters. Things went well for about 3 years.
In June of 1999, we were contacted by the state of Arizona. They wanted to know if we were interested in getting custody of Briana. (DUH!!!) We began a two year battle with Briana's mother, grandmother, and Arizona Dept. of Children's Services. (ADCS) By January of 2001, we had traveled across the country in my sister's Grand Am, gone to court over the telephone, and fought HARD. We got full physical custody on January 21, 2001. All the while, Rob paid child support weekly for Marley in Washington.
So, here we are living in a two bedroom apartment with a 5 year old who had no place to play, and couldn't make friends in the area because she was one of very few kids. We considered buying a house, but, with the way things had been going financially, we opted for a mobile home instead. I was managing a gas station, and Rob was a roofer. In August of 2005, we bought a 3 bedroom trailer on a large wooded lot in a great school district with LOTS of kids for Briana to play with. The trailer park has 24 hour security, and we were really happy with our choice. So much so that eventually, my parents moved near by, and later my brother and sister bought and share a trailer here also. All the while, Rob paid child support weekly to Marley directly from his pay check.
Right around October of 2005, we received a letter in the mail from Washington Dept. of Children's services. (WDCS) Apparently, Marley's mom (who had not contacted us in about 2 years) was in prison for stealing money from her employer. Her mother had gotten custody of Marley. (Without Rob's knowledge. Believe me, we fought to get Briana, we would have fought just as hard to get Marley if we had known what was going on.) Anyway, the child support was now going to be paid to Marley's grandmother, Kim, instead of Marley's mother, Janet. All the while, Rob paid the support weekly directly out of his pay check.
***Admittedly, there was an issue of arrears in late 2003. Rob had changed jobs, and the employer "forgot" to send money to Washington. Through income tax refunds, and increased amounts taken from Rob's weekly check, the arrears were paid in full. (We can prove this.)***
In November of 2005, I lost my job. The company I worked for sold the retail location I managed, and opted to sell fuel wholesale because the govornment gave them a tax break if they did. (They sold all but ten of their 114 stores.) By this time, Rob had become a robotic welder techician, and was making REALLY good money. We decided I should try to fulfill a life long dream of owning my own business with my mom, and sister. (By 2007, the business had failed miserably.) Okay, back to 2005... It was around Christmas that we received notice that the child support case for Marley had been closed. The letter we got said that either the child was no longer in need of support OR the primary care giver was not in need of assistance. We called WDCS. We were told there was no information available due to "privacy issues" with Marley's mother, but that support would no longer be taken from Rob's check, and as soon as Ohio tied up their loose ends, the case would no longer be enforced. Rob continued to pay support weekly from his pay check.
In March of 2006, we started to receive checks in the exact amount taken from Rob's weekly pay checks. We contacted his case worker in Ohio. She was not in the office, so he left a voicemail. (We contacted this woman AT LEAST twice a month, and left voicemail every time.) So, Rob called WDCS. The VERY nice, and helpful case worker there said the case was closed on their end, and the checks were coming back because they had no one to give the money to. She even said that we had a limited amount of time to cash them, (90 days) and new checks would not be issued if they were just not cashed. So, we cashed them.
The Ohio case worker did not contact us until...(are you ready for this???) September of 2007. She said she was trying to get our new address because Ohio Child Support Enforcement Agency (OCSEA) was not notified of the move in 2005. (NOT TRUE! we had correspondence mailed to our new address from OCSEA concerning the insurance he provides for Marley.)
It was at that time that Rob asked about the case being closed. The case worker freaked out, and told him he had been illeagally cashing those checks, and she would notify him of his arrears, the case was not closed. She would make arrangements to intercept the checks from Washington.
In October of 2007, we received a letter stating that Rob was $541 in arrears, and it would either be taken out of his 2007 state refund or his federal refund, or both. We contacted WDCS, they agreed to fax the closure letter to the case worker again to prove the case had been closed. Mind you, Rob was still paying support weekly from his pay check.
In February of 2008, we had our taxes done. We have been going to the same tax preparer from H&R Block for the last ten years. (And my parents before us for fifteen years.) He told us our refund was going to be$4900. We were SO relieved. You see, we live in Lorain County in Ohio. I DARE you to find a job in this area. Stores, and manufacturing companies have been closing all over this county, and the area has become VERY depressed to say the least. We had moved my brother-in-law into our home to help make ends meet, but, he turned out to be a non-working crack head. Needless to say, the bills were piling up, and we fell behind in our lot rent for the trailer. We went to court a week after we had our taxes done for an eviction from the trailer park. We took our tax info from H&R Block, and the judge gave us until March 30, 2008 to pay the lot rent.
When it came time for our check to be picked up from H&R Block, I called and they told me to call this phone number. It turned out to be the IRS. I was given another phone number to call. It was OCSEA. I spoke to a woman who called herself Betty. I explained the situation. I will never forget what followed. She said; "Oh no, that's not right. The arrears were far less than $4900.00! I reviewed this case myself with our tax girl. This is very wrong. I'll give you her extention. Her name is Chrissy... you can leave her a voicemail, she'll get back to you." Since then, we have contacted OCSEA once a week. We have not heard from them. WDCS has AGAIN sent notification of closure to OCSEA. Still nothing.
In the mean time, we have 13 DAYS to come up with the lot rent, and court costs for the eviction, totalling $2500. We cannot get a loan. (we tried) Our families cannot help us. (we asked) We cannot afford a lawyer. (they want to be paid), and although I've spent the last month and a half praying, and fasting, there appears to be no help in sight. God has answered a few prayers. I got a good job, Rob is still working, and we're healthy. Briana doesn't know what's going on, and I fear that on March 30th. she won't have a home.
The real tragedy is that Rob and I have no idea if Marley is safe, we don't know if she's still in Washington, and have not been able to contact her in years. Unfortunately, the immediate problem is more important at this point. We have no place to go, cannot afford to move, and only have 13 days to figure this out.
By the way, Rob is STILL paying support from his pay chech every week.
We have contacted our congress woman, several lawyers, and a few father's rights support groups for assistance. No one has been able to help.
