What is the point of a court order if no one will enforce it? The court order is $28 per week. Not per month. Not every few months. Not only when the courts are watching. Every week. That's not hard to follow. And $28 is not that much to pay in support. Plenty of people wish they had such a low child support order. He spends twice that on beer and cigarettes every week.
Here's the situation. Seven years ago she filed for child support because he told her, "I'm not giving you anything unless a judge says I have to." Sad because she had hoped they could work things out like her parents did. But he didn't want the responsibility that comes with being a parent. She had no choice. It was set at $28 per week, and she has never had it raised even though she could. Hey, she's not money hungry. She just wanted a little help.
The only time he will pay any support at all is when she calls the child support office wondering what's going on because she hasn't received any support for six months. They start sending him into court every month with a free lawyer. Well, not free. We all pay for his lawyer. He pays a little during this time. The judge says good job and then dismisses the contempt charges. Contempt charges; yeah that's a joke. Then guess what. He stops paying support for another five or six months, until she calls the child support office again. And then it starts over with the monthly court hearings. Seven years of this crap. Finally, after a very long frustrating seven years, the prosecutor told her they were charging him with felony non-support. But long story short, he managed to get himself out of trouble again.
Is it too much to ask that the parents who make the children help take care of them? She doesn't think so. All she wants is for him to be a responsible father. But she might as well be asking him to cut off his own arm.
Can any of us follow the same pattern over and over again than expect the end result to change? No. But that is exactly what the courts in this county have done for seven years. This man is almost 30 now. He's old enough to do the right thing for his children. But he refuses. And the courts do the same thing over and over expecting the end result to change. Hey, judges, why don't you just put up a billboard that says "Deadbeats Are Welcome in Kosciusko County"? That's the message you are sending.
She's sick of it.
Do you have a story, know someone who does, or maybe you just want to support the cause? Write to me by mail 4818 S. Scott Road, Claypool, IN 46510 or by email 79trm@comcast.net
