Indiana Residents Should Know About Child Support

In my case, the state of Indiana was taking it.  I stopped working for nine months when each of them were born and went on AFDC, (Aid to Dependent Families with Children), aka, welfare.  I could still work but I could work part-time, spend more time with my babies and make it as a single mom.  Being with them was the most important thing to me, especially because I didn’t think I was going to have any. 

Unfortunately, my marriage failed and two years later I became pregnant by another man.  During the first few years of each of their lives, the child support was, “if and when”.  Both of their dads were to carry insurance on them and only one of them ever did for a short time.  Needless to say, when I did work I couldn’t always afford the family plan or none was offered, so any medical bills the kids may have accrued are reported on my credit file, not their dads.

After the kids were about 10 and 8, I finally decided to get my $45 and $22 child support modified, (raised).  They didn’t raise it by much.  My daughters’ dad really went out of his way to show very little income to keep from having to pay too much on her.  This all instigated my investigation into where my child support payments were going as I wasn’t getting them all.

My sons’ dad continually would say that he had his receipts and that he was paid up on his support.  I got the printout from the clerk’s office that stated otherwise.  The problem was several things.  My printout always had a small payment going to the state for “arrearage” payments to the state for the months that I received state assistance, eighteen months altogether.  My sons’ dad also said that his tax return would be intercepted to pay the state as well.  He was a truck driver and at this point was making excellent money.  His return must have been good too so his payments would have been more than my calculations.  What the….???

Here’s the deal.  Our local AFDC office, clerk’s office and the office the main office that was located in Indianapolis, (until recently), were all involved in the control of my, (our), children’s child support money.  I wasn’t clear on how the ”system”, such as it is, worked so I made it my business, on behalf of my kids, to find out where their money was.  Upon contacting these agencies, I was either passed to another, seemingly non-existent person or the information that they could and did give me didn’t coincide with what the other agencies had given me. 

After much effort and frustration, it came down to this: however many months one receives assistance is the number of months that child support is due to the state.  That’s it.  If you receive assistance for 4 months for one child and your child support is $100 per month, the state should receive $400, period.  For eight years, the state continued taking my childrens’ support payments.  When I tried to contact the state, the head guy wouldn’t talk to me and I had to hire an attorney.  Due to the “complex” nature of child support, my lack of faith in someone who doesn’t really care to represent me and how important it was to me, I took control of my own case. 

In the end, the state of Indiana settled with me for $1200.  My figures were, of course, a little higher.  My ex’s could have been put in jail, whether they deserved it or not.  My children could have eaten better some nights.  Maybe the “system” doesn’t care, but I am hoping that the parents will care enough for their kids to get their money.  They need it.