Susan's Story
Susan's ex-husband began missing child support payments about three years after their divorce in 1992. He had a nasty habit of picking up and moving every few months and not leaving a forwarding address. For a while Susan would track him down and give the information to her state's child support enforcement agency so they could, in turn, enforce the court order. The state agency's inability to keep track of her ex-husband and the legwork required from her to ensure payments quickly became frustrating for Susan.
Eventually, her ex-husband moved enough times that Susan lost track of him and the payments stopped. Susan's caseworker at the state enforcement agency told her that her case was very difficult to work since her ex-husband lived out of the state. Susan waited patiently for a year and a half for the state agency to track him down. During that time period, Susan received only one payment. One year, the government seized her ex-husband's tax refund check for approximately $2,000 dollars.
Only one payment in a year and a half. Susan was owed much more child support than that. Meanwhile, her daughter was growing up without many of the things her friends had. Susan was tired of telling her daughter, no, maybe next year.
In 1997, while Susan was at a baby shower, a friend told her about Supportkids, a private child support enforcement company that was helping custodial parents who were not receiving their court ordered child support. Susan was interested, but didn't want to get her hopes up. She thought about it for weeks.
In November 1997, Susan decided the risk-free service offered by Supportkids was her last chance to get her child support. She signed a contract with Supportkids and hoped for the best. She wondered if this Christmas would be different for her daughter. Supportkids immediately began working to track down her elusive ex-husband. For some time nothing happened. There was the occasional check, but nothing consistent. Susan feared she was back where she started.
In May 1999, everything changed. Supportkids secured a lump sum payment of approximately $20,000 from her ex-husband. Susan was in disbelief when she received the check. She finally had all of her unpaid support. She also began receiving regular support payments. In fact, Supportkids was able to collect approximately $50,000 in child support for Susan and her daughter. Now, her daughter hears yes
for a change.
