Double standard
by Antonio Isasi
My sons' mother started collecting welfare in miami. I didn't pay child support for about 3 years for my three boys. She decided after a few years that she didn' want them any more, so I had to raise them. after findig a good job the department of children and family decided that i had to pay back all of the $17,000.00 or so that I had accumilated over that time. My salery at the time was $11.00 per hour, which after taxes and dues left me with $323.00 a week. At that point deductions were started to be taken from my paycheck in the amount of as follows; $59.00 which is my current obligation for my daugter who is now 20 years old, $50.00 for arrears which totaled approximately $584.00, and $50.00 for the arears for the boys. this left my paycheck at about $163 dollars. My rent at the time was $575.00 which comes out about $144.00 a week. Just by looking at the numbers you can see the problem. To add insult to injury I tried hiring a lawyer to have my obligation reduced so that I can afford to feed my children, who in turn as me to pay her $800.00 just to revue my case only to tell me that there was nothing she can do. I then applied to the departmebnt to assist me with some kind of supplement only to be told that I made too much money and didn't qualify.Today I,m supposed to pay back every last dime that I owe, yet for all the time that I had custody of my boys, not one dime was paid to me by the boys' mother, no effort was made to haver pay "her obligation", nor was any effort was made by the child welfare agency here in Miami or New York to make any kind of adjustment in my case to aliviate the severity of my obligation. |
