I'm divorced. When it happened, the state stepped in and determined child support and they ignored what both my first wife and I wanted. OK, when I have a job, I pay it. If I was still married to her and lost my job, no one would care that my kid might be going without a little, so why should it matter that I lost my job after we were divorced?

It takes about a month for the DHS to start the allotment for child support from my paychecks. If I send it manually during that time, they never start it. That allotment includes a court order on whichever employer to pay child support. I tried simply giving the case info to one employer and they took the money out of my check but didn't make all the payments to the state. So that's out--with the order in place if that happens again, the employer is in trouble. I also tried contacting the DHS myself with my new employment info, and their response was to freeze my bank account and threaten to suspend my driver's and professional licenses. The never suspended any licenses, and they didn't take any money from my bank, either! They did that strictly to halt the use of my debit card and to stop me from withdrawing any money that I'd had direct deposited into my account.

No, instead of letting me help them out by telling them who to call for support payments, they'd rather cut my cash flow off without even a moment's notice.

I'm not a fool, though. The horror stories are all over the news, so they didn't stop anything financial on my end.

Fast forward. I get hurt on the job. It's minor, but I still go to the doctor for a simple diagnosis and some pain killers. This happened over a month ago, and I requested nothing more than to see a doctor and get painkillers. Today I get this letter in the mail saying "Since you owe back child support, we have a lien on the settlement you got from worker's compensation."

WTF?!? Excuse me, but it's not my fault the economy went south and I lost my job!! It's not my fault that you people didn't tell me until two months after the judgement was entered that I even owed child support! For crying out loud, when that judgement was made, I was still married to the kid's mom! How the heck am I gonna pay child support to my own wife?

Now here's the best part, what if I had been hurt bad and unable to work? How the heck would I live then? What, would they get 100% of the annuity payments? Man send that stuff to my 401(k) plan. I might not get it now, but the DHS sure as heck can't touch that.

This kind of thing really ruins the good memories I had of that marriage, and it does little good for the relationship with my daughter. It doesn't affect me at all financially, since I had no plans to sue or seek anything more than (everybody say it now) a trip to a doctor and some pain meds.

What is the DHS smoking? Excuse the **ll out of me for having a child...like most married folks do. Excuse the blank out of me for being a "deadbeat" dad...<total sacrasm> sure I have three Jaguars, a Porsche, and a Ferrari in the driveway of my giant mansion with the pool and the nice home theater, maid service, ten acre lawn, and the works. </sarc> Crap I'm just trying to stay above water here.

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I ain't trying to avoid support here, I'm just trying to keep the ____ DHS off my back.

Why can't I just be a normal father? I'm OK now, just a couple games of something and I'll be fine...just had to rant...

OK, this is too personal for a public board, enjoy my blog.