It’s very demoralizing to do what you know is right helpful resources, but then be denied credit. How many parents pay child support but the disbursement centers are understaffed or technologically inadequate?

According to the Federal Office of Child Support’s preliminary statistics for 2003, over 100 billion dollars in unpaid support is owed by 18 million US children. The “undistributed funding” is not explained by most states, and they do not know who owns the money. The “undistributed funding” occurs when non-custodial or custodial parents make a cheque payable to either a child assistance agency or the other parent without providing a docket no. or case number. The payment of child support is an honorable act. It is naive to believe that a check, money order, or other payment made incorrectly would reach the intended parent and child.

You have a couple of options if you pay child maintenance and think that the state’s disbursement agency did not forward the support funds on to the custodial mother or father.

1. You should request an audit for your child maintenance case. You want an audit of every penny spent on your case.
2. Do not forget to keep records of your child maintenance payments.

3. Write a cheque to the child support agency.

4. The custodial parent may be correct if they say “I am not receiving my child maintenance payments” and you know you’re paying. Look it up. In local legal publications or the state’s website, names of those who might be owed unpaid funds are listed once or twice per year.

5. If the address of a parent changes, they must notify both the non-custodial as well as custodial parent. You could lose your support if they don’t know.

Unpaid child support totaling over $100 billion should raise a few brows. It shows that the government isn’t doing enough to help the kids who need the child support the most. If someone tells you that your dad or mother hasn’t paid child support in a while, do some research. Even if you don’t have your child maintenance money, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the money was not collected.