Wee“HOPES”


help our parents enforce support

9602 Broadway

Crown Point, In. 46307

219-661-2383


April 18, 2004

All Indiana Residents

Dear Sir or Madam:

        Wee “HOPES” IS A NOT FOR PROFIT ORGINAZATION, created with the hope of being able to enforce the child support laws already in place. My mission is not to change these laws for they are good laws the way they are now. The problem is in the enforcement of these laws. The federal Government put in place the guidelines that each state must follow starting with a wage withholding order, which in many cases is not effective. We have mothers and fathers that have found ways around this type of enforcement order. They quit their jobs, get married and become stay at home parents, if there is not a traceable income there is no way to garnish wages.  This makes it difficult for the custodial parent to enforce child support. The wisdom of the United States Government recognized this situation and put laws in effect to help those us in this situation remedy what would otherwise be a losing battle. Here is where the contempt citation proves to be a useful tool, only if it applied to the situation at hand. In more cases than not it is a tool left unused. Then there is chapter J Which has for years given only the local child support enforcement agencies the power to have the offenders drivers license suspended for non payment of child support, which in many cases would aid in the retrieval of delinquent payments. This option is not used for most people who need it. And recently this honor was bestowed upon us as parents. We can no go before a Judge and request this be enforced, provided we can afford an attorney or have the know how to do it ourselves. And there is our problem; the local child support enforcement agencies do not face penalties for failure to perform their duties. We are expected to ask a judge for what they can already do. If your or I were to neglect our job duties we would be looking for a new job, so why aren’t they? That’s easy, they are not held accountable for their lack of actions, there are no penalties. if you or I did not feed or cloth our children there would be consequences regardless of the fact that our child has to go without because of the other parent’s shortcomings. And we as custodial parents take on second jobs, therefore needing someone else to tuck in our children at bed time. And Telling our 7 year olds that they can’t play in little league because we cannot afford to take the time off from work is just as bad as not feeding or clothing our children. They may not suffer physically from not having a parent who can spend a little more time with them. They suffer emotionally, intellectually, and developmentally. They tend to close themselves from the world around them and tolerate this form of neglect without a thought of how it’s supposed to be to when you’re a child.

        As parents we as a whole need to stand up for our children whether they are our children or our neighbors,

We need to start demanding the timely execution of the resources available, there should be no excuse for why action has not been taken in these cases, and there should be repercussions for the agents that are assigned to aid us in the retrieval of support payments and fail to do so. the laws that are in place are good just and fair. They need to be enforced aggressively, so if refusing to cooperate means demanding justice, then that is what we need to be doing. Demand that they do what they were entrusted to do. If they fail to enforce these laws they need to be held accountable. 

 “THE RIGHT TO JUSTICE FOR ALL, THAT INCLUDES OUR CHILDREN! , If you are a parent or a friend of a parent please help me get 5000 names from each county in the State of Indiana, to take to the house of representatives so they can make this a requirement of all those entrusted to enforce these laws.

 

Sincerely,

Jennifer Biggs