A Day in the Life of a SCI Child Support Case Manager
When the phone rings in our office we know what the call will be on the other end – a custodial parent who is at the end of their rope trying to collect child support. The details of the case will vary; some know exactly where the non-custodial parent lives and works and some haven’t seen or heard from the non-custodial since the child support order was issued. Over the years we have seen a variety of cases, but they all have a very common thread; the absent parent owes back child support and the custodial parent needs help. You may believe your case is too difficult or unique and that there is no hope. Well read on, I think you will be surprised to read what our cases are made up of….
When a case reaches our office there is an arrearage balance of $5,000 and $90,000 and a payment hasn’t been received in some cases as recent as 3 months or as long as 20 plus years. There are also the cases with much higher amounts that come our way, some exceed $250,00 in unpaid support. To Support Collectors, the time between payments and the balance are not the factors we base case acceptance on; we strive to work all cases presented since it’s our philosophy to try and help all custodial parents looking for help. The key is to provide as much info as possible to allow us to investigate. In addition to the typical amount owed, the absent parent usually jumps jobs frequently and/or works for cash to avoid their wages being garnished. Some non-custodial parents no longer live in the state where the order was filed to avoid any sort of warrant that was or could be issued due to failure to appear in court. They may also change their information (name variations are common) or even go as far as using another social security number and identity. The absent parent may own a vehicle, home or other assets and have it listed to another family member or friend to avoid a lien or levy. The typical case we handle involves a non-custodial parent who makes a habit of hiding from their support obligation, and has unfortunately gotten pretty good at it. There are also cases where the absent parent has just fallen on hard times, tries to be timely in payments, makes partial payments and just needs constant reminders to make their support payments. Child support solutions are not a cookie cutter type of fix; each case is handled differently because they are all unique. Rest assured that your case, no matter what the situation is, will get the individual attention it deserves from our staff and our goal is to make a difference, one family at a time.