I went to the courthouse last Friday. They told me that they didn't have to do anything more on my child support case, and that I needed to go to yet another municipal building and discuss it with the Child Support Enforcement department directly. I waited in line for an hour and a half for that.
Since I already had a parking ticket by that time, I just walked to the child support place. Strange, but it had no ramps, so I had to lug the baby carriage up a long flight of stone steps. I thought all public buildings had to be accessible by now. Once I got inside, there were elevators, but I had to carry the carriage down another flight of stairs to access it.
I knocked on the door the security guard had pointed out to me, and a man answered. He only cracked the door open a little bit, like we were on some residential street and I was a salesman selling magazines. He said, "Yes?" I started to explain my situation, and he cut me off and told me to call the 800 number. I explained that I had, and they referred me to the courthouse, who then referred me to his office. He sighed, and told me tell my story again. I asked if I could come in, since we were standing in the hallway and it was 1) crowded with people and we had no privacy and 2) it was not air conditioned and the baby and I were melting. He shook his head no and said it was against policy. Umm...okay.
So I showed him the little paperwork I had, and he disappeared back into the office, leaving me to wait for him. He comes back and tells me that they had no record of the application. The only documentation they had was the original support order which was automatically filed upon my divorce from Alien in 2000. I said, "Well, obviously, that is incorrect, since I have a copy of the judge's order here." He took it and disappeared back into the Emerald City. He comes back and tells me I need Form X and Page Y of this judgement and that agreement blah blah blah. I said, "Well, how do I get those?" He told me to go back to court. Then I burst into tears. I said, "Look, man, I'm just a regular person. I am not a lawyer, I am not a bureaucrat. I don't even understand most of what you are telling me here. It is 100 degrees, and I can't keep carrying this baby all around this city trying to pick up the ball someone else dropped." He left again, and I just boohoo'd in the hallway by myself for a good five minutes.
When he came back, he told me that my application was ______town. I said, "How did it get all the way there?!" He said, "That's where we process all of the applications." I wanted to ask how come they suddenly were able to locate an application that not ten minutes before was nonexistant, but I didn't want to make him defensive. He said I should get some child support payments within the month. I thanked him and left.
Oddly enough, I received a check from the state this week which was dated from that day (8/5/05). I guess you just have to pester people enough to get what you need. Or maybe, because it is National Child Support Month, they were anxious to resolve any major issues for PR purposes.
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