MarkJ

Heres a good starter for you.... a lad i worked with has a son and a daughter, their mother is off her head on drugs 70% of the year and has rehab the other 30% for the last 8 years he has had to give up work time and time again because she was incapable of looking after them, and childcare was not an option. naturally he left her and took the kids with him. 7 months later at court, she was clean again and wanted them back....and got them! 3 months after that, 2 kids turn up at his door, with bags, telling him mums told them to live with him again this goes on for years until finally the eldest son decides enough is enough and vows to help his mum out anyway he can. he lives with her now and is 15. his daughter couldnt stand any more and moved in with her dad, and has done for the last 3 years. she's 11. heres the clever bit.... because the mother has custody of them both, he has to pay her child support, for BOTH children! but.... because he has NO custody, she pays NOTHING! and never has, and never will! how the hell can a system that is supposed to be looking after the best interests of a child allow this to happen? i think its sick, and i can understand those that dont and wont pay. i used to pay nearly £300 a week child support, and the mother of my children recieved no extra money because of it.(or so she says) heres my view... if a dad pays £20 a week child support, that money should go straight to the child, no decreased benifits, just extra ontop. if he pays £200 a week, the child should see that money. i was sick and tired of giving that bottomless pit £300 a week then having my kids come over to my house is raggy clothes because their mother saw none of it. at one point i was considering employing her and paying her the £300 a week directly, cutting out the leech known throughout the land as the C.S.A!

Well, the CSA is a bit of a !*!@# ! in the past i have worked away from home, only seeing my children for a few days a month. out of the £500 a week i was making they were taking nearly £300 a week. this was because i was registered as living at my parents house, and their income was taken into account. also taken into account was the fact i diddnt pay gas, electric, council tax or anything else as my job ment i stayed in B+B's all the time, at the company's expence, therefore even tho i was working away from home and never saw my family or friends, £200 a week was more than enough to live on in a strange town and with a drink problem! (it got spent each week by wednesday night!) i pity any single dads who earn more than the minimum wage as for every pound you earn over this, they take almost half! luckily for me tho, the csa hasnt gotten round to taking money from me for my new job, even tho i've rang them with the details. apparently their too busy chasing those dads who dont want to pay anything! (advice for those not paying: put money into savings each week, last time they caught up with me i was landed with a £4,000 bill, £3000 of which i knew about and could pay... nearly lost everything i'd worked for over that extra £1,000!) gonna start a new thread on the csa, as i think alot of dads dont know what its all about...