I am not sure if this situation has been examined in the past, and I have not shared my story publicly before posting this. Hopefully somebody finds this interesting even if I do not get an answer.
The background is not as important as the question itself.
Florida.
BACKGROUND: I am the 17 year-old child of unmarried parents. For seventeen years, the mother has been collecting child support payments (originally a New York case, later transferred to Florida to increase amount paid) from the father, who lives in Nevada. The mother has been an alcoholic all her life and has played the system: often illicitly acquiring benefits such as disability and unemployment to support her habit of doing nothing all day long. The father has a life of his own and does not contact the family. He pays on time.
Recently, the mother and child were to move into a friend's house. This friend is a retired senior citizen with two empty rooms. The agreed upon conditions were that the mother would pay half of the utilities and the child would help with housework. The mother was not to drink or smoke at all while at the house. Within the first day, all of these conditions were broken by the mother and she was told to leave. The child opted to stay in the friend's house rather than live in the same room as the mother in a flophouse she found on the internet that same day she moved out.
The mother then agreed verbally and in writing to forward the child support to the child, and to support his decision to find a job and complete his GED to go on to college. These conditions were not met, and the friend is now slipping into debt taking care of the child. The mother will not disclose her current location to the friend or child, and is now harassing them via text message, email, and even through asking other people to contact us in regard to her. The friend and child have stated that they wish to be left alone on multiple occasions, but the harassment continues.
When the child wanted to find a job, the mother would not give her child his legal documents (SS card, birth certificate) and previously in her care, he was not allowed to pursue a driver's license or an education.
NOW: At the time of abandonment, the child was 17 years and 10 months old. The friend sought help from the county Family Law office to get custody of the child, the Sheriff Department's Victim's Advocate for references, Guardian ad Litem for legal help, Child Support Enforcement to report fraud, and the Department of Children and Families to report abandonment. None of these agencies did ANYTHING at all and wasted quite a bit of our time and money.
Hoping to get financial aid from DCF, we submitted an application for food stamps, medical aid, and cash assistance. Medicaid was approved, but everything else denied for reasons undisclosed. Attempting to contact DCF results in a 25 minute hold time and uninformed support agents.
Everywhere we go to gives a runaround and pure injustice. Two months of the mother receiving child support without taking care of the child. Two months of a non-relative caregiver paying from her social security check and savings account to feed a kid who couldn't get a job or go to school because of the mother's irresponsibility.
QUESTION: What the hell do we do now?
BONUS: DCF's reasoning to deny cash assistance
Explanation of Case Action
Economic Self Sufficiency does not decide eligibility for the Nonrelative Caregiver Financial Assistance . Please contact the child's CBC case manager to have an application provided to you.[SUP]1[/SUP] If unsuccessful in contacting the CBC case manager, please email CENSORED[SUP]2[/SUP] to request assistance.
1. After waiting on hold for 20 minutes, we were told that there is no such thing as a CBC case manager
2. This email replied with the phone number of a "specialist" who, when contacted, did absolutely nothing to help.
The background is not as important as the question itself.
Florida.
BACKGROUND: I am the 17 year-old child of unmarried parents. For seventeen years, the mother has been collecting child support payments (originally a New York case, later transferred to Florida to increase amount paid) from the father, who lives in Nevada. The mother has been an alcoholic all her life and has played the system: often illicitly acquiring benefits such as disability and unemployment to support her habit of doing nothing all day long. The father has a life of his own and does not contact the family. He pays on time.
Recently, the mother and child were to move into a friend's house. This friend is a retired senior citizen with two empty rooms. The agreed upon conditions were that the mother would pay half of the utilities and the child would help with housework. The mother was not to drink or smoke at all while at the house. Within the first day, all of these conditions were broken by the mother and she was told to leave. The child opted to stay in the friend's house rather than live in the same room as the mother in a flophouse she found on the internet that same day she moved out.
The mother then agreed verbally and in writing to forward the child support to the child, and to support his decision to find a job and complete his GED to go on to college. These conditions were not met, and the friend is now slipping into debt taking care of the child. The mother will not disclose her current location to the friend or child, and is now harassing them via text message, email, and even through asking other people to contact us in regard to her. The friend and child have stated that they wish to be left alone on multiple occasions, but the harassment continues.
When the child wanted to find a job, the mother would not give her child his legal documents (SS card, birth certificate) and previously in her care, he was not allowed to pursue a driver's license or an education.
NOW: At the time of abandonment, the child was 17 years and 10 months old. The friend sought help from the county Family Law office to get custody of the child, the Sheriff Department's Victim's Advocate for references, Guardian ad Litem for legal help, Child Support Enforcement to report fraud, and the Department of Children and Families to report abandonment. None of these agencies did ANYTHING at all and wasted quite a bit of our time and money.
Hoping to get financial aid from DCF, we submitted an application for food stamps, medical aid, and cash assistance. Medicaid was approved, but everything else denied for reasons undisclosed. Attempting to contact DCF results in a 25 minute hold time and uninformed support agents.
Everywhere we go to gives a runaround and pure injustice. Two months of the mother receiving child support without taking care of the child. Two months of a non-relative caregiver paying from her social security check and savings account to feed a kid who couldn't get a job or go to school because of the mother's irresponsibility.
QUESTION: What the hell do we do now?
BONUS: DCF's reasoning to deny cash assistance
Explanation of Case Action
Economic Self Sufficiency does not decide eligibility for the Nonrelative Caregiver Financial Assistance . Please contact the child's CBC case manager to have an application provided to you.[SUP]1[/SUP] If unsuccessful in contacting the CBC case manager, please email CENSORED[SUP]2[/SUP] to request assistance.
1. After waiting on hold for 20 minutes, we were told that there is no such thing as a CBC case manager
2. This email replied with the phone number of a "specialist" who, when contacted, did absolutely nothing to help.