Complaint Review: Buchanan County Missouri Child Support

First I want to note that I do believe in paying for your responsibilities.  This is not me just trying to get out of paying the support.  However, I do believe I have the right to be treated with dignity and respect during the process.  I also believe that different factors need to be considered and not everything be based on a stingent guidelines that are put in place to look good on paper but are not practical in reality.  These guidelines are supposedly intended to "bring families together" while in reality all they do is make both parties adversaries and condem the noncustodial parent for wanting to move on while the custodial parent can do what they want and get paid for it.

Here is my situation: I have two children from a marriage.  They are 15 & 10 years old.  I have not been able to see them in over 9 years even though there is court ordered visitation.   For over 7 of those years, I lived less than a mile from their house.  My last attempt to see them resulted in me handcuffed in a police car and warned not to return.  I have even taken my order in hand to the police station and was told they were not able to enforce it. 

That part of the order apparently is not enforcable but they sure are diligent on enforcing the support order.   My support originally was fairly reasonable at $250.00 monthly.  Once she got wind that I put myself through truck driving school and increased my earning, she beat a trail to the child support office to have my support order increased to over $641.00 monthly.   She had this done in a blink an eye.  I was never behind on a payment for over 7 years.  In the beginning of 2008, my $60k job was eliminated when the company was sold. I have looked, in vain, to try to secure a job remotely the same.  They just are no longer out there.  I have triying to get a modifiation filed for over 8 monthes now. 

I feel most of the problem with this is the Buchanan County Child Support Enforcement office.   An FYI ~ the federal government pays the office .66 per each dollar the office collects.  This might not seem alot but in the big picture that really does add up.  On my case alone, the county makes over $420.00 monthly.  They are collecting this money on the back of well intentioned noncustodial parents that are doing their best in the bad economy to meet their oblibations.  This county is trying to make criminals out of these hard working people.   Buchanan county seems to be the only county I have heard of that is not working with the noncustodial parents.  I have cases and know of cases in other states that are working on amending the orders due to people being out of work and lower wages.  They are not just threatening to send them to jail.

In the last response to my modification request, they came back saying that I should be able to make at least $2000.00 monthly.  Of that $2000.00, they want me to pay $741.00 in support.  My first response was ~> where is this job?  Let me know and I will go apply.   They put me in the situation that if I did not live on with my girlfriend, I would not be able to survive. 

In the end, despite all my efforts to be a law abiding, hard working citizen, Buchanan County will deam me a criminal and take my licence (therefore, rendering me unemployed).  I cannot afford an attorney but yet make too much to qualify for public defender.