Complaint Review: Nicholas W. Brown - Lombard Illinois

Nicholas and I had a very short relationship when I was 17 and he was 19. He got kicked out of his house and my parents let him stay with us.

In August of 2000 he got me pregnant and chose drugs and alcohol over this unborn child. He left me pregnant and told me to have an abortion. I do not believe in this and went ahead with the pregnancy with the support of my parents. Nicholas denied I was pregnant at first and after he was told by his friends I was showing denied the baby was his all together. He began telling his friends and family I had slept around and there was no way this was his child.

After a horrible and very sick pregnancy I have birth to my daughter four week prematurely. Luckily, despite all my health problems during the pregnancy and preterm labor she was healthy. She was in the NICU for a day due to withdrawl from an antidepressant the doctors told me over and over again would have no affect on her. After she was born they put her on the other side of the room and left. I had an epidural and could not yet walk. A nurse came in to check on us a little later and found my daughter turning blue. I'm still upset about that, but that's another story.

I was also lucky enough to receive public aid because after just three weeks our daughter Haylee had stomach surgery for Pyloric Stenosis. On top of that they found a hole in her stomach lining while they were doing the surgery. Of course her father didn't care enough to be there.

A week after her surgery I returned to high school to take my final exams and graduate. I gave a picture of our daughter to a friend of Nick's and asked him to give Nick the picture and let him know he had a daughter. I still never heard anything from Nicholas.

When Haylee was three months old I wrote a letter to Nick's mom letting her know she had a granddaughter. She wrote me back and informed me Nick had gotten the picture and thought Haylee looked like him and that she'd like to see her. I brought her over to meet grandma a couple weeks later. Nick was not present.

A couple more weeks went by and I contacted Nick ask him to see his daughter. He agreed. He came over at about 10:00 pm one evening while she was asleep and I let him hold her. He gave me some excuse and left ten minutes later. I didn't hear from him again for six months. Nick's mom did continue to see Haylee.

When Haylee was nine months Nick and I got into an argument and I told him if he could not be in her life all the time he did not need to be in it at all. He threatened to take me to court as he's done several times since then. Shortly after that I received a letter from his mother in the mail stating they no longer believed Haylee to be Nick's child and wanted no contact until a DNA test was done.

I filed for child support when Haylee was around a year and a half. We went into court and Nick told the judge he did not believe this was his child and would like a DNA test done. We proceeded with the test. I got the results in the mail about four weeks later stating it was 99.9% he was her father.

We had court again to establish paternity and decide on child support. The judge asked Nick for a copy of his pay stub which he knew he was to bring. Suprisingly enough he "forgot" it. They ASKED him what he made. Of course he says he makes some low amount like $8.50 an hour. The judge also asks him how many hours he works and he tells him 15 hours a week!! No proof of income just going off the world of a criminal!! I was furious. He was court ordered to pay $65/week plus $13/week for any late payments. He was also reserved to get a job with medical insurance and have Haylee put on it. Nick was not ordered to pay anything before that date and therefore got 22 months of free child support! We were also both ordered to take a parenting class by our next court date.

Our check in court date came around and he doesn't show up, of course. This is because not only did he not take the class we were both ordered to take, but he has not paid a dime in child support. The judge and public attorney decide there's no other choice than to put a warrant out for his arrest. I'm assuming he was arrested shortly after because I received my first check in the mail a couple weeks later ($455.00).

Haylee did not see Nick's family for probably another year after this because I'm guessing they felt like jerks after what they'd done. I was the bigger person and brought Haylee over to Nick's mom's house one day with some pictures I'd had professionally taken of Haylee. She started seeing Haylee again after that.

Nick has been VERY on and off in Haylee's life. She is now 5 1/2 years old. He's seen her MAYBE 15 or 20 times if that. He has never asked to take her on his own. His mother will take her once every month or every other month. On occassion Nick is there and he will see her. He's usually "going to work" or so my daughter tells me. Which is why he can't stay and play with her. He still has no job and has never had any insurance on her. She was a very sick child her first year and we almost had a second surgery for severe acid reflux. I feel awful that public aid had to pick up all those bills, but I had no choice at that point.

I have been trying to get something done for three years now. I call child support all the time and I have been getting the run around. I'm told every month my ex will be brought back to court on contempt and that within 30 days I should have a court date. To date he has NEVER been brought back. When I call to ask I get an attitude from child support enforcement and told that someone didn't do something or some paper wasn't filed and that they'll do it. It's been the same thing for years with no results. I'm sick and tired and frusterated with this! In June, July, August, and October of 2006 I talked with Greg at child support and he promised me results. When I spoke with him in October he told me it would now be at least six months before he could file a rule to show cause because of the back up.

I need someone to help me. My daughter deserves that money! He is seven thousand behind in child support and that does not include the two years he didn't have to pay anything for. I was told in July that child support would bring him back for contempt, make sure he got a job, and then take him back for arrears to the day she was born and for medical insurance. That was the last I heard of that.

So this is what my tax money gets me! My tax money pays these people's salaries and they can't do a single thing to help me. I want to scream. If ANYONE can help me please contact me.

Diana

Westmont, Illinois
U.S.A.