Mayor's office for dealing with ignored child support case?

[Anonymous]

Hi all. I've posted here before about my struggles with the DC child support office. Just a bit of background:

My ex hasn't paid in years. He's been very skilled about dodging his responsibilities, mostly by pretending to be out of a job. Finally, he screwed up and posted a bunch of pics from a work retreat on Facebook...I guess he forgot my sister was his "friend" on there...and we were able to nail down his employment. I immediately updated this information with child support, which had been claiming for a long time that they couldn't enforce the payments because he was "unemployed."

I went in for an appointment in September. After waiting an hour, I was called in to meet my caseworker...who I immediately recognized as a woman who has walked through the waiting room several times, yelling personal things into her cell phone. I was pretty discouraged to realize she not only worked there, but would be handling my case. The rest of the appt consisted of her arguing with a coworker while I filled out paperwork. She seemed completely uninterested in helping me.

Sure enough, it's February and I haven't spoken to her since. I've called and left several messages but I'm always told she's out of the office and will call me back. She never does. But the last person I spoke to did admit that my case hadn't been touched. I'm so frustrated!

Someone suggested I contact the mayor's office about all of this. Is that a good idea? Will they be able to do anything about this? I feel like they should know about it and obviously, I'm hoping it will actually get my case moved forward.

[Anonymous]

That doesn't really make sense. They have access to the federal new hire registry so it is really easy to track people down (except for cash workers and self-employed which doesn't seem to be the case here). They also have access to Accurint.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I've found that agencies tend to "jump" when they receive an email complaint about something directly from the Mayor's office.

[Anonymous]

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

you can also call your DC councilmember--they all have constituent service staff.

[Anonymous]

OP here: yeah, I know they have access to that database, which just proves no one is working on my case. Goes hand-in-hand with "she's not in the office today." It's all BS to avoid me. I just don't understand why!

Hoping to hear back from the mayor soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here: yeah, I know they have access to that database, which just proves no one is working on my case. Goes hand-in-hand with "she's not in the office today." It's all BS to avoid me. I just don't understand why!

Hoping to hear back from the mayor soon.

When they say "She's not in the office today!" You respond, "can you please direct me to a supervisor or to someone else who can help me?" (politely). Or, "do you know if she will be in tomorrow?" Then call back on whatever day they said she'd be in, when they respond that she's out again ask to speak with a supervisor. Do not hang up until you speak with someone who can help with your case.

Or, go to the courthouse and ask how you file a violation for child support.