The Backlash! - May 1996

Benefiting the bureaucrats

Is the Office of Support Enforcement is in business to benefit tax payers, or the bureaucrats who run the OSE?

by Joan L. Brewer

Editor: It’s common to assume only men (and maybe their second wives) are harmed by the Office of Support Enforcement (OSE), but the truth is that the OSE harms women (albeit, less often than men), too, as the following case demonstrates.

At the end of this article is a copy of an order against me to pay child support to the state of California. They are placing a lien against my SSI and SSA which is barely enough for me to live on as it is. As someone who qualifies for food stamps and subsidized housing, this is like the state of California stealing from the Federal government. Does it make sense?

Since I had legal custody of my children, one would wonder how this came to be. My oldest son was taken out of the state of Oregon where I had legal custody by his father. He was taken to California, where his father was able to collect welfare and food stamps, then later abandoned my son. His father had a felony record for sales and transportation of hard narcotics and numerous felony assault convictions, yet no one would help me. I didn't know about his criminal record until after I married him.

He beat me the whole time we were married and was eventually busted for drunk driving and assaulting a police officer in 1973 in King County, Washington state, which is when I found out he was a felon. Even after I found out he had a felony for assault and drugs, he was able to beat me and I was prevented from filing a complaint against him at the time because he was my husband. In the '70s, it was considered a women's fault if she was beaten and we were often harassed by the police if we reported it, even if the injuries put you in the hospital.

I fought with California for several years and the state of Oregon in an attempt to get my son back. He was placed in group homes with gang members where he was be victim of gang beatings and sexual assaults. He called me collect several times begging me to get him out of there. He hadn't broken any laws yet was being held against his will and mine by the state of California.

After many years of fighting, California gave him back two days before I was due to have spinal surgery in April 1991 for an injury I received while working for Microsoft; at the same time, I also had a complaint against the company pending with the EEOC.

When my son came home he was not the boy I last saw. He was very timid before, but now he was violent and easily enraged. Shortly after he came home he had to be put in a mental hospital because of violent out burst. Someone was calling him on the phone and provoking him.

Now, this support order. I showed the hearings officer that I had custody, and my son testified as to what his father had done. I also showed them data that supported that I was living at well below poverty level and always had. I have about $18,000 owed to me in child support for the same child by my ex-husband. Still the local Washington Hearings officer levied support against me. They wouldn't even go after his father for my support. At this time, I am also owed $2,832 in child support for my daughter, which for some unknown reason, OSE stopped collecting for me a year ago, even though the child custody order has never been changed.

My daughter is living with a girlfriend because her father told her he would pay her more child support if she left and pay it directly to her. He did this and the state allowed her father to pay her direct, instead of to me. In other words, the OSE is aiding a runaway.

STATE OF WASHINGTON
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL AND HEALTH SERVICES
DIVISION OF CHILD SUPPORT (DCS)

ORDER TO WITHHOLD AND DELIVER - LABOR AND INDUSTRIES BENEFITS

736828-0023-19960304-075628-9
TO: SOCIAL SECURITY - BENIFITS
ADMINISTRATION
675 SO LANE SUITE 401
SEATTLE W 98104

RE: Joan L Brewer

SSN: ###-##-####

INSURANCE CLAIM #: N855071

Joan L Brewer owes a child support debt totaling $ 1939.23 to Washington State. The Division of Child Support (DCS) is issuing this order to recover that child support.

This order has priority over other attachments or other legal processes. It applies to all:

Employers, including federal employers.
Assets or earnings that might become due the debtor during the life of this order.

This notice replaces the Order to Withhold and Deliver - Labor and Industries Benefits served on you on
State law requires you to:
1. Withhold the lesser of $ 35.00 per month or 50 percent of any time- loss benefit paid to the debtor. Withhold this amount every time the benefits are due and payable.
2. Withhold the lesser of the total child support debt amount or 50 percent of any permanent disability benefits paid to the debtor. If you withhold 50 percent of a benefit, continue to withhold the percentage every time the benefit is due and payable. Do so until you withhold the total child support debt amount.
3. Start withholding the amounts listed above as soon as you receive this order. Send the withheld amount to us on the date the benefits are due and payable to the debtor.
  ORDER TO WITHHOLD AND DELIVER - LABOR AND INDUSTRIES BENEFITS (FG REL:09/gS) DSHS 09-288 (REV. 02/95)
  Page 1 (2890:960304:075628)/CM 736828/2890
4. Answer this order within 20 days after you receive it. To answer, complete the enclosed Answer to Order to Withhold and Deliver form. Mail the completed answer form to the address on page 2.
  Answer this order even if you have not withheld money due the debtor. If you do not answer or if you refuse to comply with this order, you may be liable for the amount you should have withheld or the entire debt, whichever is lesser.
5. Send the first withheld amount to us after the 20-day answer period is over. Make all payments payable to Washington State Support Registry.
  - Send all payments to:
  WASHINGTON STATE SUPPORT REGISTRY
  P 0 BOX 45868
  OLYMPIA WA 98504-5868
  - Include the date you withheld the payment, the debtor's social security number, and account number 2269897 on all payments and correspondence.
This notice remains in effect until one of the following occurs:
1. DCS releases this order in writing.
2. Twelve consecutive months pass when you do not possess or owe any benefits to the debtor. This twelve-month period begins the date you receive this order.
3. A state or tribal court terminates this order.
Under Washington State law, the debtor may not hold you civiily liable for complying with this order.
Date: MARCH 4, 1996
SDM
Authorized Representative
DIVISION OF CHILD SUPPORT
Send your answer to:
DIVISION OF CHILD SUPPORT
500 First Avenue S
MS: N17-28
Seattle Wa 98104-2830
(206) 464-7020
TTY/FDD services available for the speech or hearing impaired.
No person, because of race, color, national.o.rigin, creed, religion, sex, age, or disability, shall be discriminated against in employment, services, or any aspect of the program's activities.
In reply, refer to:
Case #: 736828
ORDER TO WITHHOLD AND DELIVER - LABOR AND INDUSTRIES BENEFITS (FG REL:09/95)
DSHS 09-288 (REV. 02/95)
Page 2 (2890:960304:075628)/CM 736828/2890
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