UnityWall.com

Ashley Engberg

Mike - his mother split with him when he was only 8 months old and didnt tell his father anything. She had gotten temporary custody because she filed before Shawn did when they broke up. Mike was 6 months old.

Shawn didn't see his son again until Mike was almost 5. No one would tell him where they went or how to get a hold of them. Until one day, Shawn's mother called him when he was in Seattle to let him know that she had seen Mike's mom in Wal-Mart.

My fiance drove 8 hrs straight down from Seattle to see his boy.

When Mike's mother asked him if he knew who Shawn was he replied he didn't. She said he was his dad and his boy replied "No he isnt..."

It's heartbreaking to know that your child had been brainwashed after the mother took him away.

Also, the temporary custody expired while she was out of state. Mike's mom filed for child support back to when mike was 6 months old. Doesn't it state somewhere in the files and documentation of every child support /custody case that the non-custodial parent is to be presented with an address and phone number where the custodial parent can be reached? That way the parent can get a hold of the child when they want to see how they are doing?

Well, she didn't do that while she was gone, and still she expects him to pay child support? WELL HE HAS! he has paid her $17,909.27 per the last billing statement we recieved. And that does not include the $3,000 that the state and her split from his tax return for 2006 that we were going to use to get us back on our feet and be able to finally take a stand against all the unjust child support he has had to pay.

But alas.. we get a letter stating they are taking all of it. In no way has his mother used the $17,000 dollars on Mike, because its only been about 6 years since Mike has been back in our state. Shawn has paid that much and ya know... I don't know what she spent it on but its not clothes or anything like that. And when she does spend the money on important things, its on things he can share with his brothers when they come to stay with mom too for visitations.

We will fight this soon in court.

The more money Shawn makes the more they take out of his paychecks. How can we survive? How can we pay rent? Its only $375/mo because we have a roommate but we can barely pay that every month. And the support he recieves from her is nothing compared to what she was getting, plus he is still paying arrears on this case.

Taylor - his mother is a druggy. she was busted at a drug raid and even had him in the vehicle. This was after her and Shawn had split up and she had filed for divorce but then she too split with him. He didn't see Taylor for quite some time and then too no one would tell him where his son was!

She had fiiled her divorce papers 1 day before Shawn.. she stated joint custody and he stated full custody. They had to throw his out because hers were signed first.

She split. Shawn moved... and he gets a call from the police asking if he'd like his son (when she was arrested at the drug bust).

He did EVERYTHING that the state required of him so that he could get his son after she had been busted... MULTIPLE DRUG TEST PARENTING CLASSES ETC~ and she was told to take parenting classes and drug abuse support groups or whatever they are called and had to complete all this stuff.

8 months later he gets a phone call stating from a CSSD supervisor in Coos Bay Oregon (THAT CSSD SUPERVISOR IS A BAD MAN AND SHOULD NOT BE IN HIS JOB POSITION! REFER TO A STORY IN THE PAPER FOR THE AREA ABOUT A LITTLE GIRL WHO WAS BEING ABUSED AND THE CASE BROUGHT TO HIM AND HE SAID THEY COULDN'T DO ANYTHING MORE. SHE HAD HUGE HORRIBLE BRUISES. AND THEN IT MADE NEWS THAT THIS MAN THAT WAS ABUSING THIS CHILD HAD KILLED HER BECAUSE A NEIGHBOR SPOTTED HER DEAD BODY IN THE BACK OF HIS PICK UP ON HIS WAY TO BURY HER).

This man at CSSD told shawn that his ex was coming to get her son and that she had completed her classes... She had done no such thing as supported by my fiance's case manager stating that she didn't understand why the guy (the supervisor) had allowed Shawns ex to get custody back from him when she had not completed her requirements.

They came over with police, cuffed my fiance and let her go into HIS house and get Taylor's things.. Taylor states every time he is with us that he wants to live with us and not his 7 other siblings and drug using mom and step dad. Oh, and the clothes that he comes to us in are so tatered and dirty, I'm sure that money is not going towards him.

Shawn only gets to see Taylor when we can afford the gas to go visit him because his mother violated the custody papers that state that she is to move no more that 60 miles away... She moved 3 hours away, and won't even let us pick him up at their house to see his living conditions. We always have to pick him up right outside Safeway, she makes no effort to bring him to his dad or pick him up.

He's a bright boy in a family that has no time for him while they have 7 other kids, are on welfare and using Shawn's money to help support her other kids.

They have joint custody where he is to get him one week and her the other, but her moving put a strain on us... We're already struggling with bills because of his garnishments... How often do you think we can afford gas to drive to their city to get him every other week... And yet he still pays child support to her and arrears.

Oh and the fat tax return she got from Shawn as well. Same amount as Mike's mom. But I'm sure she won't use that entirely on Taylor... she'll probably use it on her other kids or maybe her babies that need formula or her drugs.

Mckayla - (THIS ONE WE ARE FIGHTING!!!) Mckayla's mom has been collecting child support on her for more than 2 yrs. She was collecting it while they were together and Shawn didnt have a clue.

Shawn has asked his daughter's mom to provide him with a list of all the places they have lived together so that way he can prove that the child support he has paid and IS STILL PAYING is unjust and that it needs to be reimbursed.

He has been in his daughters life since the day she took her first breath. Yes, Shawn and his daughter's mom had spilt up a couple of times but he had always taken his daughter with him. His family can vouch for him as well as his daughter's grandmother on her mom's side.

His daughter's mother even had her on her foodstamps as well as Shawn. Hmm... you can't collect foodstamps for a person if they aren't living with you, and that in itself is proof that they were together.

I thought you were only to recieve child support if you were separated and if you had custody of the child? Shawn has custody and has had custody since March of 2006. For that year he paid her mother more that $2000 in child support.

We recieved 4 checks from her totaling just under $400 for 2006. We recieved the first one in September, 6 months after he gained full custody. Then she went on cash assistance because she cannot hold a job nor keep her fingers off snatching things.

Ask shawn about the "scratch-its" she'd steal when she worked for Mckays.

The funny thing is that she has been working and yet our judgement for child support has not been changed. It still states that she doesn't owe him monthly support because of cash assistance. But then we get a check in the mail for back support and she states they garnished her check, but the website states the next check will be for $22 because thats all that equaled her arrears before going on cash assistance.

Nice huh? So how come they garnished her check for back support now that she's working but haven't garnished for monthly support?? THERE IS A DOUBLE STANDARD IN THIS NATION AGAINST FATHERS! THIS IS DISCRIMINATION BY THE SYSTEM ITSELF! I love Shawn with all my heart and I love all his kids, but if we are to have a happy life with each other the system needs to change. We've spent $300 in gas in the last month just so he could see his son. And ya know we dropped his daughter off with her mom because her mom had made no effort in the last 2 months to see her daughter and she only lives 2 hours away.

But yet every paycheck its a disappointment to see how much they take out. When he was working full time making 9.80/hr he was only bringing home $250-300 every 2 weeks because of the child support garnishments. So, with $600/mo, do you think we could afford much? And ya know we couldnt get into hud housing because he made to much before child support was taken out each month.

He has gotten them stopped for Mike and Mckayla for monthly support but they still make him pay arrears, which is the same amount as he was paying for monthly support.

So now we pay that plus what we can afford after whats left of his paychecks to support ourselves. We can barely get by. We're 2 months behind on bills, I'm out of work because I have to watch Mckayla since her mother doesn't help with daycare. He has recieved hardly any support from her, like I stated earlier, to help us pay for her daycare.

So he has been out, every time he can, to look for a better paying job. One where if they take out child support we'll still be able to support ourselves comfortably and not like we are now... wondering if we are going to be able to pay our rent (which is due in 6 days). Or if we'll be able to have gas to see Taylor or take Mckayla to Chucky Cheese for her 4th bday, or pay for Mikes sports.

We want these kids to have a happy normal life, but how can we provide them with it when their mother's recieve our hard earned money, that is supposed to go towards supporting the child, when they dont even have the child?