A divorced parent's dilemma: Leave kids to find work
BY L.L. BRASIER • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • MAY 26, 2009
Ray, a journeyman electrician, unemployed and desperate, left Macomb County two weeks ago for work in Oklahoma. It meant leaving his two daughters, the subjects of an upcoming custody battle with his soon-to-be ex-wife.
"I would never, ever have left my children," he said. "But I had no work. I looked for seven months and couldn't get a callback. I couldn't sleep at night ... With no work, I wasn't doing my children any good."
Ray, who asked that his last name not be used to protect his daughters' privacy, is among hundreds of divorced and divorcing parents in Michigan looking to leave the state to find work. In some cases, they also are seeking a reduction in the amount of child support they pay.
The requests, once rare, are now becoming commonplace as Michigan's economy continues to crumble. For those who stay in Michigan, child support often comes out of their unemployment checks; the amount of child support withheld from unemployment payments jumped 135% in the last year.
Decisions about moving and child support sometimes come with heartbreaking consequences. Children lose daily contact, and people who were once hands-on parents are suddenly relegated to phone calls and e-mail.
"I try to talk to them every couple of days," Ray said of his daughters, 12 and 15. "But it's just not the same."
Recession arrives at family court
Jennifer Foss of Royal Oak is moving to Portland, Ore., soon to look for a better job, taking along her daughter, Natalie, 3.
Her ex, Natalie's father, is coming along, too.
And since he also has a 12-year-old son with his first wife, they're also coming.
The three parents, all faced with financial struggles in Michigan, sat down a few weeks ago and agreed to move to the West Coast so that Natalie and her half-brother can share their lives and have daily access to their parents.
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http://www.freep.com/article/20090526/NEWS03/905260360/Dilemma+for+divorced++Leave+kids+to+find+work