ADVOCACY GROUP HELPS MOMS WITH COLLECTIONS

Susan Harrison had trouble collecting child support from her ex-husbands and she got mad.

Harrison has two sons, ages 5 and 12. Each boy has a different father, and Harrison has had trouble collecting court-ordered child support from both men.

Harrison is helping form a local chapter of an advocacy group called ACES, Association for Children for Enforcement of Support.

After her second divorce, Harrison worked two jobs for a time to make ends meet. She collected child support on and off from one father and fought to collect child support from the other.

She was "doing okay" until recently when she was laid off from her job.

"I got really frustrated. If I could at least collect my back child support, I could keep my bills up," she said.

"I'm tired of borrowing money from friends and family. I don't want to have my utilities shut off.

"My children are the most important thing in the world, and they are worth every cent they are owed in support.

"I got mad. I got really mad." She sought out ACES.

"There are ways to get these payments that don't cost the mother anything," she said.

"Instead of women sitting and waiting for someone to take care of them, we're going to take care of ourselves."

ACES is based in Toledo, Ohio. Chapters are operating in 40 states, and serve 19,000 members in 150 counties.

Over the past five years, Harrison said, ACES has helped 70,000 children nationwide receive their child-support payments.

Harrison said the typical woman being helped by ACES is a head-of-household with two children and earns $8,906 a year. She is owed $5,000 in back child support, Harrison said, and subsists in some part on government programs.

"A lot of people are on AFDC. But we're not just a bunch of welfare mothers," Harrison said. Nationally, she said that "87 percent of the mothers on AFDC are not receiving regular child-support payments. And if they were, they would not be eligible for AFDC."

Harrison said the average, court-ordered, child-support payment is $191 per month. The average number of children included in that payment is 1.7 children.

"Most men pay less in child support than for a car payment," she said.

"Our group keeps abreast of all the laws, federal and state, and we know the procedures for collecting. We can help teach a women ways to collect," Harrison said.

If a women knows her rights and the steps to take, it's easier to advance through the system.

"We will help women with the paperwork and help women bring the right things to the offices," she said.

Harrison attended a daylong seminar in St. Louis sponsored by ACES, in preparation for starting the group here.

"I have a bunch of information," she said. "And I feel it's time to get it out to other people."

The new ACES chapter will hold its first meeting Nov. 12 at 7:30 p.m. The location of the meeting has not been finalized.

For more information about the local group, call Harrison at 334-9018. For national information, call ACES at 1-800-537-7072.