By admin 
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A mother of two says thousands of dollars worth of child support payments are stuck in limbo after being routed to the wrong state.
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Amanda, who has a 7-year-old and a 5-year-old, says her ex-partner is making his required payments. The problem, she said, is that the money is not reaching the right place.
“We’re up to $6,800 that is just sitting in limbo,” Amanda said.
Amanda’s ex lives in Arizona. Their case is managed in Virginia. Amanda now lives in Washington state. Child support payments were mistakenly routed to Washington rather than to Virginia, where they are supposed to be sent.
“It seems so simple to me to think, oh, it’s going to the wrong state. Let’s just fix that,” Amanda said. “I’ve gone through the automated system several times and it just says please reach out to your case manager for further assistance and then the phone will hang up.”
The Arizona Department of Economic Security, which oversees child support services, said in a statement that it is reviewing the situation.
“We work diligently to correct any issue as quickly as possible,” Brett Bezio, a spokesperson for the agency, said. “We understand the impact a disruption to child support payments can have on a family, and we work diligently to correct any issue as quickly as possible so the child can receive the support they need … DES processes over 175,000 child support payments each month. Inevitably with this volume, there are going to be unique and challenging situations that arise, but in the vast majority of instances, payments are issued correctly and timely.”
Connie Chesnik, president of the National Child Support Engagement Association, said federal law governing the distribution of child support payments is extremely complex.
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“All states are required to have automated systems, so certainly, we can go into a system and determine where the money went,” Chesnik said. “Sometimes states just need to work together to work out issues if a payment is misdirected or there’s some confusion about which state should be enforcing the order.”
After On Your Side contacted DES, Amanda said Arizona has acknowledged the routing error and corrected it for future payments. However, the $6,800 in past payments has not yet been recovered from Washington state.
Amanda said she is frustrated and concerned about the impact on her family.
“We have this great coparenting environment for the kids, even with the distance,” she said. “The last thing I want is for him to get in any kind of trouble if at all, because he is doing his part.”
DES said most cases can be resolved within days, but acknowledged that some situations can take longer.
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