Just 30 years ago being a deadbeat father in Florida was a breeze. I don’t think my dad gave my mom more than 3k from age 12-18. His “requirement”, which he neglected regularly was $140/mo. OK obviously something had to be done to protect the children and mothers out there right? Well… Today things are much different. Father’s are often outright preyed upon and injured in unquantifiable ways with the current system. Simply put, fathers are being destroyed utterly. Many lose their job, license, home, and worse their lives. Not all fathers are dead beat’s… Am I right? While I worked I paid a healthy $600/mo child support for my son. I paid more in 5 months then my father did his entire parental career… Let that sink in. Anyway I am no deadbeat.

A Little about me: I became disabled long before I stopped working… I was just unaware of the disability and how it was affecting my life until it was way too late. I stopped working back in 2013 due to disability related work issues and was unable to reacquire another job. My disabilities had finally caught up to me and had become an insurmountable obstacle for my cycle of self abuse and loathing. I tried to commit suicide. Unsuccessful, I became determined to stop participating in what I felt was killing me which was a long list that included large cities. I am absolutely horrified and in panic when I have to drive through a heavily populated area.

My last discussion with Florida Child Support Enforcement was over the phone and with a judge who told me I was in contempt. I had an earlier court hearing 6 weeks prior where the judge asked me to produce documentation that said I was disabled. I explained to the judge I am currently working on that very thing with my attorney and the Social Security Disability case worker. So anyway the judge made his demands and suspended my license. Fast forward 6 weeks. Now the judge is angry threatening me and telling me he will be calling the police department out here so they won’t allow me to drive and that I may be going to jail. I am 100% positive that if I was in Jacksonville, Florida and had of gone to that hearing I would be in jail currently.

Yesterday, I received notice from the Social Security Disability determination department and they have declared me disabled and I will begin receiving payments shortly. My story has a mostly happy ending as the judge in Florida will have absolutely no choice but to reinstate my licence and cease and desist from any further harassment. Many other disabled fathers have become homeless due to many of the above mentioned issues and ended up in jail or died.

This is what I hope to work with you to accomplish: A law to protect any parent filing for disability from child support enforcement through the duration of the filing process. It typically takes 3-5 years to get approved for disability starting from the point you filed. Many people are disabled long before they know to file. Please support by signing this petition. Any donations go to raising awareness by public speaking events, commercials, and associated costs.

https://www.youcaring.com/danielmurphy-987377?fb_action_ids=10155771080688917&fb_action_types=youcaringcom%3Ashare

Daniel Edward Murphy