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Dear Sir,

I am also one of those moms that the court has done the same thing to, I have three kids for the same guy. I've had just about enough of the court system in Bermuda for Child Support.

I have been going to court since 1997 and my children's father has to pay me $300 per week but he doesn't make that consistently - he only pays when he feels like it or not at all.

My kids are 13, 11 and 8 years old, I have been ordered to give him access to the kids every 14 days and he only takes them when it is convenient for him which I think is sad because he is missing out on a lot.

Over the years he has run up his arrears to over $60,400 and that is sad. We have come to the point in the court system where we are to see the review board every three months to see if he has been consistent with his child support payments; if he doesn't pay consistently then he is to be locked up.

Well we have sat in front on the review board [twice] and he is still not paying consistently and he is still able to walk free. I think that they need to lock up these fathers and or mothers and put them out on work release everyday until their arrears have been payed off. I make about $650 a week minus the $250 for insurance for myself and my three kids.

I live on my own with my kids and I pay rent, lights, telephone, groceries, cable and washing clothes at the laundromat.

...If it wasn't for my boyfriend I don't know how I would manage; I owe him a lot for helping me when I need it most, he is there for me and my children when we need him most and I love him for that. He has a bond with my kids that their father would never have or even begin to understand. "I am blessed".

As far as I am concerned my boyfriend is the closest thing that they will ever have to a real father. He is there for them when they are doing there homework, he is there for them when they need a shoulder to cry on, he is there for them if they need anything and he is there to show them how a father is supposed to be and that's what I love the most. They love him very much and it shows, that is something that their father will never know. So as far as the courts are concerned it is really a sad thing the fathers think that they are hurting the mothers but really they are hurting their children.

R. Kelly

St. George's

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