The individual working for HHSC’s family violence coordination unit corresponded with the child support office, who… wait for it… needed two new copies of the good cause form (you know, the one that’s been on file for both cases since 2014?) to close the child support cases out as a condition of us receiving certain state benefits. Luckily for me, I was able to do the interview for both cases over the phone due to COVID-19 and the whole needing to get this done as soon as humanly possible thing, and the domestic violence specialist that I spoke with over the phone told me that both cases clearly qualified. Bub’s case qualifies because of his extended family members, but in particular his paternal grandmother. Monster’s case qualifies because of his father. (And I know, you ordinarily don’t get extended family as the abusers…)

Now I have people from multiple agencies e-mailing me, responding to my initial complaints and inquiries, apologizing that these cases were even opened up to begin with stating that they will do all that they can to expedite their closure. I even had to tell the domestic violence specialist that I spoke with over the phone that I was absolutely certain that I did not want child support or to have the orders enforced… apparently they need to make sure that you actually understand what having a good cause waiver on your child’s case implies, but I was very enthusiastic in letting her know that I do not want child support if it can at all be avoided — barring Bub’s paternal grandmother’s completely voluntary payments, which she’s been making for awhile now — because there is simply no safe way to pursue it. This was a decision that I had to make a long time ago, and it is a decision that I will continue making for as long as the boys are both minors. On top of that, even in spite of their disabilities, this means that I have chosen not to pursue lifetime child support.