Desperate for child support

[larakeel]

Can you please give me some advice on my financial options. I am a single parent in desperate need of child support. I have exhausted my known options for help regarding an attorney. My child is nine months old and his father and I have never been married. We recently split because my child's father has developed an addiction to opoid drugs. I have contacted some attorneys and have been advised legal fees would be upwards of 6,000 dollars. I cannot afford that. I have also contacted TN DHS for advice and they said I could have an attorney appointed to my case for free but I would have to apply for families first on both my children. But my oldest son's father and I have joint custody and I cannot apply for him. They told me in order to recieve that benefit I would have to apply for both children even though they have two different fathers. My oldest son's father is an excellent father and he takes care of his son 50% of the time. Is there any way to find an attorney who will take my case for free or make the baby's father pay my legal fees?

 

[Duranie]

You can call aroumd, but be advised even if you get a CS order against this other father, you may have limited options in actually getting him to pay. Do you have a job? You may not get anything for this baby especially if baby daddy has a drug problem. Be advised also that once paternity is established and CS is set, he will likely get some visitation rights and this will be another battle you will have to fight.

So not sure why you cannot just apply for child support going through your state agency?