The State of Missouri is Shutting Down a 12yo Girl's Dreams of Going to College and Playing Basketball

"Angela"  is currently pushing 6'4" and wears a size 14 men's shoe...and she's only 12. She will end up anywhere between 6'5" - 6'7" when she finally stops growing. She's athletic and plays both travel basketball and softball, but her first love is basketball.

Basketball gives "Angela" an opportunity to capitalize on her gifts, and she needs those gifts to ensure she successfully escapes the life of poverty that she, her mom, and her three siblings that live at home full-time, have been forced to live.

"Angela" has played travel basketball for the past two years and most recently, she tried out for a Nike EYBL (Elite Youth Basketball League) team...and made it. There are only 34 Nike EYBL teams throughout the country.

The opportunity to play for an elite level basketball team at her age only gives her that much more of an advantage of reaching her ultimate goal/dream of playing college ball at the Division 1 level, and if it's in the cards, to ultimately play in the WNBA. (She's hoping to be dunking by the 8th grade.)

In addition to her size and athleticism, she works hard. She works hard in the regular season, and she works hard in the off-season. That includes staying focused on her grades. "Angela" is mainly a straight A student, with a B peppered in there once in a while.

In essence, she's doing everything she can, within her control, to reach her goal(s).

Unfortunately, the State of Missouri's Division of Family Services/Child Support Division, along with St. Louis County's Family Court, is doing everything within their power to ensure "Angela" never has the opportunity. They are ensuring she continues to live a life of poverty for as long as they can possibly control her future.

Both institutions are not only impacting her future, but the futures of her two sisters, Madeleine, age 16, and Sophia, age 4 and her younger brother, Christian, age 8. 

These institutions carry such influence on "Angela" and her siblings because they refuse to stop withholding monthly child support payments from their only supporting parent, their mother. These payments are for their oldest sibling who will be turning 21 soon. He has never completed a college course since graduating high school in May of 2017.

Not only do both institutions refuse to stop the withholding and write-off the past 30+ months of support payments, they also withhold whatever they determine should be withheld from one pay period to the next. Those withholdings range anywhere between $540/pay period to $1,721.94/pay period, leaving an average of $532/month for "Angela's" family to live on.

To add additional insult to injury, the State of MO suspended their mother's driver's license for child support arrears, making it impossible for her to find gainful employment and risky to drive her children anywhere.

And lastly, the State of MO has incorrectly reported child support arrears to all three credit bureaus. This has made it impossible for "Angela's" mom to qualify for any type of credit. However, even if she had decent credit, her "proof of income" would disqualify her from most things, such as purchasing a newer car, which they desperately need.

"Angela" and her family have endured a multitude of injustices over the past decade and have suffered at the hands of the family judicial system in numerous ways. Both St. Louis County Court and the State of MO have failed them at every single turn - and their story is not unique. These injustices happen to individuals and families every single day across the State of MO, as well as across our country. It is time the family judicial system is exposed and held accountable. We owe it to the futures of our children.

#exposingjudicialabuse, #exposingthestateofmo, #exposingstlcountyfamilycourt, #shameonyou, #familycourtinjustices, #theuglytruth, #holdfamilycourtsaccountable

You can learn more about this story at showmenomo.blogspot.com