Story

$255,644 and counting....

What sort of parent can walk away from their children and never look back?

Stephen J. Swallow abandoned his 4 small children in 1999 after the Rhode Island court system garnished his wages for failure to pay child support. He then moved out of state to Michigan to live with a women he met in an internet chat room named Lori A. Hendra.

He later called his ex-wife on the phone telling her he would just as soon see his children in a homeless shelter before he gave them a dime of support.

He's been true to his word and has spent the last 11 years running from state to state to avoid being arrested for failure to pay his court ordered child support.

Why should you care? Because it is your tax dollars that foot the bill for the deadbeat parent!

If the current court ordered child support amount continues to go unpaid, Stephen J. Swallow will owe a half a million dollars in child support arrearages and interest by the time the youngest child turns 18 in 2014.

Although the mother of the children abandoned by Stephen J. Swallow is NOT ON ANY PUBLIC ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS it is parents like Stephen J. Swallow who cause billions of dollars annually to be spent on social service programs across the county!

These programs, funded by your tax dollars, have to help care for the families left behind when a parent decides to walk away. You should care because it is your tax dollars that are being spent on programs like food stamps, child care, health care and welfare benefits that the abandoned family would not need to turn to for assistance had the non-custodial parent been paying their court ordered support payments.

YOU should be OUTRAGED at parents like Stephen J. Swallow! Children are not dogs that you can simply drop off at the nearest animal shelter because you get tired of supporting them or because you no longer have use for the other parent. Why should the tax payers be on the hook financially because a parent feels that it is his/her prerogative to ignore court ordered support payments to spite the other parent? Help find this deadbeat and bring him to justice!

$255,644 Owed as of 7/31/2010

Stephen J. Swallow - Deadbeat

$255,644 and counting....

What sort of parent can walk away from their children and never look back?

Why should you care? Because it is your tax dollars that foot the bill for the deadbeat parent!

If the current court ordered child support amount continues to go unpaid, Stephen J. Swallow will owe a half a million dollars in child support arrearages and interest by the time the youngest child turns 18 in 2014.