SupportPay is the first automated financial platform to manage child support. Now, it’s offered free to families experiencing domestic violence.
By StoryStudio on October 25, 2023
Content warning: this story discusses intimate partner violence. If you’re experiencing intimate partner violence and need help, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline 24-7 at 1 (800) 799-SAFE (7233) or visit thehotline.org.
When Michelle left her abusive partner after 20 years, the single mother of three had a terrifying realization.
“Most people don’t realize it’s often easier to stay in an abusive relationship than to leave,” she recalls.
This statement may sound counterintuitive but consider it the reality of intimate partner violence (IPV). According to the National Institutes of Health, one in four women are expected to experience severe intimate partner violence in their lifetime. Meanwhile, up to 99% of IPV victims experience economic abuse during an abusive relationship, and finances are often cited as the biggest reason why victims stay in an abusive relationship, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Even after leaving, survivors face continued threats and financial uncertainty.
“Leaving is the hardest thing you can do because the situation becomes exponentially more unsafe,” explains Michelle, who, after fleeing her home with her three children, moved multiple times in just a few months until the court granted her an order of protection.
Today, Michelle is a senior executive at a healthcare tech company and is able to live safely away from her abuser. This hard-fought victory came years after dealing with the authorities. For those like Michelle who escape IPV, navigating what comes after, divorce, alimony, custody battles, child support, is a separate challenge. It is one that threatens the mental and financial stability of the mother and children trying to repair their lives. Dealing with the legal and financial fallout of escaping IPV can feel like constantly revisiting what was likely one of the most traumatic experiences of a lifetime, all the while the threat of violence continues to lurk.
SupportPay helps survivors:
Pay receive and payments, receive caregiving, child support, alimony, and other shared expenses.
Easily schedule, manage, and modify custody, visitation and parenting time.
Upload scan, share, and store receipts with a mobile device.
Communicate and store conversations with other family members.
Review disputes and resolve financial disagreements directly in the platform.
Retain court-certified records of expenses, payments, and chat history.
SPONSORED BY SUPPORTPAY
-Michelle, IPV survivor
“With the help of SupportPay I’ve been able to track weekly child support-owed, childcare, and medical expenses, complete with receipts and dates of service incurred without any direct communication to my children’s father.”
SupportPay offers a solution to this painful cycle. SupportPay is the first automated financial platform to manage child support, share expenses, coordinate custody and communicate between parents in a way that keeps the victim’s location, financial and personal information private while ensuring they can safely receive the much-needed financial support to support their children. It’s important to note Support Pay will never share a victim’s geolocation. Now, SupportPay is offered free to families experiencing domestic violence.
“With the help of SupportPay I’ve been able to track weekly child support-owed, childcare, and medical expenses, complete with receipts and dates of service incurred without any direct communication to my children’s father,” says Michelle. SupportPay has also allowed Michelle to pull reports of child-related transactions to submit to the courts. “It gives me confidence every time I have to walk into the courtroom where having proper documentation is critical.”
“SupportPay provides a safe platform for families impacted by IPV to safely and confidently manage the orders or agreements after a divorce,” says SupportPay CEO and founder, Sheri Atwood.
While going through her own divorce, Atwood experienced how managing child support payments and expenses with her ex could be a nightmare.
“Our goal is to give parents and caregivers the support and peace of mind they deserve,” says Atwood, noting how crucial this service becomes when it involves families torn apart by IPV. “It’s why SupportPay Premium is forever free to any families experiencing intimate partner violence.”
SupportPay is backed by a number of investors including HearstLab, a venture capital firm that specifically funds female-founded and led tech startups.
SupportPay helps provide consistent, reliable financial support during one of the most harrowing times in a person’s life. Many survivors of IPV often forgo reimbursement to which they’re legally entitled so they can avoid repeatedly interacting with their abuser.
Lacking a reliable method to receive child and financial support and collect reimbursements as well as the evergreen concern of confidentiality, impacts a survivor’s ability to receive checks, exchange payments and resolve disputes because doing so may reveal their location to their abuser and threaten their and their children’s safety. This can all be avoided with SupportPay.
Using SupportPay is easy, and any survivor can access it for free. Here’s how:
Create an account by visiting SupportPay’s registration page.
Get a free premium subscription by entering PROMO CODE “POWER” in the subscription settings.
Schedule a complimentary account onboarding with a SupportPay support expert.
“SupportPay eliminates the need for direct communication, maintains legally admissible records of all communications and transactions, and provides a dispute resolution process,” explains Atwood. “By offering SupportPay Premium for free to families experiencing intimate partner violence, we help children get the support they deserve, giving families a greater chance at financial stability while minimizing the risk that victims return to abusive partners.”
“I’m so grateful for the SupportPay team,” says Michelle. “With the amount of stress I’m already under to keep my children safe, SupportPay gives me one less thing I have to worry about in my life.”
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and it’s important to recognize not only the severity of intimate partner violence but also acknowledge the reverberations that can last much longer than the acts of violence themselves. For families experiencing IPV, solutions aren’t always easy to come by. The strength required to walk away is challenging and complex, especially if children and financial instability are a part of the equation. SupportPay can help.
Visit the SupportPay website for resources.
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