Little chance dad will pay Officials admit options ‘limited’
OPPORTUNITIES to collect child support from a jailed Cairns man who owes his exwife nearly $14,500 – money she wants to use to support their cancer-stricken son – are “limited”.
Cairns resident Kim Willich is struggling to support herself and 15-year-old son Alex, who was diagnosed with nonHodgkin lymphoma – a type of blood cancer – earlier this year.
Ms Willich’s ex-husband, Philip Raymond Willich, has been jailed for three years after pulling a gun on a Smithfield pizza store worker in 2015.
The convicted criminal was angry he could not get a discount while ordering a pizza on the phone.
Ms Willich, who is in Brisbane with Alex, has turned to crowd-funding to pay for their living and medical expenses due to the lack of child support.
A Department of Human Services spokesman said the department’s informationgathering and collection powers age parents in financial hardship to contact the department for a referral to a social worker who can link them with support options.”
He said, depending on the level of incarceration, paying parents still received letters from the department with their child support statement or attempted contact from the department.
The department has offered to follow up on Ms Willich’s case to provide more support if needed.
In the meantime, a friend of Ms Willich has set up a Go Fund Me page to help raise money for her and her son.
Alex has had two lymph nodes removed from either side of his neck and is currently undergoing chemotherapy at Lady Cilento Hospital in Brisbane.
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