Channing Smythe, Devon Still’s baby mama, wants to clarify a few things. According to Smythe, court order requiring the Cincinnati Bengals player to pay child support for their cancer-stricken daughter Leah but says the two had a “voluntary agreement” which Devon stopped paying in July. The payments stopped coming in when Smythe refused to move from Delaware, where she and Leah live, to Cincinnati. “I don’t feel that it was right for me to move her,” Channing says … “[Delaware] is where all her friends and family are and this is where we have been building our life. He was very upset about that and that’s when he stopped giving me money.”
As your recall, Smythe says she is unable to work due to Leah’s illness requiring her constant care. She also says that she has to borrow friends/family’s cars to get Leah back and forth to appointments. What she has made very clear in the past is that she is not on a smear campaign and does not consider Devon Still a deadbeat father. Channing says Devon has been paying for some of Leah’s clothes, medical bills and other things and she’s “grateful” for all of the help, she just needs more assistance considering that she is unable to work and Leah lives with her full time.
Channing Smythe has started the paperwork in Delaware to get court ordered child support payments but an agreement has not been received so far. “I am not going to retaliate against the mother of my daughter,” says Still, “I am going to continue to allow the court system to handle this matter, as it has been doing these past couple of months.”
So basically what I gather is that Devon helps here and there but he has stopped paying the monthly amount he agreed to pay in July. Since then Channing and Leah have had to move in with family friends and go on food stamps. Like I said, very sticky situation. I feel that Devon Still isn’t a bad father, but cutting off the financial help was a bad decision considering his daughter’s condition. If mom can’t work, of course she’s going to need the help and though it is ideal they move to Ohio, it isn’t fair. Devon and Channing aren’t together, Devon is going to be away at NFL related functions for months at a time and Channing has no family there. Delaware has been their home. I feel like he should have put himself on child support prior to cutting off the voluntary support of his daughter.
My mom cared for an ill child and anyone who has experienced caring for a sick child or one with a disability, it’s an entirely different world than caring for a completely healthy one. There is a lot of money that goes into care. A lot of sacrifices you CAN’T make because of their health issues and a lot of money being spent to keep them comfortable. Stopping the funding for 4 months is catastrophic.
Source: TMZ
