AUSTIN – The faltering national economy is taking its toll on Texas kids.

More parents are making their child support payments from unemployment checks and asking judges to lower their financial burdens.

Those who managed fine for years without that kind of assistance are fighting for it to make ends meet. Caseloads are going up in Dallas and other North Texas counties.

And more than a million children are caught in the squeeze.

"It's definitely a reflection of the economy. We're getting more requests to enforce orders, and we're seeing more people apply for our services – parents who didn't" seek it before, said Janece Rolfe, spokeswoman for the Texas attorney general's child support division.

"Children need child support more than ever when the economy is failing," she said.

Unlike some states, Texas' child support collections continue to grow despite the down economy.

Officials say that's because they've been aggressive, but the dismal economy still has hindered their progress.

In the last year, the amount of child support Texas collected from unemployment checks more than quadrupled. It's jumped 360 percent, to $11.5 million in May from $2.5 million in that month a year ago.

The number of child support-paying parents being hired for new jobs dropped by 26 percent in the same time period. And Texas is collecting slightly more money per month than it was last year – well below its projections.

The pinch is nationwide.

In a recent survey of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, almost 40 percent of divorce attorneys reported a jump in modifications being made to child support payments.

Last year at this time, roughly 140,000 families had active child support cases across Dallas, Collin, Denton, Ellis and Rockwall counties; this year, it's close to 150,000.

While state officials don't keep records on the number of parents asking for modifications – either to cut back on child support payments or to seek more money from noncustodial parents – anecdotally, they say these requests are way up, too.

Since Patrick Crouse's 22-year real estate career tanked with the housing market, the Keller dad has watched his six-figure salary plummet. That forced him to ask judges to reduce his child support payments and to take money from his unemployment checks.

His child support payments, once $1,500 a month, are now down to $605 – still more than he said he can afford in his current $11-per-hour job operating a forklift.

"I'm not a deadbeat dad. I feed them, nurture them, take them to church. I pay for piano lessons, braces, sports team registration," said Crouse, 49, who has joint custody of his two young children.

"But with these payments, I'm fighting to pay my electric bill, my water, my phone. I'm fighting to buy bread and milk."

Michelle May O'Neil, a family law attorney with clients in Dallas and Collin counties, said Crouse's case is common. She's seen a steady uptick in child support-paying parents who have either lost their jobs or had their hours reduced.

O'Neil said family court judges, who traditionally have issued permanent rulings, are giving these financially strapped parents temporary relief instead.

If someone is unemployed, she said, a judge generally will temporarily reduce child support, and then call a review hearing a few months later.

"A kiddo's expenses don't go away just because the economy is tight," O'Neil said. "Judges are giving people a Band-Aid so they can find another job."