You were dumb to not ask for child support. Your child and you are entitled to that. I know you are beating your chest now and being all prideful, but you are entitled to that.
It wasn't quite like that.
To make a long story short, my son was in a really bad environment with his mom who was very immature at the time. I was paying child support even though he was staying with me 4 or 5 days out of the week. On top of that, his mom was never around for school functions or parent/teacher conferences. He never had clothes or clean shoes. I'd get calls asking to buy him this and that even though she was getting 600 a month in child support......all while not making one single attempt to ever get a job.
So I write letters and make phone calls to attorney general's office and anyone else who I think will listen, and none of them so much as batted an eye to this situation. Luckily for me, she decides to start doing drugs and that's when I got her. So while we're getting ready to go to court, she decides that she doesn't want all her dirt uncovered so decides to cut a deal. I tell her I want nothing less than custody which she didn't want to give up, but I tell her I'll agree to not ask for child support.
That ended up being the detail that sealed the deal for her and she agreed to hand over custody under those conditions. So while I would have loved to have screwed her back and gotten money from her, especially now since she finally gotten her life together, having my son in a positive environment and in good living conditions is what's most important to me. I got what I really wanted and that's custody of my child, and that's good enough for me.
The point is, I've had no problems whatsoever taking care of my son for the last 7 years and I've done so with no one else's assistance. That is why I do not buy that someone "needs" child support.