Guidance on Enforcing Support and Handling Manipulation/Defamation

I am seeking guidance on how to navigate a high-conflict situation involving an existing child support order and ongoing emotional manipulation Location: Indiana. ​Background:

● ​Child was born June 2023. Father signed the birth certificate at the hospital.

● ​A support order was established in late 2024. During that hearing, the Father was officially offered a DNA test by the court and explicitly refused it on the record.

● ​Current Order: There is currently no formal custody/visitation schedule. At the support hearing, the judge stated I could allow visitation "as I see fit," but "strongly encouraged cooperation" between the parents.

● ​​He is currently in significant arrears (totaling approximately $5,000). He has a history of multiple civil body attachments primarily for Failure to Pay child support and at least 2 Failure to Appear.

● ​​Current Legal & Communication Issues: ​Revocation of Rights & Support: The Father repeatedly pressures me to "drop" the support and claims he wants to "sign away his rights." I have explained that Indiana law does not allow this without a pending adoption, but the harassment continues.

● ​​Paternity/DNA Threats: Despite refusing the court-offered DNA test in 2024, he is now using the threat of a new paternity challenge to delay payments. Given the child is nearly 3 years old, does he have any standing to demand this now under IC 31-14-5-3?

● ​​Manipulation & Self-Harm Threats: The Father uses threats of self-harm as a "communication" tactic, stating he "wants to slit his wrists" when I bring up boundaries.

● ​​How can I legally compel him to move all communication to a monitored parenting app?

● ​​Cooperation vs. Boundaries: I have attempted to cooperate by offering alternative visitation dates (Mondays/Tuesdays), but he ignores these offers and instead demands weekends or makes aggressive DNA demands. He has also used visits to "spy" on my household (reporting to his mother that the toddler was in a diaper in a heated house).

● ​​Does the "encouraged cooperation" clause require me to accept visits that I feel are unsafe or intrusive, or does "as I see fit" allow me to mandate public-only meetings?

● ​​Evidence Admissibility: I have an 11-minute unedited recording from a third party where he tells her I am "denying him," alongside aggressive, derogatory comments about me. I have text records proving I offered him the alternative dates he ignored.

● ​​Is this recording admissible to impeach his credibility?

​I am a low-income parent starting a CCMA program this fall. I am asking here to get a third-party, non-biased set of eyes on this to ensure I am protecting my daughter’s stability correctly while following the judge's encouragement to cooperate where possible.

​Disclaimer: I used AI to help write and format this request as I needed a way to organize my thoughts clearly. I am welcome to any corrections on the legal terminology used. My use of AI was specifically to organize my thoughts and make sure it was factual and chronological so I wasn't telling a story that kept backtracking