Fight for Isis

I created this account because I need money for an attorney who will represent the interests of my daughter.  I am fighting my ex husband's allegations that I have tried to prevent him from visiting her.  This is not the case.  What I refuse to do is pay for the cost of a rental car, gas, a hotel room and any other expenses he deems fit to place on my tab.  My daughter's name is Isis.  In 2004, she regressed in speech, cognition and social skills.  In 2007, she received a diagnosis of autism.  I married young and was uneducated.  I was completely floored.  I had never heard of autism.  Thus began the long road of doctor appointments and battling in IEP meetings for her rights.  However, the one thing I could not battle was the diagnosis itself.  I returned to college and graduated with a 3.4 GPA and a degree in Clinical Community Psychology.  Still, Ohio had no resources for my daughter.  Her father was less than supportive.  He refused to even discuss autism with me.  After the divorce, I made the decision to move to North Carolina.  He refused to allow her to go saying she was a "vegetable with no feelings" and "it made no sense to go since she would never recover."  He coerced me to draft a document saying I would pay 100% of his transportation costs so that "his lifestyle" wouldn't be affected.  Only then would he agree to the move.  I was desperate.  I drafted it. Yet,  after I moved, I found that my budget would not cover it.  I offered to pay half of the expenses for his visit, yet he refused.  He wanted a rental car and the gas covered in addition to any other expenses he had.  I said no.  This was beyond unfair and extreme.  He bought a new car and paid for his new wedding, yet he won't pay his expenses to see her nor will he pay her daycare expenses as was ordered by the court.  I drove to NC in the same car I had.  No rentals.  No brand new wheels.  I still have that car to take her to appointments at Duke.  To travel 45 minutes to work everyday and to take her to school.  I traveled to a state I had never seen before with no family or friends to help me.  Gas fueled my tank and FAITH fueled my mind.  I have no one here in NC.   When I'm down, I pray.  When I'm scared, I pray.  When I'm terrified, I look up: to God...and I see her face.  I cannot give up on Isis due to pettiness.  I will not lock my child away in a group home as he suggested.  Even with his character, I feel she SHOULD see her father, yet not at the expense of her cognitive and social development.  He never once tried to contact her before and after we moved.  No "Happy Birthday."  No "Merry Christmas."  Nothing.  Before we moved, he willfully missed multiple visits with her in a row and texted at the last minute he had to work.  But that's his character.  This is about Isis.  Please listen to me: My daughter is NOT a vegetable.  She is a bright, happy child with a smile that lights up the room.  My daughter has a soul and a spirit.  Autism has not robbed her of being a human being.  She WILL recover and have a life full of peace, hope and prosperity.  I believe in her.  I ask that you would please believe in her too.  I wish you could meet her.  Any parent would be proud to have Isis as their child.  A parent's job is to protect, honor and care for his/her child.  That's my job.  No mother should pay a man to see his child.  Please help me continue my fight for her.  I cannot do it alone.  Thank you.