A Car for Tara

On January 3rd my sister, Tara Couch came to live with me. She had left due to our mom's mental stability. And I'm trying to gain guardianship of Tara. 

Here is our story;

I've told a few of my friends that our mom simply disappeared one day in 2013 with all of her belongings, and most of my sister's and my stuff as well. I was in Maine at the time working a summer contract and had taken a rental car up to Maine because I was afraid my car wouldn't make the drive. Shortly after mom disappeared she would call either Tara or me and ask us several questions to make sure we were really who we said we were before hanging up telling us we weren't real.  We found out she hadn't been paying bills for quite a while. The power was turned off, cell phones were disconnected, and that our vehicles were being repossessed. At the time it was just my mother's car and mine.  

Mom eventually signed into a psychiatric facility after her sister had urged her to see a psychiatrist. After a couple months signed herself out and she seemed "normal" again. Everything went back to the regular routine. Tara grew up, got her permit and my mother bought a car for her, with a loan. I'm not sure how, but on this loan were 4 cars, one for Tara, Dallas (Tara's step-dad), mom, and mine.

Fast forward to 2016;

In the fall my mom and step-dad Dallas have an argument that leads to a protective custody order requiring Dallas to stay 50' away from my mom, sister, and their home. So he moved in with his mom....directly across from my mom's place. 

November brought Tara to my house for weekends to avoid ongoing issues with mom and Dallas, and she had a job where I lived. Tara and I went to Thanksgiving to continue the tradition and to make each other happy. a few days later our grandma (Dallas' mother) was taken to the hospital.

December Tara stayed at my place more than home once school was out. Christmas this year was draining on every level. Grandma remained in the hospital. 

On January 2nd I found out my mom was being evicted, she apparently owed over $6,000 in rent. If that weren't enough, so was our grandma, who owed over $2,000. That's when I decided to have Tara come live with me. I told both my mom and step-dad, and while they didn't like it, they didn't fight me. Tara moved in on January 3rd, 2017. 

The snow in January caused my mom to call out of work.... but we found out she didn't actually call in and was actually terminated. Two weeks go by and soon to be evicted and now unemployed mom turned to her sister for help. Who has taken her in and stored all of her belongings in a storage building. Mom started acting more "off" than "normal", calling every 5 minutes to tell us that Tara's cat was a drug cat, or that we were going to be arrested for various things. 

Since then her sister has taken mom to see a psychiatrist for evaluation. Following the evaluation, she has been admitted to Frye Regional hospital. She has a severe UTI that she went to a doctor for months ago, but was refusing to take her medicine because she thought it was poison. Tara and I didn't know she had even been prescribed medicine.

Tara commutes to Yadkin Early College currently from here in Salisbury. Her car broke down last weekend and we had to leave it on the side of the road overnight. While it was sitting there a cop ran the plates and found it had no insurance so they removed her plate. We were able to get the car fixed with help from a family friend, but without the tags, it's just too risky for her to drive.

For the last week we have tried to come up with solutions, and have found ourselves in a bind. If we were to keep our current cars we would have to pay the payment for the loan of 4 cars and put insurance on all 4 cars. Something I can not afford. And Tara, who is looking for a part-time job, can only work part time because of school. And that is incredibly important to me and her.

We'd like to keep her enrolled at Yadkin Early College until next semester so her college classes will transfer to RCCC Early College. As someone who is a college dropout, I don't want to do anything that makes school more difficult. I would give her my car....but it's one of the 4 on the loan as well and will be repossessed as well. 

So we are looking to get a car for her. Preferably something reliable, with excellent gas mileage since she will be traveling 1.5 hours every day to school. We'd like to keep the cost of the car around 3,000 - 4,000 or less if we can find the right deal and still have enough to pay for all the fees and insurance for the car for 2 months while we can find her a part time job. 

Those who know me and the medical situations I've been in know this is something very hard for me to do. I hate even having to ask for help, but I simply don't know what else to do.  

I'm also looking to gain guardianship of Tara so that she doesn't have to worry about all the things that are happening with Teresa and Dallas. So if you know any way to speed up what seems to be a long process please let us know. 

Tara's birthday is February 7th, and I'd love to be able to see her have a car by then if possible. She's been a trooper the last week, and really deserves something nice to happen. January was an incredibly hard month for me personally, and I know it has been for her. Help me turn this month into a better one for her.

Thank you to everyone who reads, supports, and shares this page.