A single mother is in need of financial assistance

When she became pregnant, her husband became abusive physically, verbally, financially and emotionally. A week prior to giving birth, her husband strangled her. She was terrified. She had no family in Colorado and was on maternity leave with no income. After the birth of her beautiful child, she began to experience postpartum depression and anxiety. She bravely filed for divorce and eventually reported several of the abuse incidents to the local police.

Things did not end there. For the last five plus years, her ex-husband has been using his financial status to exert control over her and isolate their child from access to beneficial resources. He has also both prolonged and denied their child access to consistent mental health treatment for socio-emotional challenges, sensory challenges and sleep issues. He has unilaterally terminated treatments on multiple occasions. He has harassed the child’s mental health professionals with aggressive emails and calls. He has attempted to and threatened to sue many professionals that advocate for the child’s best interests. The child has confided in the mother that when the child says “no” to father around body safety, he responds with a punishment or takes something away from the child. The child has reported that she feels sad and scared that her dad doesn’t listen to her and when father puts down the other parent.

Due to joint custody, the child moves between mother’s and father’s homes. Currently, both parents share decision making responsibilities regarding the child’s psychological, educational and medical needs. In order for this single mom to legally protect her child’s access to consistent mental health treatment, she needs funds to pay attorneys fees.

Since the birth of her child, the mother has exhausted her savings advocating for her child’s needs in the court system. In order to qualify for pro-bono attorneys and legal aid, she has to meet certain income requirements. Because her income is just a hair over those requirements, she does not qualify for any financial assistance. All children deserve to have a consistent, stable and reliable childhood; without proper legal representation for further protection, her child will not have consistent and stable access to mental health resources, which she believes is key in helping her child feel more capable of dealing with the inconsistencies she experiences on a regular basis. This mother wants a stable, consistent support system for her child and access to mental health treatment. She wants to be able to advocate for her child but in order to do so needs to be able to hire a child legal representative.

This mother is a hard worker, dedicating her career in social services to helping others in need. She has struggled to live in a county where the cost of living is 42% over the national average. The most effective form of helping her at this time is to donate funds which can then be used to advocate for her child’s needs in court. Please note that donations can be sent directly to her attorney. If this is something you’re interested in, please contact the creator of this fundraiser for the attorney’s information. For reference, one hour of attorney’s fees is $375/hour. A child family investigation is $3200. A child legal representative is around $1500.