Bring Arlen's Daughter Home: Legal Fund Needed

Hi, my name is Arlen. I'm 39 years old and a first-time father. This story is about me but also the love I have for my baby. The lengths and willingness I will go for her. To fight for her. To protect her and tell our story. To show her one day, her dad did everything he could to prove he loved her.

Being a dad to me is special; it's the life you create, it's the love you give and receive back, getting to see you in them or vice versa. Kids are your biggest teachers. I wasn't sure if I would ever get this chance. I grew up without my father, and that led to me being angry growing up. I always had less than everyone else, always had to try harder. I had to grow up quick and teach myself to be a man. As I grew older, I took all those negative experiences as lessons. It made me a better person; it made me always want to try, especially if it's something I love or have passion for. It made me more caring, more humble, and grateful to have learned and grown.

When I found out in April I was having a kid, I wasn't expecting it, but I was excited. I said I'd go to any and every doctor's appointment. From the very beginning, I predicted it was a girl. I was seeing signs all around in life about a baby before she had even told me. I was stopping in the baby aisle for no reason, I was seeing so many baby girls at work, the two other pregnant girls at work were having a girl also. I believe in signs and intuition. I have always had faith she is mine.

Is there reason for doubt? Yes, absolutely. Is there a chance the baby is not mine? Yes. Her mother is not an angel. For 3-4 months, every week I was trying to see her, sending her money when she needed it. She was getting kicked out of her parents' home, beating up her father and getting domestic violence charges, involved in a hit and run, going to jail, going in a mental ward for a night and laughing about it. She told me she was facing jail time. I'm thinking there's a chance she gives birth to the baby in jail!

I suggested she move in with me. I didn't want the baby stressed, and I knew that wouldn't happen if she lived with me. I had a job lined up for her at my work, doubled my rent for an extra room for her and the baby. Got her a new phone since she said hers was broken. All she had to do was come over.

But she never did. One night she calls me out of the blue to pick her up. It's been months since I've seen her, so I jump at the chance. I haven't felt my baby kick yet and wanted to experience that. I show up to her parents' house, she calls. I say I'm outside. But she's not at her parents'. To cut a long story short, I found her at another guy's house. She was drunk, punching him in the face because she said he called our baby a nigger baby. I can smell the alcohol coming out of her pores; she wanted me to run him over, but I'm not crazy. The guy tells me they drank a whole bottle of tequila, they had a relationship for months, and he loved her. He gave me her keys because she was driving 90 mph drunk.

On the drive home, she tells me he beats her and controls her, why she wasn't in communication or seeing me. Even after I caught her lying to me for months, sleeping with someone else with my baby, I still offered her to move in. I wanted my baby safe! We agreed on a name for the baby. I felt like I talked a little sense into her.

That didn't last long after she lost the rights to her 3-year-old. I thought that would be her rock bottom. It just made her ignore me once again and go back to what she was doing. Being with an abusive guy who gets her drunk and vapes.

The last message I received from her over a month ago, she had changed the name we agreed on to whatever she liked. Tells me to get a paternity test, which we already agreed on. If I believe she's mine, to send her money, which I had already been doing. But also telling me that the baby needs everything! I also have gotten the baby lots of stuff stocked up over the months waiting for her arrival.

The last message I sent was a week ago. The baby was due the 27th of November. I was really nice in the message, asking how she and the baby are doing. If she needs anything the day of giving birth, asking what hospital she'll be having the baby at. Four days go by, I heard nothing.

Two days ago, I had a feeling to go to her parents' house. I knock on the door and dogs come to the window but no answer. As I'm leaving, I see the neighbor drive up. I go over and ask if I have the right house since no one answered. He told me yes. I let him know who I was looking for and that she has my kid that's due in a few weeks.

He looked at me funny and said, didn't she already have the kid? I was like, you're joking, right? He said she had it weeks ago premature! That they had been visiting the baby at the hospital. I was instantly mad, felt betrayed once again, and disrespected. I feel helpless; my baby has been alive for weeks and I haven't seen her or know if she is okay or healthy. I don't know if Mom was on drugs. I can't lose my baby to the system or to the mom that has done everything to hurt her.

I have broke down in tears driving to work or after work every day since I found out. She is everything to me. There is nothing I wouldn't do to protect or save her. I believe in God, in the power of love over evil, in the power of people coming together for a common good. I humbly ask you from the bottom of my heart for your help. My goal is for the cost of a lawyer. One that I get a good vibe from, that can help me bring my daughter home. But also grant me full custody. He only starts the case when paid.

If you are my family, a friend, a coworker, a stranger, a friend of a friend. If you have ever been in any situation that I have told in my story, if you have ever lost your child, if you grew up without your father, please, any donation helps. Share it with everyone. Every day, every minute I'm away from her hurts my soul. I need to find her. I failed to protect her. Please, don't let me lose her. She needs me more than ever.