Bring Audrey's Daughter Back Home

My name is Audrey. My birthday is April 13th and all I want is to have my daughter back home with me. I need to get my daughter back THIS YEAR.

I got married quickly in 2021 and had my beautiful daughter in 2022. While I was with my ex-husband, I was a stay-at-home mom and breastfed my daughter for a year. I decided to end my marriage because of the feeling of being trapped and forced into a certain belief system.

Originally, when my ex and I split up, we were doing split custody of our daughter. Something changed when my aunt died at the beginning of last year. I told my ex I was going to be bringing our daughter with me to the funeral in North Carolina (we live in Arkansas). He pretended he was okay with it and then asked if he could keep her one more night before we leave; I agreed.

The next day, we were all supposed to ride to the airport together (I didn’t have a car). Instead of all of us going to the airport together, I called and texted with no answer.

Soon after we already missed the flight, he told me his car had broken down, so I rescheduled the flight for the next day. When that day came, I called and texted again with no answer. He shut my phone off so I couldn’t reach him or anyone. When I got a new number and just wanted to see my daughter after I decided it was too much of a hassle to try to go to my aunt's funeral with all of this going on, I called him, his mom, his dad, his sisters, his brother-in-law, his friend, and his friend's girlfriend. I was trying to find any way to get ahold of my ex who was keeping my daughter from me. I just wanted to see my child.

Since he was living with his parents, he was able to afford a lawyer to file for emergency custody of our daughter. I showed up to court last February where I was met with my ex and his lawyer. They wanted to come up with a “deal” for the emergency custody, and since I couldn’t afford a lawyer, I was speaking for myself. When court started (and I didn’t have a lawyer), the judge didn’t even speak to me to ask what happened or anything; he just granted the emergency custody to my ex.

My ex used my mental health (postpartum) against me; they bought it. I have been struggling in this economy trying to save money for a lawyer and also get my bills paid. I need to get my daughter back THIS YEAR. As of right now, I can only see her on visitation 3 days a week. Anything helps. The retainer for the lawyer is around $2000. I really just want to be a mother to my beautiful child.