Funds to cover court costs
Donation protected
As some of you know, but many of you may not, for the last two years, we have been in the process of adopting two children. We are raising funds to offset legal fees to resolve the case of our two foster children so the courts can fully clear them for adoption into our family. We are the adoptive resource family for these children, and they were placed in our home via the DSS foster system with the full intention of adoption. However, the case is proving to be much more complicated than anyone anticipated, and due to this fact, we are facing substantial, unanticipated legal costs to ensure that these children remain a part of our family.
After two years of delays, we have been compelled to hire our own legal team to support the case. We have been told by a family court that we will potentially need 10 full court days to fully try the case. Fees for the attorney and paralegal can run approximately $500/hour, which would be $4,000/day for an 8-hour court-day. If the trial takes 10 days, that would be $40,000, and this does not include time spent by the team to research and prepare for the case prior to the hearing. This case was to be resolved last month; these ongoing, substantial legal fees were unexpected.
About our children (and due to the complexity of the case, we are going to leave out the children’s names and details of the actual case): Our daughter, who is two-years-old, and our son, who is 8-years-old, are biological half-siblings. Our daughter has been in our home since she was 1 month-old and our son has been with us for just over a year (although, he has been in foster care for 5 years). Our son has special needs due to having Down Syndrome and our daughter was born 2 months premature, at just over two pounds. Our son has recently been promoted to the 3rd grade and, with the support of his special education team, he is being mainstreamed into general education classes for the majority of his subjects. Our daughter has received early intervention services and has caught up with all her developmental milestones. Both children are fun-loving, silly children; they are thriving in our home and we are seeking permanency so we can continue to live as a healthy, happy family.
We’ve all heard the saying “It takes a village to raise a child”, and throughout this whole process, we have had much support from our "village," even as we have chosen to keep the matter largely private. This Go Fund Me campaign is not an easy request for us, but we will do whatever it takes to fight for the well-being of these children. Please consider supporting our fund to assist us in bringing the case to a close and finalizing the adoptions. Every donation will help us. We have a wonderful family and a great life but being stuck in this legal process has been emotional and upsetting. We want to finalize adoption so that we can move on with a normal life and have the assurance that we will be together forever.
**EDIT 9/5/2018: We have received such overwhelming support for this campaign that we've increased our fundraising goal from $5,000 to $7,500. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated, shared, or liked this campaign. We are humbled and honored by your support!
**EDIT 9/6/2018: Thanks, again and again, to everyone who has supported us through this campaign with kind words, donations, and likes and shares of page. In just over 30 hours we reached and surpassed our first and second goals, the campaign page has been shared over 300 times on Facebook alone, we have been contacted by the media, and we have had people reaching out to us individually to offer support. At this point we are not going to increase the campaign amount, but feel free to continue to share, like, and support as you see fit. As I type this, the kids are traipsing through the house, "hunting for bears" with a dustpan and broom, giggling and stomping. This is the life we want for them, a life where they are surrounded by friends and family who will go above and beyond for them so that they can be free and innocent to explore their world and make it their own. Thank you for helping to make the world a better place for them so that they can continue to make the world a better place for all of us.
After two years of delays, we have been compelled to hire our own legal team to support the case. We have been told by a family court that we will potentially need 10 full court days to fully try the case. Fees for the attorney and paralegal can run approximately $500/hour, which would be $4,000/day for an 8-hour court-day. If the trial takes 10 days, that would be $40,000, and this does not include time spent by the team to research and prepare for the case prior to the hearing. This case was to be resolved last month; these ongoing, substantial legal fees were unexpected.
About our children (and due to the complexity of the case, we are going to leave out the children’s names and details of the actual case): Our daughter, who is two-years-old, and our son, who is 8-years-old, are biological half-siblings. Our daughter has been in our home since she was 1 month-old and our son has been with us for just over a year (although, he has been in foster care for 5 years). Our son has special needs due to having Down Syndrome and our daughter was born 2 months premature, at just over two pounds. Our son has recently been promoted to the 3rd grade and, with the support of his special education team, he is being mainstreamed into general education classes for the majority of his subjects. Our daughter has received early intervention services and has caught up with all her developmental milestones. Both children are fun-loving, silly children; they are thriving in our home and we are seeking permanency so we can continue to live as a healthy, happy family.
We’ve all heard the saying “It takes a village to raise a child”, and throughout this whole process, we have had much support from our "village," even as we have chosen to keep the matter largely private. This Go Fund Me campaign is not an easy request for us, but we will do whatever it takes to fight for the well-being of these children. Please consider supporting our fund to assist us in bringing the case to a close and finalizing the adoptions. Every donation will help us. We have a wonderful family and a great life but being stuck in this legal process has been emotional and upsetting. We want to finalize adoption so that we can move on with a normal life and have the assurance that we will be together forever.
**EDIT 9/5/2018: We have received such overwhelming support for this campaign that we've increased our fundraising goal from $5,000 to $7,500. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated, shared, or liked this campaign. We are humbled and honored by your support!
**EDIT 9/6/2018: Thanks, again and again, to everyone who has supported us through this campaign with kind words, donations, and likes and shares of page. In just over 30 hours we reached and surpassed our first and second goals, the campaign page has been shared over 300 times on Facebook alone, we have been contacted by the media, and we have had people reaching out to us individually to offer support. At this point we are not going to increase the campaign amount, but feel free to continue to share, like, and support as you see fit. As I type this, the kids are traipsing through the house, "hunting for bears" with a dustpan and broom, giggling and stomping. This is the life we want for them, a life where they are surrounded by friends and family who will go above and beyond for them so that they can be free and innocent to explore their world and make it their own. Thank you for helping to make the world a better place for them so that they can continue to make the world a better place for all of us.
Organizer
Katie Waldie Reid
Organizer
Columbia, SC
