Help Angelica Retain a Child Custody Attorney

Hi, my name is Angelica. Until recent events, I was a mother who had always had the majority of physical custody of an amazing 11-year-old named Savannah. If someone would have told me that I would not be allowed to have any contact with Savannah for 300 days and counting...I would have laughed at the absurdity of that statement. There is nothing humorous about the events that have occurred over these past 9 months.

Background information:

I was married in 2009 and divorced in 2015. My ex-husband and I had one child during the marriage. Our daughter Savannah was born in 2011. There has been an ongoing Child Custody Case since 2014.

I walked with Savannah to her school on November 18, 2022. I wasn't prepared for the series of events that followed a seemingly normal Friday walk to school with Savannah.

On November 21, 2022, my ex-husband informed me that he had filed an Intent to Withhold and an Emergency Ex-Parte Hearing to change custody. This wasn't the first time that an Intent to Withhold was used, that an Ex-Parte hearing was filed, or that a change of Custody and Visitation was filed. On November 23, 2022, a judge made a temporary order, which changed the original Custody and Visitation order (Joint legal and Joint Physical, with Primary to Mother), and granted my ex-husband Temporary Sole Legal and Physical custody based on the abuse accusations he made in his filing for the change in Custody and Visitation order. Also, the order stated that my ex-husband would have sole discretion about any visitation and/or contact between myself and our daughter. I knew that I would be denied contact and visitation because this has been a high-conflict custody case and we have been using the court-ordered Talking Parents app to communicate since early 2017.

The current abuse accusations have been investigated, and like previous abuse accusations and court filings to change custody, they were found to be unfounded and/or untrue. Our daughter has had to endure multiple interviews and investigations through the local Police Department, the county Sheriff's, and Children's Services due to the accusations of abuse made against me and/or members of my family made by my ex-husband.

113 days passed since I walked Savannah to school on November 18, 2022. I was finally allowed to have a 30-minute visit supervised visit on March 11, 2023. As of today, 187 more days have gone by with no contact or visitation between myself and Savannah. I miss Savannah. I miss our talks after school. I miss the creative projects/experiments/artwork that I would watch Savannah create. I miss all of the hugs. I miss the bedtime stories/talks. I miss the eye rolls at my hilarious dad jokes. I miss comforting Savannah during the difficult moments in life. I miss hearing "Mom," a hundred times a day. I miss watching Savannah grow and become the person that they want to be. I miss making memories with Savannah. I miss being a part of Savannah's life.

I have been the primary parent for the majority of Savannah's life. I have been a part of almost every major milestone in Savannah's life. I was a parent volunteer in the classroom for a couple of years. I've chaperoned school field trips. I was a Team Parent for both years that Savannah did Junior Giants. I have actively been involved in Savannah's life and extracurricular activities. I have been to every school event that allowed parents to participate. I have been to every award ceremony for Savannah.

I have missed key moments in Savannah's life because of the events that were initiated back in late November of 2022. I missed Savannah's only school band performance. I missed Savannah's first school camping trip. I never got to meet Savannah's 5th-grade teacher. I missed Savannah's 5th-grade promotion. I have missed 300 days, and counting, of Savannah's life since late November of 2022. The days that I miss will continue to grow until we have our trial in late September of 2023.

I find it difficult to reach out and ask for help, even when I know that I need help. My ex-husband has an attorney. I am self-represented in court. I need help with retaining an attorney for the trial that we have set in late September of this year. I have already spoken with an attorney. The retainer for the attorney is $4000; the attorney's hourly rate after the retainer is used is $350/hr.

I would be appreciative and grateful for any help that I receive. Any additional funds received that exceed the initial goal of this campaign will go towards therapeutic help in rebuilding the relationship between Savannah and myself, as well as therapeutic help with processing and healing from everything that has transpired from the aforementioned events.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story! I would appreciate it if you could donate to my campaign, but I understand that not everyone will be able to. Also, I would appreciate it if you could help me by sharing my campaign so that it can reach more people than it would with just me sharing it on my social media. I will post any relevant updates to the campaign as the trial date approaches. Thank you, again!