Help Daddy Stay in Nova's Life by Keeping Up the Fight

Hi Everyone,

Chris here. I created this fundraising campaign to help pay $5000 in legal fees due ASAP. This will help me maintain access to my daughter, Nova, and continue our fight for continued access and shared custody. This fight will cost approximately $5000 in legal fees monthly for the rest of this year.

My Story

As many of you know, I’ve been in a painful and costly battle to maintain access to my daughter, Nova, that began just three weeks after she was born on October 27th, 2022.

Nova’s mother left my home, where we had agreed to co-parent our daughter together for the first three months of her life, promising to return the next day. When that didn’t happen, she insisted she’d return the following day, but sadly, this was not the case. I soon discovered that she had moved into her parent's home, and my access to Nova was limited to a few hours a day without explanation.

Though our relationship had ended around the time we discovered the pregnancy, the pregnancy was not an accident. We had agreed to co-parent our daughter regardless of our relationship status, as we both wanted a child and took the time to plan and cover the logistics of the pregnancy and the first few months of Nova’s life.

Initial Challenges Faced

I witnessed troubling behaviors from Nova’s mother in the weeks following her birth and during the later stages of pregnancy. These included slamming our newborn on the bed in anger, frequent rages, irrational and false allegations, and insisting we get back together.

Alarmed, I informed her doula, OBGYN, and mother, hoping they could intervene. The doula helped us join a program for new parents, assigning us a social worker and pediatrician for a year. The OBGYN arranged for her to meet with a psychiatrist, but her mother responded only with an angry face emoji. Shortly afterward, she moved in with her parents.

Since then until today I continue to endure sometimes successful attempts at parental alienation, ridicule, harassment, intimidation attempts, and racism from Nova’s mother and her support system.

Ongoing Legal Battle

After several weeks of supervised visits at her parents’ home, I deduced that they planned to go to their home on the Magdalen Islands without notice for roughly six months. Following police advice, I retained a skilled family lawyer to prevent her from leaving and to help improve the situation. A few days later, she and her parents completely restricted access to Nova, claiming I wanted too much access after I asked for some time alone with Nova in a room in their home rather than the usual living room or kitchen. They were served with court papers a few days later, and the judge reprimanded her, granting me access to Nova six days a week. I maintained that access not missing a single day, despite harassment, intimidation, racism, and ridicule, until about a month ago.

Recently, Nova’s mother and her family have managed to limit my access to three hours in the first week and three hours plus one overnight visit in the second week. Despite my efforts to support Nova’s mother and care for her during pregnancy and since I have been met with contempt. The situation took an even sadder turn when I was attacked by her father while holding Nova a few weeks ago, resulting in his arrest.

My Goal

My goal is to have shared custody of Nova and be a loving and supportive parent. Many people question what I must have done to trigger such an extreme reaction. Unfortunately, mental health issues, racism, and contempt for not wanting to continue a relationship with Nova’s mother appear to be the only explanations.

Your Support

I am reaching out for help because I have exhausted all other options. In exchange for your support, I am offering the following services:

One-hour smart home/apartment consultation: I will advise you on the best solutions for your needs and budget, providing links to recommended items.

Smart home/apartment hardware installation and setup

LLM/AI consultation: We’ll discuss your questions and concerns and explore how you can best use these powerful tools.

PC and Mac repair/tuning: I will help diagnose and solve your tech issues, either by prescribing solutions or implementing them myself.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story and for any support you can provide. Every little bit helps in my fight to maintain access to Nova and be the father she deserves.

With Gratitude,

Chris Hicks Proud Father of Nova