The Raskob family fund

As many of you know, my father passed away very suddenly on November 25th, 2015. My father not only left us far too early, but as many of you may not know, he unfortunately left us with quite a mess to work through….

My father had been separated from his ex for about 5 years. In that time frame, he had been working very hard to financially stabilize himself. He was a single dad solely providing all costs for his two minor children from his second marriage; Blake (15) & Paige (7). Blake had been living full time with my dad since the separation, and Paige had been living with him about 80%, and her mother the other 20%. My dad was truly the only stability in my younger sibling’s life. Their mother has severe substance abuse issues, and my father was in the court process of receiving full custody. On December 2nd, a court order that was prepared based on their most recent court date on November 10th, was brought before a judge and signed. This court order would have given my father full custody of the children. Unfortunately, since he was “deceased” when this court order was signed, and he was the one to bring forth this motion, the court order becomes null.

Upon my father passing, her issues continued to worsen and we became very concerned for Paige’s safety. My family decided we needed to move forward with my father’s wishes and do the right thing to keep Paige safe, happy, loved, and cared for. On Thursday December 10th, my father’s lawyer filed our papers for emergency immediate custody, and on Friday December 11th, I was granted full custody of both my younger siblings.

While we have extreme comfort in knowing our siblings are safe and surrounded by so much love, this process has been a very bumpy road for all of us. So many emotions have surrounded us during this very difficult time, and my heart aches tremendously for my younger siblings. They have lost the strongest “rock” in their life and have been thrown far too much already then they should have to deal with at such young ages.

While we do have the most important thing, each other, and the amazing support of my father’s family through all of these terrible events, me and my older sister have become very financial strapped. Our only wish this holiday season is for our younger siblings to be happy, healthy, and taken care of through this holiday season and the New Year. It’s going to be a tough year to face with one less important person to share it with, but we do not want them to feel a financial struggle. Lawyer’s costs are adding up, I am trying to maintain the cost of my father’s house through the end of the school year so they don’t have to be juggled around in the middle of the year, and doubling my family's household size from 2 to 4 a few weeks before Christmas is wearing thin on us financially. Many, many people have asked what they can do to help through this time, and our best response is to provide a donation for our younger siblings. We want Santa to be able to provide the best Christmas possible regarding the circumstances, and for Paige to have a great 8th birthday coming up on the 28th of December.

Thank you all so much for the amazing support we have received so far, and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and happy New Year! God bless.