Legal and childcare expenses

Hi, My name is Ashley, and I’m raising money for a good friend of mine who I have known since elementary school; as well as her children. If any of you have ever met Cathy- you’d know that she is a caring and dedicated single parent who sacrifices everything to give her kids the world. She works hard holding multiple jobs, and was a two time surrogate from 2020-2022 helping other families complete their dream of having children. She has a 15 year old daughter who just finished her first year of high school, and a 5 year son who is entering into kindergarten this September on an IEP due to ongoing emotional and behavior issues he has struggled with since age 2.

On August 9th, around 4:30, 30 minutes before Reid was due to go home to his mom, Cathy received a text message from her son’s father telling her that Reid was experiencing a meltdown, which was typical for him given his multiple diagnoses related to his emotional and behavior struggles.

The text read: “I’m gonna tell you right now, he just had the biggest meltdown. Slapping me, hitting me, and pulling my beard so I slapped him. So he has a mark, just so you’re aware.” He goes on to say “He was just acting soo ridiculous I’m not gonna sit here and get beat up by a 5 year old”

About 5 minutes after these messages came through, Cathy received a phone call from Reid’s dad asking if he could just keep Reid overnight, as his girlfriend and children were going to the trampoline park and Reid wanted to go. This raised a red flag for Cathy, because in the course of raising their son, his father sadly has never once asked to keep Reid any extra time. In fact he often quotes the court order and reminds Cathy that he is only responsible for their son during specific times whenever she asks for any extra help.

Cathy was never against any additional time spent with dad, however, given the messages she had just received, she requested a picture via text of the “mark” and asked where this mark was. He said “his face” and Cathy hung up the phone waiting for the picture. 5 minutes passed and no picture had come through. So Cathy sent him a “?” prompting his response. And then the picture came through followed by the words “it’s bad”. Cathy demanded Reid be brought back to her immediately. Upon receiving her son back, she contacted her lawyer, DCYF, and went to the hospital as she knew this was more than an act of parental discipline.

Cathy and her children have endured 5 solid years of emotional and psychological abuse by this man all of which continually was dismissed by family court. Last July Reid told his mom that dad had been locking him in his bedroom as punishment whenever he had a meltdown. There are endless stories that I could share, but the only one that matters right now is the current one.

Reid’s dad had been out on bail due to previous charges he had received while on the job as a Tiverton Police officer, and because of this new child abuse charge, he has now been placed in Jail held without bail, as a bail violator and immediately suspended without pay from the town.

What this means for Cathy and her children is loss of child support, loss of child care (since Reid’s dad can no longer see him and visitation is gone) so she can get to work on the weekends, and a ton of attorney expenses to continue fighting this in family court. They go back to court next month, and she is scared and in need of some help, and I am hoping to help her relieve some of these burdens she has now incurred as a result of a selfish man’s unspeakable actions towards an innocent 5 year old boy. As it stands her attorney is currently asking for 4K at the beginning of this fight.

Anything you can contribute to this amazing family is more than appreciated. ❤️