My abuser will officially get his wish of making my kids and I homeless on May 6, which is when our home, our safety, goes to auction. With all of your help, we managed to save our home from foreclosure not once, but twice! Yet he continued to stand in the way of us being able to keep our precious home. 

Even worse, Kirkland PD emailed me to say that they will be releasing his fir*arms to him early, despite a court order (weapons surrender extension) forbidding it by law. 

I am desperate to raise the funds needed to stop him from completely destroying (or ending) my life as he promised he would do if I reported the ab*se. 

My kids and I are in the fight of our lives due to domestic violence and we need everyone’s help. Please share this far and wide - even $10 gets us closer to safety and justice: www.GoFundMe.com/MelissaStrawn

My kids and I had a protection order for years after proving the abuse in Nov. 2023 and a final DVPO was entered. One of the g*ns he’s asked to get back, was the same g*n that the court found he used against me in the commission of a felony when I refused to abort our twins. 

I’m a disabled, medically vulnerable survivor and my ex exploited my severe health conditions to commit unspeakable DV/SA against me for years. By the time I left (with his permission), I was 96 pounds, had just had emergency near-fatal surgery, and was hanging on to life by a thread. And he dangerously assaulted me one final time before I left, while my entire abdomen was cut down the middle from open strangulated hernia surgery.

My ex knows he is not legally allowed to get the g*ns back until the judge rules on my attorney’s latest filing, but he is leveraging the fact that the judge’s dates are off on the order and the police department said unless something new is filed, they legally have to release them to him on April 15th. 

I have an attorney prepared to file the right court motions and appellate opening brief, but I cannot afford both legal fees and basic needs for me and the kids. In addition, we are about to lose our home - our safe refuge - to auction, because despite raising the funds to qualify for a loan modification, my ex refused to allow that move forward.

I’m doing everything I can, I’ve participated in court proceedings for 3 1/2 years. The court helped us stay safe for years until I had to miss our divorce trial due to me having pneumonia and mononucleosis. 

The court proceeded without me and not a single exhibit, witness, or bit of sworn testimony was included from my side. Those orders are on appeal, as my ex’s requests were to literally strip me of everything - including my home and ALL parenting time with my kids (the very kids the courts legally barred my ex from seeing for 2 1/2 years). 

There is still much legal work to be done to overturn those orders and to ensure our long-term safety. I am disabled and on a fixed income, my ex violated the child support orders and was found in contempt, and we are simply not able to stay afloat and pay for legal representation given the years of financial abuse.

I can’t do this alone and I am asking for help out of sheer desperation. Help me prevent an additional tragedy *before* it’s too late. www.GoFundMe.com/MelissaStrawn

My ex promised me assured destruction if I ever reported the abuse, but I had no choice but to file for a protection order and report it 3 1/2 years ago. A full evidentiary hearing was held where my ex was represented by an attorney; I had to represent myself due to his financial abuse. 

At that hearing, the court confirmed the abuse and I thought the battle would be over, but more than two years later, I’m having to fight to keep that protection in place. 

Our court systems are slow and imperfect; every 6 days, a child is k*lled in the midst of a custody dispute. The kids have lived exclusively with me for 3 1/2 years and getting this protection order renewed is my best hope at keeping us all safe until our appeal is resolved.

My ex was at the last hearing where my attorney explained that she’d be filing a reconsideration that would keep him from obtaining his g*ns until the judge’s ruling, so the fact that he’s trying to get them back early, prior to that ruling, is terrifying. But Kirkland PD confirmed that without an additional filing, they will release them.

The reason this appeal is so critical is because the final orders entered after the one-sided divorce trial literally flipped the narrative. DARVO is a well-known tactic used by abusers to flip the blame onto their victims. Due to a medical emergency, that trial was held entirely without me — literally nothing from my side was considered. 

My ex leveraged my medical emergency to strip me of everything and the very protection order the same court issued, was used against me at that trial. 

Survivors should *not* have to worry that proving the abuse will later come back to destroy them, certainly not without some type of due process or ability to present their side when they don’t have a serious illness. 

Our family courts are broken and I don’t think the public is aware of how risky it is for a survivor to go up against an extremely wealthy abuser in family court.

Please help me prevent what I believe will be a life-altering/threatening tragedy if my ex is not stopped from obtaining his g*ns. There is too much at stake to delay. My ex has never wanted our twins to exist and I need the public’s help to prevent a child-safety tragedy.

Unfortunately, the system will not help until this appeal is fully briefed and that takes money and time. In the short term, I at least need to ensure these guns stay out of his hands until he is fully legally allowed to have them again and I need to keep fighting to have my protection order renewed. Additionally, I need to secure long-term housing so that he cannot use the homelessness that he caused, against me.

Prayers and donations appreciated more than you’ll ever know. If you are unable to contribute yourself, I ask that you please share this with a few people you know and re-post it on your page.

Together, we can stop a potential revenge-filicide from occurring and at the very minimum, we can take a closer look at how family courts often work against victims of domestic violence. 

G*ns do not belong in the hands of an adjudicated abuser committed to destroying their victim and our family courts in Seattle/WA and beyond, are in serious need of reform.

Melissa

Donation links:

www.GoFundMe.com/MelissaStrawn

Venmo: @MyPeopleNow (last 4 digits of phone number are 2871)

CashApp: $MyPeopleNow