Protect Baby Evelyn: Help Caitlyn Secure Custody

My name is Caitlyn, I’m a recently separated mother to a 3 month old angel named Evelyn. We are asking for help in preventing her father from taking full custody of her, which would be highly unsafe and unideal due to his history of abuse and angry outbursts.

On June 1st, 2025, an argument ensued between myself and his mother. I was confiding in her for support in asking my husband to be more active with our daughter, he was rarely present for “his time” with her and was often neglecting in her care, allowing her to spit up and drool all over her clothes and sit in a wet diaper for hours while I rested from being up with her all night. This angered my mother in law, leading to a screaming match. I walked away from her repeatedly and was followed, my husband joining in the screaming with baby Evelyn in his arms. During this outburst, I was shaking, crying, begging to be left alone and having a panic attack due to the nature of the attacks being used and his history of violence. I was scared. Meanwhile, he was leaving a bruise on my sweet baby’s rib cage from holding her entirely too tightly during his fit of rage.

The following day, after yet another violent outburst by her father in the car alone with our daughter, resulting in a broken phone and a broken dashboard, for our daughter and I’s best interest and safety, we exited the home with a police escort. We shortly after filed a Domestic Violence Order to prevent him from having further contact with us, hoping to temporarily limit any farther issues we may experience after leaving. I wanted to get us settled and stable, let him calm down and decide what he wanted for his future - to torture me or be a good father. 

This only antagonized him and his mother more, leading them to choose the fight for full custody, knowing that losing my daughter is my absolute biggest fear. His plan would leave me with no parental rights, even as her primary daily caretaker since her birth date of March 8th. This choice was not made because he desires being her primary caretaker or because he sees me as unfit. My motherly abilities were never once called into question until I left him for his damaging behavior, i.e. emotional abuse and infidelity. The choice to take my daughter from me is solely being made out of spite and to cause me suffering. He knows she needs me and I need her. 

This man has a long-term history of harassment, communicating threats, stalking, mental/emotional/financial and sometimes physical abuse, long-term & repeated lack of employment, a history of drug use he refuses to admit or seek treatment for, the list goes on. He is in no way fit to care for an infant girl by himself after spending years intentionally causing his wife/the mother of his child pain in all forms. I fear for her emotional well-being, development, and physical safety if she is placed in his care full time.

Since leaving the home on June 2nd, Evelyn has made great strides in her skill growth, she is smiling more and much more social, now holding her head up with confidence. Her appetite has increased & she’s gained almost 2 lbs in less than 2 weeks. 

At this time I am in need of assistance paying for the insanely high cost of a custody case. I am employed full time, have a safe place for her to sleep every night and go above and beyond to provide her the best care I can. I’m in treatment for a past substance abuse issue, am currently participating in counseling and group therapy, as well as mental health treatment and medications. He cannot say any of this for himself. He is simply unwell and being supported by those who traumatized him, leading to a lifetime of trauma that will be passed to our daughter if placed in their sole care. He himself has acknowledged that he needs help and some type of treatment program, but has refused to seek this help regardless of offers and options presented to him. 

To put it simply, Evelyn is significantly better off in her mother’s care. Please help me save my daughter from the lifetime of effects she will occur being just another possession to these individuals, someone else’s loss who they feel wronged them. I have no desire to keep him from seeing his daughter, but anyone who knows us both knows I will do anything for her and he can’t even do for himself. I just want my baby safe, happy, and healthy. I can and will provide that to her, at all costs.