raising money for an attorney for Deegen

My name is Chris; my wife and I are trying to raise funds to pay for attorneys' services to assist us in our current legal battle. For several years, we have had an ongoing custody battle for my stepson and Brittany's son, Deegan. We previously had an attorney for this; however, the costs increase quickly over time, in conjuction with having to miss work and travel back and forth between court house and other places for proofs. We have accrued a balance we can not afford and can no longer use their services until we pay them off and another retainer. Over the last couple of months, we tried to battle this independently. Unfortunately, the situation has been progressively worsening for Deegen, and we now fear for his emotional and physical well-being.

While at this household, Deegen has had 127 recorded unexcused absences in the past school year, been taught some very inappropriate behavior, and reported to us physical abuse from the grandfather for simply making a remark about his car. Deegen is terrified of his grandfather.

Recently, Deegen's father planned to move out of his parent's house, where he has resided for most of Deegen's life. Deegen's grandfather found out, and the grandparents relocated Deegen while refusing to give up his whereabouts or release him to Brittany or Deegen's father. The Grandparent has a long record with felonies and physical assault and is emotionally abusive. The grandparents had petitioned to intervene multiple times over the last few years and recently petitioned again. T6heir motions were denied numerous times over the last couple of months. After the father moved out and was unable to take Deegen with him, He and Brittany filed an ex-parte order to have Deegen removed from their care and back into their care. The same day The grandparents filed for temporary emergency guardianship. according to public records, both were denied. Both parents asked police to remove the child from the household and were told that the grandparents said he was not there and there was nothing further that they could do. Police were asked to perform a wellness check on Deegen and refused to do so. Brittany and I went back to the courts yesterday and filed for the current custody order to be enforced on our ongoing custody case. This motion was granted. Last night, Brittany, Deegen's father and myself waited for the police to arrive for 4 hours to get our motion enforced. Considering the grandparent's history, Kent County Sherrif's department would not and will not go to the grandparent's house without multiple vehicles for backup. So we waited longer for three more officers to arrive before enforcing the order. Finally, we go to the house and are told that Deegen was not there and handed a court order for temporary guardianship. Police at this point would not enforce as there were two conflicting orders. We returned to the court this morning and contacted the clerk for the judge who signed their order to find it was granted, although online records show otherwise and the grandparents put down a non-existent address on file for us to be served. We then contacted the clerk for the judge who approved ours, who said they would be amending our order and we must wait for court on August 26th to dispute.

We need an attorney to assist us with this case as we fear for Deegen's current well-being and his future.