Single mom against crooked landlords

Hi my name is Janera and I am a  single 34 year old female with a 12 year old daughter and 4 year old son and we are in serious need of assistance.  I moved into an apartment with my daughter two days before having my son and everything appeared to be ok with the place, the landlord was very nice and made the transaction very smooth so I was so grateful for that! About a few months in, I had a leak in the bathroom that he refused to fix, then goes on to tell me that he is selling the house and that I should find me another place asap. With that being said, I was promised my security deposit back of $3000  once we were out and all of our things were gone. Once all of these things were done as per our agreement, he handed me a personal check for the $3000, I deposited the check the same night. Long story short, two days later my bank contacted me about a stopped payment on the the $3000! So now me and my children were forced to stay with a family friend whose house was infested but I had no choice, my deposit money was gone and I had to try and get back the money that was lost so I only had enough money to make sure me and the children were able to eat and for myself to get back and forth to work. The infestations became too much and once my son was bit in his eye by a bedbug, we ended up in a hotel for a few months.  Found an apartment while there and same situation, the apartment was nice and clean, the transition was smooth.  After a year of living there the landlord and his wife started having issues which resulted in them constantly fighting and him leaving the property later attempting to divorce his wife. With that being said he wanted to sell the house and of course we had to leave.  I agreed to look for a place and make sure everything was cleaned up before we left. I honored the agreement, made several attempts to collect my $3600 deposit until he decided that I was on his wife's side (mind you I don't know neither of them personally) and that I should take him to court because he was not going to give me anything. With all of this happening in my life, I have managed to find another place, build up my credit and was approved for a house!!! This is like a dream come true for me but a sad situation at the same time because now I am faced with trying to come up with the rest of my down payment and don't know what else to do or who to ask for help! After taking these two landlords to court with the hopes of possibly getting the money back, it just seems hopeless at this point. I do work I am a manager for a day program that services adults with special needs and enjoy what I do but unfortunately it's just not enough. This assistance would benefit my children a great deal because they would be able to call this place their home and not have to worry about being put out. I wanna be able to put smiles on their faces when they see our new home!!!! I would really just appreciate anything at this time I only have until the end of October. I know some may think of this as least important but after all me and my family has been through this would definitely be a true blessing and I just want to say thank you in advance, thank you for taking the time to read my story!