Support NICU Nurse Isabella's Legal Defense

This is the closest I will come to raising money for myself. I am asking for money for who we will call (Isabella). For legal reasons I will only refer to her as Isabella or my client (which she is in real estate). In short, I am asking for you to help Isabella pay her legal fees against the corrupt, awful, and inept VA Foster Care System.

Long story, my client is a NICU nurse. She is a Saint. There was a particular baby she took care of in the NICU that she bonded with the baby (we will call Emma) and the mom (we will call Sara). The mom, Sara is 16 and did not want to have her baby and did not want to and was equipped to handle raising her. My client wanted to help both the baby and the mom. My client begged Child Protective Services not to let this child go home with the mother.

Child protective services ignored all of the warnings and countless cases opened by my client and several other nurses. They had an open case when the baby and the mom left the hospital. After leaving the hospital mom was distraught. She could not take care of her baby and would call my client non stop asking for help. My client reached out to Child Protective Services (CPS) countless times and CPS did nothing She also reached out to me. Together we strategized how to help. We watched the baby a few nights and tried to help in every way we could.

Unfortunately, this child was eventually badly physically harmed and ONLY THEN placed in foster care. Instead of CPS taking accountability for their lack of early intervention, they came after Isabella and me. They came after the good Samaritans. They did not claim we abused, they claimed that Isabella did not report ENOUGH times. There were over 20 unanswered reports opened.

There are no words to describe how bogus these claims are. But Isabella did have to hire a lawyer to fight these claims because if she was put on abuse list as they threatened her, this would impact her job.

This is not a time to ask why. I know why. The VA foster care system is broken. This is a time to give to someone in need who tried to fill in the gaps of the broken system and is being punished. This is a time to give more than you think you can while also realizing $5 will make a difference.

Later down the road, is the time to sign up for my soon to be annual Foster Care Reform Run. Down the road is the time to start getting really angry about how broken our VA foster care system is and start fighting for REAL change. Nurses should not have to take care of our children that should be in foster homes.

NICU Nurses should not have to buy clothes, babysit, and file 117 cases all so that CPS can ignore them and then threaten their jobs for not opening enough cases.