Travel expenses to visit my daughter Ivory

My name is Richard Earnest and I am asking for help bringing my daughter Ivory home.

For the past several months I have been in the painstaking process of trying to regain custody of my daughter from Ohio state. Ivory's mother committed suicide in June 2022. The state attempted to find local placement for her in Ohio, unfortunately failing, as every member of her mother's family refused to take her in. Ivory was then placed in a corrections facility as a Ward of the State following the incident. Through the attempts of the states to find additional relatives possibly willing to take placement, I was eventually contacted and informed of what had happened. I immediately began to make calls and file paperwork to regain custody.

When Ivory was only 5 years old her mother disappeared with her and moved across the country leaving me no way of contacting her or my daughter. Now, Ivory is 15 and she is spending her days in a mental health/corrections facility until the courts find and approve an appropriate placement.

After countless interviews, reviews, overviews, assessments and evaluations.... I was finally able to make contact with Ivory.

In July of 2022 I got to hear my daughter's voice for the first time in more than 10 years, and I broke into tears because until that day, I did not know if I would ever again get to see her, talk with her or tell her I love her.

Since being reunited, Ivory and I call each other daily and we have been rebuilding a strong foundation and relationship. We spend hours face-to-face on zoom and video calls each week. Ivory has made it clear to me that she wants to live here, she wants to have her dad, every day, in person. She wants the opportunity to build bonds with all the family she never had the opportunity to before. She wants to come home.

I have been doing everything I can to bring her home. However, the politics and bureaucracy are nearly unimaginable, as this process is going between multiple states on opposite sides of the country. I have been fighting to get her back for nearly 6 months now. I have already completed and passed the ICPC (Interstate Compact for Placement of Children) Including Fingerprinting, Home study, Child/Youth Care classes, and countless hours of phone calls and interviews. I have passed background checks from the state, child services and federal agencies, as well as criminal history checks and passed them all with flying colors. I took it as a great compliment when a woman from the federal criminal background check unit, was looking through my history and referred to me as "Kinda Boring" then we both had a good laugh about it.

Even so, with all this being done there is still more to do, to show the courts and agencies I am prepared to go the distance.

I have been informed by Legal counsel that it will greatly affect the potential for the courts to place her with me, here in Washington If I can go and visit her in Ohio, if even briefly.

This is an expense I am unable to afford on my own.

Although I consider myself rich with the love of my family and the relationships with friends, this wealth cannot buy a plane/train ticket or cover the accommodations of my visit.

For that reason, I am asking for your financial help.

I need transportation from Washington to Ohio and back, as well as room and board for 2-3 days while there.

If I can meet my goal I will be able to make this trip to see my daughter in person and give her the first hug I have had the opportunity to give her since she was a child.

Thank you for your time.

-Richard Earnest