Hi, my name is Alyssa and I am raising funds for a mama and baby/toddler duo that, due to safety and legality issues, need to remain anonymous. If you know who this is, please keep in mind their safety when sharing. It took a lot of courage for them to ask for help. I’m referring to mama here as B and the babe (now 3 years old) as N.

When N was only a few months old her father, who has extreme mental health and substance issues, had an episode involving gun violence resulting in a child abuse charge with N. Terrifying.

At that point, the courts appointed B with full custody of N.

Last year, on good faith that N’s father had changed his ways and was in stable condition to care for his daughter, B consented to letting N’s father have some unsupervised time with her again.

Quickly and tragically, B realized that she had made a mistake in granting N’s father unsupervised time with N… but if you are familiar with the family court system, you know that it is very hard to reverse a decision without consent from both parties or substantive evidence of harm.

That evidence came recently during a relapse on drugs and a mental health crisis with N’s father. N has been back full-time in B’s care since then by circumstance but will need to be legally seen. Papers have been filed and a hearing is on the calendar.

Last month, N’s father filed a claim for custody. B is very, very afraid of what could happen to N if she is in her father’s unsupervised care again. Unfortunately, even with very documented abuse, this is absolutely possible, especially as N’s father has obtained a lawyer and B has not beyond free legal help from Pisgah Legal.

Unfortunately, the pro bono legal help has not been sufficient for B to feel confident that she is going to have the best chance at protecting her daughter. Money talks and it’s very dangerous for N for her safe, loving, fierce advocate mama not to have fair representation in this case.

The US family court system, sadly, is just not set up to be fair. Great parents lose cases and custody all the time because they were not able to afford a lawyer but the other non-custody/non-child support paying parent was able to hire one.

Thankfully, B & N have a loving community that is committed to not letting this happen and with your support, we can help B continue to keep N safe.

B currently has a consultation with an excellent lawyer at the end of the month. The consultation fee is $350 and for B to retain this lawyer to fight for her and N in court, it will be $5,000.

All in all, a court case like this could end up costing $10k. B is a low-income full-time parent who cannot even depend on child support.

Please help us raise the funds necessary to protect N and ensure that the time she spends with her father is safe. Thank you.