For the Girls! Keeping our 2 youngest granddaughters safe in the family custody world
As you know, we have had our two youngest granddaughters (now 9 and 14) living with us since their parents split in November 2014. We were added to custody in mid-2015, then were urged by therapeutic and school counselors to acquire temporary orders in February 2017 to require supervision for twice a month visits with the bio-mom. In the meantime, while guiding the girls with quality resources to heal the pain in their hearts, they have been thriving in our local schools and extra-curricular activities.
Ironically, after CPS removed the bio-mom’s newborn in May 2018 because they tested positive for street drugs, the bio-mom turned around just two months later in July to sue us and our son for full primary custody of the girls, attempting to gut the bio-father’s rights and privileges, and cut Joyce and I out altogether. While she is filing and appearing without an attorney, we have felt compelled to retain competent and well-respected law firms to make sure justice is served and the girls have the best representation in the courts through us and their dad.
Joyce and I have already spent what meager liquid retirement funds we had saved, and now find ourselves maxing out credit cards for necessary legal fees for both us and our son. Selling our house would seem counter-productive, but we will do whatever it takes to raise the money for this.
[Notice we are not using everybody else’s names: how do you talk about this in a Christian manner? Well, to borrow the style of the old TV show “Dragnet”, “These are the facts, ma’am, just the facts …. The names have been omitted to protect the guilty and the innocent.”]
A monumental court battle is looming; motions are filed, and the trial date is yet to be announced. It may not be the last, but it will set the tone and trajectory for any to come later.
Any help you could give would be truly and gratefully appreciated: prayer above all; financial contributions if you can.
