Hello I'm Heidi, I am trying to raise money to help my boyfriend afford a great family law lawyer from out of the area. After many court cases with court appointed counsel he has yet to be even close to where he should be right now. He is trying to gain custody of his 2 daughters and set unsupervised visitations with his son whom lives in Florida. For those whom know Cory they know he has a past and it's not a good one. For those that don't know him I'll explain, from Cory's teenage years up until 2 years ago when he had just turned 27 years old he was an addict, it started out with hanging with friends to a much more uncontrollable problem over the years and as each year passed the problem got worse and because of this his troubles began. He was in trouble with the law, wasn't able to be a good son, brother, grandson, nephew, boyfriend and sadly father. In 2013 Cory was arrested and charged with Attemped Sale of a Controlled Substance then sentenced to a year in prison. So with this arising petitions were put in for family to take custody of his daughter Cassidy as her mother was arrested also and looking at time, Cory agreed to allow his mother and his daughters maternal grandparents to hold joint custody. As this court case was going on his sons mother filed a petition for full custody of their son with visits to be supervised by Cory's father, which she won. Cory's rights to 2 of his 3 children went to supervised visitations. After being released from his prison sentence in 2014 Cory continued on his path of self destruction and as all drug addicts do thought of himself rather then the pain he was enduring on all his loved ones. He violated his parole and was sent to do 3 months in Wilard completing that in 2015. Upon returning home he continued on his path until early 2016 realizing enough is enough and chose to move to Florida to live with his then girlfriend and their son. Things were going great for a while. He got a job, they had a home, he stayed in contact with family back home and was staying clean and healthy. While being down there he found out he had another daughter born back home and the maternal grandparents were awarded custody because she was born addicted to opiates, as Cory was trying to better his life in Florida with the plans that one day he could be healthy enough to have all his children together in the future. Well late 2016 things got hard and Cory relapsed and found himself on a bus back home to nothing nor anyone but the hope that someday he will finally get a control of this dragon that has a hold on him and be able to be the father his children deserve. In February 2017 Cory decided enough was enough he had to change he couldn't chase that dragon anymore. He reached out for help, signed himself up at Conifer Park and started their outpatient program for addicts. Every morning except for Sunday's he'd wake up and head out that door to do whatever their plan was for the day. He did it for 3 months and not once relapsed, to you that might not sound like a big deal but to an addict it's a huge deal. Cory felt finding a doctor that specializes in his treatment would be better for his treatment that can focus on him and his treatment better at this point. He found one and since then has continued to work on his recovery. Next month will mark 2 years sober for Cory without any relapses. Since October 2016 Cory has only seen his son on 4 occasions because his son still lives in Florida and his visits with his son are to be supervised by his father he's only able to see his son when he comes up to visit. Since April of 2018 Cory has been trying to gain custody of his 2 daughters which brought on 2 court cases (he had rights to Cassidy but not to Cailynn). Not being able to financially afford a lawyer he had to settle with court appointed representation. It wasn't long after the court cases began that we came to realize how crooked Clinton County NY Family Court system was. Cory was not given fair representation. His lawyer failed to return calls, to meet with Cory prior to court, listen to Cory's concerns, fight for what Cory wanted, etc. His lawyer didn't want to fight what the law guardian had to say so Cory had no choice but to settle on unsupervised visits with Cassidy for 6 months then he'll be eligible to reapply for custody. For Cailynn he first had to petition for paternity to prove he was her biological father which came back as he was, he then petitioned for custody. The first court case Cory had to withdraw his petition or the judge was going to throw it out because he didn't put Department of Social Services as a respondent (how was he supposed to know? He had no rights to know says the system!). So again he petitions with Department of Social Services as a respondent, to get to trial finally get another court appointed lawyer to be told once again to withdraw the petition or the judge is going to toss it because he put no other reason but he was her father for a reason he should gain custody if you know the circumstances surrounding his reasons then to you that's a good answer but to the court understandably it's not. While he is in between these 2 court cases he recieves a court order from Florida by mail stating he is now obligated to pay child support on his son and that he owes 9000$ back support and is obligated to pay 400$ monthly. Cory has reached out for legal advise on how to get all 4 issues (custody of Cassidy and Cailynn, appeal for child support and visitations with his son) through court settled easily and fairly for all parties involved with no luck. All his attempts have failed. No lawyer will talk to him without him paying, he can't afford any of their fees. He contacted legal aide whom told him he's better to let it be or else he's going to end up paying child support on all 3 children and they won't represent him. At the beginning of all this I felt with common sense this should all be an open and shut case that ended happily, just to sadly see no fairness towards Cory for every avenue taken. You see Cory was once a person that nobody cared to help anymore, he was an addict that was on a downward spiral and at one point was on the path of never getting a hold on his addiction until he was 6 feet under. Sadly that's the end of alot of addicts stories but after losing everything he once cared for he grasped the strength and made the decision to get help. For 2 years now Cory has became a better person and a great father. He's rebuilt his relationship with Cassidy, has built a strong relationship with Cailynn and even though Carson lives in Florida he continues to try to keep that relationship going. Cory has had consistent visits with the 2 girls every week for a year now, he never rejects the opportunity to see them as often as he can. At this point the girls are still under their maternal grandparents custody but that isn't in the best interest for the girls. At the grandparents there's lack of supervision a few examples being: the girls 4 yr old cousin whom also lives there was able to have access to a pair of scissors and chop, yes chop right to the scalp Cailynns hair, 4 out of the 5 children whom live in their household are allowed supervised visits with their parents that legally the grandparents can supervise (except for Cass her visits with her mother are to be supervised by an agency in town) but unfortunately they're not supervising the parents nor the children during these visits as these parents that need to be supervised are their own daughters. It's a unhealthy environment some examples being: active addicts being able to visit their home regularly the girls mother being one of them, another being fighting and arguing aloud to occur in front of the children. The grandparents lack concern for adequate physical safety some examples being: Cailynn falling asleep in a wood trailer and the grandfather stacking the wood around her then once finished placing the chainsaw above her head then proceed to tow the trailer out of the woods even though many things could of went wrong thankfully they didn't, another being Cailynn being aloud by the grandfather to sit on a snow mobile while it ran so he could have a photoshoot, another being the 4 year old aloud to continually hit Cassidy with a stick as she said ouch and the grandfather instead of intervening continued to video it. They neglect the children's hygiene by not bathing them or washing them regularly. They neglect dressing them properly by dressing the kids in clothing that don't fit properly (mostly the clothes are to small), the clothes aren't clean or the girls are under dressed for the weather. These are just a few of the issues out of many. We've turned our concerns into CPS with no luck of them being found of abuse or neglect because CPS dismisses it as a family court battle going wrong. Leaving our hands tied with what to do next because nobody is taken our concerns seriously. With his son he just wants to gain joint custody with unsupervised visits throughout the year. He wants to appeal the child support order and have it adjusted to a more reasonable amount as his ex lied to the courts and said Cory hasn't lived with them since October 2015 which added a whole year extra of back support. Flordia court didn't take into consideration Cory's income compared to his monthly expenses so with his child support payment he can't financially afford to live. In 2 years Cory has built a healthier life for himself. He's gained stable employment, a permanent home that's family oriented, healthy and happy which Cassidy and Cailynn enjoy being apart of. He continues to see his doctor and counselor regularly and has started the next part of his program and is now tampering. In the eyes of Clinton County Family Court system and their bias crew Cory is still an addict whether it's a recovering or not. In mine, his doctors, friends and families eyes he's came a long ways from where he was. His children are the most important part of his life. He'd do anything he could to gain his time back with his children. We're hoping to get him a lawyer outside of the area that won't cower to our system but fight for Cory and what he fairly deserves. So I'm asking you to please look into your hearts and past Cory's past and focus on who he is today. I believe everyone deserves a second chance. Even though he can't get back all the time that he lost with his children, in hopes with fair representation he'll have a great future with them. So please I'm begging you please donate. If you can't afford to donate we understand please just share and keep them in your prayers. I hope one day there is change in our court system as Cory is not the first to suffer unfairness because he can't afford to hire a lawyer. Thank you for reading and God bless.