An 11 year old whose father abandoned her for Sherri Papini

Nearly six months ago, my partner of 16 years met Sherri Papini...the woman who kidnapped herself from Redding, CA. While he moved into her "mansion" he left my daughter and I (and our two cats) homeless, without my daughter's clothes, and with a thirty-five year old truck with 300,000 miles on it that could only drive in 2nd gear and Reverse. I've managed to keep us sheltered, clothed and fed for months, but I've finally run out of resources. Instead of paying a penny in child support, he's finally sued me for custody, yesterday.

On the one hand, I'm thrilled he FINALLY wants to see his child. But, on the other, he left us to fend for ourselves for SIX MONTHS while he lived rent-free in a home another man was paying for. (Plus he's driving a new car and the ONE time he actually made plans to see my daughter and gave me $250 for her support, he was in all new clothes and bragging to our kid about how he travels back and forth to New York and L.A. now with Sherri.) *

My daughter is an amazing kid. She is crazy talented at acting--every time she auditions for a play, she gets the lead. She is smart, funny and kind. Him blowing her off has broken my heart--I NEVER thought he'd act this way towards his daughter.

I too, am to blame here...I was in a bad relationship and yet I wasn't anticipating the end of it coming so soon. I wasn't working full time and I've been applying like mad while picking up part-time work here and there. We are in an economically depressed area but I'm unable to leave now according to the court papers. I applied to and was approved for HUD--over a month ago I had an interview at an apartment in Redding--the girl who interviewed me originally said we'd know "very soon" if I got the apartment or not. It's been a month now since I saw her. I've called every day and left too many voicemails. I finally caught her at lunch the other day--and found out she still hadn't processed our application.

Now we're in limbo--waiting on this one apartment...If I could just have one month of worry-free housing, I could get and start a job and use that to get us an apartment. I was able to get us a used car, so at least we have transportation now. The local women's shelter is no longer an option--it's for women in crisis, freshly fleeing a domestic violence situation. We went there initially, and they sent me to the county's social services which we've basically used up while waiting on HUD.

I'm immensely thankful for the people who've helped us...My mom, of course; Aimee--you've done too much; Penny, for your frenzied day of packing; the amazing staff and principal at my daughter's school and a special Teacher who's gone above and beyond. I'll be immensely grateful to anyone else who helps us as well. Any amount we can raise will help--I thank you in advance.

* A week after that one visit, my daughter got sick--I begged him to help with a hotel while she was ill (as we were staying at a friends crowded house and I wanted our daughter to be comfortable while ill AND I didn't want to get my friend's kids sick--he said No...His solution was bring her to his eighty year-old parents house (and risk infecting them) or bring her to his house where Sherri Papini--a woman who the courts barred from seeing her OWN children--would have access to my daughter. Instead I got sick, and with the stress of our current lifestyle, ended up hospitalized with pneumonia.