Help a Loving Seattle Family With Legal Fees

Loving family needs assistance for pandemic related legal fees

 

I’m putting together this GoFund Me for one of my oldest and dearest friends. Someone I’ve known for 27 years. She is an AMAZING mother and step-mom and it has been incredibly painful watching as she and her husband have had to go through YEARS of coparenting and custody challenges. I’m SO proud of how they’ve been willing to subject themselves to the incredible stress that comes with these legal battles, all for the clear goal of protecting their children and providing a safe, stable home.

 

We’ve decided to leave out their names and not include tons of detail as an added layer of protection in the context of the current legal situation.

 

Any and all support for this amazing family is greatly appreciated

 

The following is a message directly from my friend and her husband:

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Joint custody can be incredibly hard on any parent and sharing custody of young children during a pandemic has made joint custody harder than anyone could have imagined.

 

In the last week alone (as of 9/10/21), nearly 252,000 children in the U.S. have tested positive for COVID-19, marking the largest increase of pediatric cases in a week since the pandemic began, according to a newly released weekly report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association.

 

Parents who have opposing opinions about COVID-19 and share custody of children who are not yet eligible for a vaccine may be bound by parental plans that were written prior to the pandemic to make joint decisions together or go back to court.

 

As parents of two children under 8, we are dedicated to protecting our children from unnecessary transmission exposure, but share custody of one of our children with someone else who doesn’t share the same opinions about our children’s health and safety.

To make matters more difficult for us, the other parent is using their employment with a large public school district to intimidate and harass us.

We have been attempting to navigate the family law system tirelessly since 2017 and are truly exhausted emotionally and financially. Up to this point, we’ve spent upwards of $24,000. The seriousness of our current family law disputes are immense and require immediate legal action and a $10,000 retainer for our attorney, which is just out of reach for our family. 

 

This fundraiser is to help us go back to court to fight to keep our children safe from Covid-19, as well as ultimately update our parenting plan in ways that will improve our ability to coparent and protect our children and hopefully avoid future legal disputes.

Please help us fight to keep our children safe!