Help Adam Reunite with his Daughter

Hello everyone, near and far,

 

I’m having a hard time deciding where to begin with this request so I am going to jump in and try to do Adam’s story justice.

 

THE STORY:

If you know Adam, you know that no matter what his personal situation is, his willingness to help others whenever and however he can always takes precedence. In the few years I’ve known him, I’ve seen him shop for groceries for homeless people outside of stores, buy lunch and a hot drink for homeless people outside of restaurants, and give any money he has on him to people sleeping under tarps trying to keep warm. He is truly in his comfort place when he is helping someone make it through another day. He has an incredibly difficult time asking for help for himself; he believes it is selfish and he feels like a burden to others. He is the kindest, gentlest soul who is good to his core. That is why I’m here today.

My name is Andrea, Adam is my fiancé, and together we have the sweetest 10-month-old daughter, Charlotte. But Adam also has another very sweet daughter, Olivia, who resides in Tennessee with her mother and step-father. The picture here is of Adam and Olivia, but it is an old one. Olivia is nearly five years old and Adam has only been allowed to see her on four occasions. Adam was thrilled to find out he was going to be a father, he married his now ex, and together they made plans to emigrate her and Olivia to Canada where they would be together as a family. In the meantime, Adam was travelling to the US as much as he could to spend time with his wife and Olivia. Weeks after Olivia’s birth, and several months after their wedding, Adam’s ex announced that she would be moving across the country to Tennessee with Olivia and no longer wished to be in a relationship with Adam. Adam had no say in the matter and was left with an incredible financial burden here, as well as having his parental rights taken away by Olivia’s mother.

Adam has only ever wanted to be Olivia’s dad and never wavered on that. Olivia’s mother began with weekly facetime calls with Adam, which later dropped to once/month, and then she cut them off altogether. If Adam made the trip to Nashville he was only permitted to see Olivia on the weekends for a supervised, specified time, regardless of how much vacation he took to be with her. The cost of travel from Calgary to Nashville for one weekend became far too much and Adam was only able to make a trip once/year, as he was trying to get back on his feet here in Calgary. Adam was not allowed to identify himself as Olivia’s father and was referred to as a family friend. Adam still has never missed a child support payment and has increased it willingly over the years, despite his ex’s request that he sign away his parental rights, have Olivia’s last name changed, and be adopted by the mother’s fiancé.

If you know Adam, you know that he is the least deserving person to receive any ill-treatment. Adam only wants to know and love Olivia and is willing to put every other heartache behind him to ensure that he has a relationship with her moving forward and that Olivia and Charlotte can get to know each other. Both parties secured legal counsel and earlier this week each party had the opportunity to testify in the ruling of a temporary parenting plan while they finalize their divorce and decide a permanent arrangement.

The judge agreed that the mother has not supported or encouraged their relationship, found it extraordinary that he continued support payments and increased them, despite not being permitted to have parenting time, and that the mother was unnecessarily dishonest with Olivia about who Adam was.

The judge ruled that Adam shall have three, two-week periods of parenting time between the summer of 2021 and January 1, 2022, all to take place in Nashville, with the mother paying half of the plane ticket only.

We, like many, have felt the crushing financial impact of COVID-19. Adam previously worked for an American company, however, when the pandemic hit, they had to let him go. At the same time, I was beginning my maternity leave as we prepared for the birth of our daughter. Adam was able to secure a new job back in February but it will take a couple of years for us to get back to where we were headed before the pandemic hit.

 

THE ASK:

In order to ensure a more fair permanent parenting plan in the future, Adam has to make these three, two-week-long trips before the end of the year, and although his ex has agreed to pay for half of the airfare, the pandemic has made air travel very inexpensive but left other costs untouched. We have done the math trying to find the cheapest flights, cheapest places to stay (opting for an Airbnb over a hotel to help mitigate costs), and the least expensive car rental option. Those bare minimum costs come to a total of nearly $3000 CAD x 3 trips, before food, gas, vehicle protection, and anything he wants to buy for or do with Olivia while he’s there. Additionally, there is the cost of a quarantine hotel upon his return to Calgary which can be exorbitant. We are saving as much as we can but will be forever grateful for any donations we receive. Our goal is to raise $9,000. We will provide updates as we book each trip and any money that is not used solely for this purpose and leftover at the end of December will be donated to a local organization that focuses on fostering family relationships and resilience.

 

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this and considering donating, we know better than anyone that every little bit can make the world of difference. We also know that COVID-19 has taken a toll on everyone, if you're not able to donate, please consider sharing this page with those you know.

 

With thanks,

Adam, Andrea, Charlotte, and Olivia