Help keep Braxton and Angie safe

I created this gofundme on behalf of my best friend, Angie, and her son, Braxton, both of whom I consider family.

Angie is a very private person and has a difficult time asking for help, but their situation has become too overwhelming for one person to deal with alone. Braxton and Angie have experienced years of physical, verbal, mental, and emotional abuse at the hands of Braxton’s dad. Much of the severe abuse perpetrated on Angie was witnessed and heard by Braxton beginning at a young age.

Throughout the years there have been orders for protection in place, with the most recent one expiring last year. These orders for protection were for attempted kidnapping of Braxton, and physical assault on Angie that was witnessed by Braxton. Angie has raised Braxton on her own, and has always had sole physical custody with parenting time being at her discretion. Over the last two years, Braxton’s dad has become more aggressive in his attempts to change custody and parenting time to gain access to Braxton. He has taken Angie to court nearly 10 times in two years, many times for things that hold no weight and are dismissed by the court, but further harassment nonetheless.

Braxton has dealt with anxiety, difficulty at school, nightmares, and becoming physically ill at the thought of his dad showing up to his sporting events. He has been able to work through some of these things with therapy. Braxton loves playing football and the past two seasons were tough for him. He frequently vomits on the sideline as he scans the crowd to make sure his dad is not there, which has been witnessed by many parents and is heartbreaking each time. No child should have to be that afraid.

Angie has had good representation through her lawyer the last two years to keep Braxton safe and protected. As you can imagine, this has been an incredible burden for her in many ways. Between lawyer fees, court fees, and therapy costs over $30,000 has been spent. Angie has gone through any savings she had, her entire 401K, and she has been working 3 jobs to try and keep up with the tremendous additional expense. She also does not receive child support. Angie needs our help to keep Braxton safe now more than ever as there are a couple big court dates approaching and she needs to be able to keep her representation.

The money collected will go toward lawyer fees, therapy costs, and making sure Braxton and Angie don’t continue to unfairly struggle for a situation they never deserved.

Thank you for considering a donation.