Help Matthew Long Reunite with His Daughter

Hello, my name is Matthew Long. I have been in the Army National Guard for 11 years, am currently in the process of beginning the police academy, and I am blessed to be the father of a beautiful little girl.

The situation I am in is very unique and very troubling. I have a 6-year-old daughter, Madeleine-Isabella, who has always been the light of my life. I have been fighting for over a year to get my daughter back. I have been married to her mother for 8 years. Last year, after many months of prayer, reflection, and things such as personal counseling, I finally decided that I could not continue the cycles of emotional and verbal abuse that I had been suffering through during the last couple of years.

I brought up my feelings and thoughts with my wife in August of 2023. From August to October 2023, we had some of the healthiest and most calm communication we had ever had. She understood where I was coming from and made it seem as if she was willing to change for the sake of the relationship. However, there were certain situations that she put me in that I could not move past to keep the relationship afloat. All was going well until October 29th, 2023. That weekend, she and our daughter went to Ohio for her sister's wedding. I stayed home due to my work schedule, but that Sunday, the 29th, I picked them up from the airport and we went to church. After church, we sat down together to continue the conversation of divorce, and I was standing firm in my decision due to it being what I needed to be the best version of myself in order to be the best father for my daughter.

When the conversation ended, my wife asked if she could do the grocery shopping alone so she could have time to think things over. I told her of course, and that I would have a friend of mine pick me up from the church and we could continue talking that evening at home. That was the last time I saw her or my daughter. The next evening, October 30th, 2023, she emailed me saying due to everything going on, they were on a plane to spend the holidays with her family so my daughter could have peace because, in my wife's words, "I was choosing not to be a father anymore by getting a divorce."

Since then, I had gotten a lawyer and she found my wife in Pittsburgh in January of 2024. She was served the divorce papers and immediately started making numerous accusations towards me that I was abusing our daughter. I went to court to fight these accusations and was able to clear my name and have the judge dismiss the allegations, even getting an additional lawyer to have a third-party perspective. The lawyers are constantly telling her she needs to allow me to see and talk to my daughter, and every time they do, she just says no and makes up a new accusation, including the wildest one where my daughter told a therapist in Pennsylvania that her father "was not alive anymore."

I have not seen or spoken to my daughter since October 29th, 2023, and have been fighting for over a year to be seen by the courts and have custody of my daughter. My lawyers are constantly submitting records and requests to the courts, but it is such a waiting game of when my case will be up on the docket.

As this situation has gone on, I have been falling further and further into turmoil between this fight with the courts, everyday living expenses, court and lawyer fees, and the debts that my wife racked up before she took off, as well as the debts from the lawyer fees getting steeper and steeper. I know my financial goal is steep, but I am running out of options, and I cannot risk not being able to keep funding this fight until I get my daughter back. I am currently working two jobs, just barely scraping by with everything, and each month seems to put me further and further into a pit. I am finding myself incredibly lost and not knowing where else to turn. I cannot give up this fight, and I am hoping and praying on any kindness from anyone who will give me a chance to tell my story. I thank you very much for your time and thank you for any way you are able to help me.