Preventing Significant Disruption to My Kid's Life

UPDATE: An anonymous crypto donation has lowered the amount required to $2000 after fees! Thank you, whoever you are!

My kid's mother, who is one of my best friends, has found herself in a financially desperate position that will almost certainly require bankruptcy to rectify before it gets worse. She's formally educated in finance and accounting, and maintained a pretty successful career in the financial sector for many years. She now owns two businesses and she's highly successful at both of them. Her father also worked as a lawyer in domains that have significant overlap with the financial sector, and has knowledge, accountants, and financial advisers of his own to offer. But, knowledge and experience do not magically inoculate us against unfortunate circumstances that arise for reasons outside our control, and career success doesn't guarantee invincibility against financial hardship. It's not my place to go into details, and I won't (don't try to probe me in DMs, please). Suffice it to say, irresponsibility and/or negligence are not to blame here. She is easily one of the hardest working, most responsible people I've ever met.

The debt is approximately $18,000, and it is growing exponentially. Much of what makes the debt untenable is the interest on a debt that large. There is potential light at the end of the tunnel and stability should eventually come, but it will arrive too late and bankruptcy will be required before that time. Bankruptcy in her situation will very likely mean she will lose her house, where my child currently lives. I've worked as hard as I can to provide stability for my child, and that's all I'm trying to do here as well. I wish I had an extra $18K to slap down in front of my kid's mother to help secure my kid's future and keep them in their house safe and sound, but I don't at this time. And neither does anyone else we know. Honestly, very few people do.

My primary concern is keeping my kid's life stable. Making sure my kid gets to stay in that house, keep the same bedroom, keep the same friends, go to the same school, and grow up without being shuffled about. I want my kid to graduate into adulthood with the most amount of fond childhood memories possible. Not memories of being juggled around the city because of dumb money troubles. That sort of stuff happened to my parents, and I've seen what it can do to people to have such unstable childhoods. I don't want that for my kid. Over the years, I've worked hard and I've developed a following of people for whom I am grateful, and who are invested in my well-being. I would be negligent if I did not once again call upon their generosity in this case. Only this time it's not for me. Hell, it's not even for my kid's mother. It's for my kid. What's good for my kid's mother is good for my kid.

Today, when I heard my kid's mother tell me that in her professional opinion (and in the opinion of every other professional in her social circle) bankruptcy was probably the only viable option for her, and that bankruptcy will likely result in losing the house, it was clear that I needed to act. I've known she was in some kind of debt that wasn't her fault, but this was the first time she had confided in me about the particulars and told me about how dire the situation actually was. So, I need to do something, simple as that. I'm not sure what to do other than this. Call it e-begging. I don't care. I'm using the means to which I have access to do my best to keep my kid's life from being needlessly disturbed. If I didn't do that, I'd be a bad parent. Given the position I find myself in on social media, asking for generosity is my moral responsibility as a father at this point. Not a dime of this money goes to me. This is for my kid. This isn't for luxury or frivolous expenses, but to prevent significant disruption in my kid's life.

Inb4 someone tells me to "get a job" and do it myself or otherwise wants to blame me for this situation. Sorry, you don't know what you're talking about and you've probably been listening to too many of Bart Kay's deranged rambles about me or some shit. I have a job. In fact, depending on how you look at it, I have multiple jobs and they often consume my every waking hour. I contribute all that I am able, and it is such that if I went out and procured income through other, more conventional means, I'd be downgrading my income, and I'd be in a worse position to help, not a better position to help. The money I'm making now is likely the best money I'm able to make with my current qualifications. You're living in a fantasy world if you think that financially stable people are immune to crisis. Anyone who doesn't accept what I've said here is just getting auto-blocked, sorry.

Inb4 someone chimes in with tons of unsolicited armchair financial advice or wants to play 20 questions with me and particulars that are none of their business. The answer is no. Between friends, professional acquaintances, and family members, my kid's mother practically has a team of financial advisers at her disposal. They are as one on the solution to this problem, and there is very little recourse beyond the path of bankruptcy that is available to her if she wishes to keep the situation from getting as bad as it will get. I'm not here to give you sordid details. I'm here to communicate the circumstances as they are. Anyone who doesn't accept that and insists on being an armchair adviser will be auto-blocked as well.