Cindy’s Status as Mother Appealed

I thought you all would like another update.

My visits with my babies are the highlights of my week.  They are such sweet darlings and so very precious.  They are getting bigger and stronger every day.  My son is over 18 lbs now and my daughter is just under 18 lbs.  They were so small when they were born, and their health and growth is just so wonderful to see.  I wish I could share pictures.

They have great personalities and I hope someday all my friends can meet them and see for themselves what wonderful beings they are.

However, while the temporary custody case decision in January technically gave their father and me joint custody, I still only get visitation 3 times a week instead of having them live with me.

In addition, despite the judge verifying that I am their mother, their father is still disputing that decision and is moving forward with his appeal.  His appeals lawyer has until the end of the month to file the appeal, then my appeals lawyer has until the end of May to file the response.

My understanding is that if the judge’s ruling is overturned on appeal, not only will I lose my rights as a mother, reproductive rights and freedoms for both sexes will be severely compromised.  This would be disaster for my children and me, and for anyone who has used or will use donor eggs or donor sperm to have a child.

And while all this goes on, my children still do not live with me.  I believe this works into their father’s plans as the longer my babies live with him and his partner, the less likely it is that the court will award me possession during the permanent custody case.

While the case progress is slow, the expenses keep mounting.  I managed to pay the initial fee for the court ordered psychiatric evaluation on time, thankfully, and the appointments are going forward.  I am in debt much farther than I ever expected to be in my lifetime, and there will be more fees as time goes on, including to the psychiatrist, my family law attorney, the Amicus Attorney the court assigned to the children, and the appeals attorney.  In addition to these fees, I have the expenses one usually associates with having children.

When I planned my pregnancy with my children’s father, I believed I would have help in setting up the nursery and with the ongoing expenses of raising a child or children.  With the way things have turned out, I have had to set up my nursery and obtain all things I need for the children without their father’s help.  I have been blessed with friends that have helped me with many things, but more expenses keep coming.  I need to soon obtain another set of car seats, a playpen, safety gates and other items for when my children visit my home.  My children are growing so rapidly I can see the time will come soon where I need to get toddler beds for them.  I hope the custody battle will be over by then and that child support will be in place to assist me.

In the meantime I am searching for a second job, or a better paying main one to try to deal with the expenses.

I am blessed to have many good friends.  Some of them are planning a fundraiser for me to help defray the expenses associated with my legal battle, as well as to help me cover other ongoing expenses.  The flyer for the planned walking event is posted on the Facebook pages: Baby Steps For Cindy, and Give Cindy Back Her Babies.

I would like to take this time to ask for your help and participation in this event.  Every donation will help me to move forward in my battle to regain possession of my children and to meet their needs until it is all settled. (Ed. Note: For your convenience, we’ve set up a PayPal account to accept donations. The donation link shows when you click here.)

I thank you all for your continued prayers and good thoughts.

May you be blessed in all that you do.

Cindy