[blparent] Important: Do you know of any assistance?

[Samara Raine]

Hey there, everyone.

I am not sure if this pertains to parenting. The hardship stems from my struggle to keep my daughter soley with me after she's born, but I'm not sure that falls into the peramitors of this list. If not, I apologize. If anyone wants to, please feel free to reply to me off list. I've written about my plight below. I am asking no individual here for financial assistance. I'm copying this off my Central Giving page, as I don't want to write a whole new post for each solicitation for advice.

If any of you know of any agency that can provide financial help for legal fees, please, please, please let me know. My family is unwilling to help me.

Plight:

In March 2012, I conceived a child by the use of "known donor" sperm. He is a controlling, mentally manipulative man who is determined to insinuate himself into the lives of me and my child after she is born, despite the initial arrangement stating otherwise.

The attorney I have been consulting has sent me a retainer agreement that will enable him to negotiate a donor contract on my behalf. Since the donor's only approach with me is heavy-handed bullying, the involvement of a lawyer is necessary.

I am blind, receiving Social Security benefits and not currently employed. Though support for myself and my child is being established, finances are still extremely tight. The retainer fee is $1,500, an amount I cannot pay on my own.

According to legal advice, now is the ideal time for negotiations with the donor to begin, as the child has not yet been born. Due to the personality of the donor as well as past communications, I know I will be forced, sooner or later, to hire legal counsel. If the attorney I am currently working with is unable to negotiate on my behalf, the end result may cost me my daughter.

The donor and his wife have chosen me, a blind mother, as an easy target. Legal counsel agrees that it looks as though they will attempt to take the child once she is born. With no legal protection, I will be a sitting duck, vulnerable to their schemes. Current negotiations will not only provide me with the protection I seek, but they will, hopefully, enable my child to grow up with the loving mother she deserves.

And so I ask you. Please help me. Please donate what you can so that I may pay the retainer fee that will enable legal negotiations to begin on my behalf.

As a mother I plead. Help me defend myself from the truest heartbreak a mother can know. Please help me prevent the loss of my child.

Again, any assistance, advice, etc you can offer will be incredibly appreciated.

Sirena