Hello,

I'm not one to ask for help usually, but I am in a situation I don't know how to get out of.

3 months ago my ex husband whom had walked out on his kids 5 years ago (literally hadn't seen nor heard from him since until Nov of last year) somehow convinced the state of Alabama that I was an unfit parent,due to the fact that my boyfriend is a transexual,ftm and possibly intersexed. I know many of you wouldn't even begin to understand what that is,but it isn't the same as being gay or lesbian. Although I have no problem with anyone and the person that they are the State of Alabama does...as it is illeagle to be *gay* in Alabama, still that way in other states too.

How it all happened was, he came back around last year in November looking for a divorce so he could remarry. Something I had been trying to obtain for years being that I couldn't even apply for aid (food stamps,etc) without it being a hassle of answering question on where he is . Relieved that he was *here* we did the divorce, he asked for visitation, I consulted the kids and we agreed on one weekend a month. They are 13,13,and 15...and were very young when he left so I explained that there should be no pressure on them,because in their eyes they didn't *know* him...so not to push things. he agreed,all was good and well.

Christmas came around...2nd child support payement due (300.00 a 1/3 of what he could have been required to pay) and he stated to me that he was tapped out due to presents and would pay 2 payments in January. I was told this as I picked up my kids from his visitation. By the way he lives 6 hours away ...I live in Davenport,FL, outskirts of Orlando. They had it set up so that his wife by then, would pick the kids up on Friday (he never picked them up himself) after a while I figured out why. She would work selling insurance all the way down for the trip and then have her company reimburse for gas and food. Here I am spending more to pick them up than I was receiving in child support and they were MAKING money. Once again I felt slapped in the face ...

At this point he had already started demanding that they call him dad...and her mom...we got into an argument over that as the kids felt more secure at this point in calling them by name but were told it was disrespectful. I thought you had to earn respect?

January 2010 rolls around and he approaches me with the idea of claiming 2 kids on his taxes so he can *get out of some debt situations*. I  told him I couldn't agree to that as Josh my boyfriend had been supporting these children for years and the tax money was going to go to redoing their bedrooms and some home repairs that needed to be done. BTW my ex was already going to claim one child although all I had received from him for all of 2009 at this point was 300.00. At this point I was tired of being the nice person and getting run over.

I guess that was what set him off...he filed the papers with the state at that point. They were issued to him March 4th as a temp emergency custody order. (You would not believe if I told you some of the nonsense he told)  and the legal process began. Another thing was I homeschool my kids...and they did very well, yet he told that they hadnt had any education for 2 years. The idiocracy of this man is baffeling to me.

On May 5th when court finally came up I was issused 50/50 custody...due to the fact that they were in school in Alabama and the judge didn't want to remove them this close to the end of the school year,which I totally understood and supported. I picked them up on May 21st and thats when the horror stories started.

My son,Jesse, had 2nd and 3rd degree sunburns all across his back...referred to as a *lil sunburn* when i picked them up. I was told they had sprayed solarcaine on it and he was fine, that a pharmacist after seeing it ( a blantant lie) told them that was all it needed.

This child had been sitting for a week...absolutely broken from this..being blamed daily for him *not putting on sunblock* so it was his fault. Where were the ADULTS in this...isn't it supposed to be the parent takes care of the child? The popped the blisters with a nail...I don't even want to go into how he looked when I picked him up, its unbelievable.

I of course rushed him to an emergency room, he was issued silver sulfadine as well as an oral antibiotic, due to the amounts of infection present. I was told that as bad as it was he could have died from heat stroke or sun exposure. My daughter told me Jesse was sick for days ...and was just told to stop *whining*.

I contacted my attorney and he is in the process of obtaining an order for me to have them until court in July, hopefully that goes thru in the next couple of days due to the fact that they are supposed to return to my ex's on Saturday. They  have abuse and neglect alligations pending now,as it should be.

Now for the issue I am facing now. We are completely broke. All savings went to hiring a good attorney as I had to get one in the state it was filed in being Alabama. At the moment my power is on but behing and due to be shut off any day...It is 600.00 to keep service active. My water was shut off yesterday and it is 300.00 to reconnect. They absolutely will not budge on these amounts as I have spent many hours begging. If anyone could help, in any amount I would be forever in your gratitude.  I have helped many many people in my 38 years and never thought I would be in this situation.

My boyfriend does work a full time job at Disney World but as we speak all the money goes to food and travel due to court issues. The final court date is July 9th...so once things are caught up this time...we can start to rebuild our savings and be back on our feet.

If anyone out there could help I would be happy to give you acct numbers and the phone numbers to the utilitiy companies as I would like them to be paid directly. I want nothing given to me...as I am not out to make money off anyone,just want my home to remain intact for my children.

Thank You for Taking the time to read this

Paula