Homeless Family

    Well I don't even know where to start lets just say that this last year has been by far one of the hardest years my Family has ever had to face in a long time.

     Erin and I (Chris) have been together now going on 8 years. We have had a happy life together for the most part. We have always been able to make each other smile even when we are upset with each other. Although we have never been the couple with alot of money in fact we have been pretty much on the verge of poverty. We still found ways to keep a roof over our family heads, food in our stomach, and clothing on our backs! Usually with very little left for our family to be able to go out and have some fun. Yet we always found things for us to do as a family to make everyone happy and healthy! This last year everything went down the toilet and there is a crazy explanation behind it all and will explain it to you after I explain why I am raising this money.

     I am trying to raise this money in order to get my Family in to a place we can call home-ish. We are currently living on the streets. We have been bouncing around from friends and families houses, and stayed in hotels. We both have jobs and can afford rent but are having a hard time saving money up to get a place. On average to get a place where we live they want about $800- $900 a month plus a security deposit to equal the same as monthly rent. Equalling anywhere $1500-$2000 for first months rent. Saving that kinda money will also mean not being able to buy food and other things we need to move in. 

     How it came to be..... 

    First let me introduce you to my family! Erin you previously met well she is 39 year old mother of two boys. She is currently working for the Hampton Inn in Lewiston,Maine. She is a hard worker, great mother, great friend, and excellent fiancee/wife. There is very few that come into contact with Erin who do not instantly fall in love with her she is a social butterfly and when she walks into a room you can see her just light the place up. People seem to become more alive around her and love her upbeat personality. She does not let the whole world see her problems she only trys to help out others as much as she can. Erins oldest son is Brandon he is 17 years old and one heck of a good kid. He is a student at Edward Little High School, he has good grades and he is also a team captain of the football team he as well plays track and is all around a well rounded kid. He like his mother is also a very sociable person has a lot of good friends around him some that he has even convinced to lead diffrent life styles then the one they were leading. Again everyone who meets Brandon falls right in love with him. Erins youngest son is Caleb 13 years old and has Autism. Caleb attends school at the middle school in Auburn. He dispite his disability is also a wonderful kid. He loves art and uses it to articulate his feeling and emotions. Most people at first, not knowing, tend to give Caleb, myself, and/or Erin weird looks when he expresses himself through noises. Anyone who takes the time to know him will tell you that he is a very happy boy, smart, fun and loving. Every school he has been in the teachers all praise him at how well he works and trys he is alawys pushing himself to get further ahead.

     So earlier this year Erin had a different job working for Ruby Tuesday's and school was coming to an end and she had been at this job for awhile. She knows that the hours she has at Ruby Tuesday's are gonna clash with Calebs summer school classes and was worried that she would have to quit her job. I would like you guys to meet Charles Henry 44 years old and the father to both the boys. He had not been a part of the boys lives for quite awhile when me and Erin first got together due to drug use and other problems. The last couple years he has been making a real good effort to be involved in Calebs life and a little in Brandons since he was a teenager by that time and has his own life. So knowing that Chuck(Charles) had been doing good so far as we knew. I had sat down and talked with him to see if he would be interested in the possibity of him having custody of Caleb. I had explained to him alot of the stress that he was use to seeing on just the weekends during the day are alot more intense when it is 24 hours a day 7 days a week. This discussion took place back in the begining of April 2014 he told me that he was wanting to ask Erin That himself stating that he would love to have Caleb live with him and that he was having some problems at his job and was wanting to leave the company anyways. So I explained to him that school doesn't end until June 21st and he would need to keep his job and save up money to get himself an apartment for him and Caleb so Caleb would be able to move in with him July 1st.

     I then talked to Erin about this idea the following day to see how she fealt about the idea. Erin was not very reseptive at first. Erin had alot of concerns about how this would happen and what we would have to do to make this work. I sat down and explained everything to her about what myself and Chuck had discussed. We all sat down together and had a big discussion about what the plans where. So this is what was to happen Erin was going to give Chuck custody of Caleb and Erin keep custody of Brandon so Caleb could have some one on one time with his Dad and we could focus our attention on Brandon this year to allow Brandon to get some attention since it was his last year in school and probably at home. Now for those of you that don't know being a parent to a child with Autism or any special needs requires full time attention so it is like working a full time job that you work alot of overtime. Therefore over the years Brandon had gotten overlooked a lot but was never unloved or not taken care of it was always just about Caleb.

    So Chuck getting kicked out of the place he was living decided to go live with a "FRIEND" to save up money to get a place. He was working full time and getting overtime and not paying rent to this "FRIEND" he was there from May- July 17th-ish. He kept telling us that he was looking at places and that he had some money saved up and would have a place by the first of July like promised. So Caleb is on permanent disability for his autism. So Erin and myself had found another place for us to live that was smaller for just the three of us and was ready to move. So July 1st we moved into our new apartment with all of our stuff and calebs stuff and the apartment(trailer) was only big enough for for three and had and enough for an apartment of four. Chuck then got ahold of Erin on the July 3rd and told her that he had an apartment lined up he just needed Calebs SSDI check card so he could get the place. Which made no sence to me because he was living rent free and working right up to the week before July1st so he should of already had a place and moved into by now. So Erin being so easy going and not liking conflict reluctantly gave it to him. July 12th came around and Caleb was still living with us and Chuck was still at his "FRIENDS" house. I told Erin that if he doesn't have a place and Caleb is still living with us then she should get the SSDI card back and we will get another place and keep Caleb.

     Erin had contacted Chuck about this matter at hand she asked him why he didnt have a place yet and if Caleb was going to stay with us then we needed to get nother place and we will keep Caleb. He said no everything was fine and that caleb could come stay with him at his "FRIENDS" house. We brought him there on the 12th two weeks after Chuck was suppose to have taken him. Then a few days later calls us up because they got kicked out of the "FRIENDS" house because they got evicted. Found out later the guy is a drug addict and didn't pay his rent. So we took Caleb for a couple nights while he found another friend to live with. then got kicked out of there and ended up staying in a hotel for a few days and then went out to stay with another friend in Gray, Maine. So everything seemed fine until Erin got a call on August 9th at work from the wife of Chucks brother, telling her that Chuck had attempted to kill himself by taking two bottles of pills (Oxycotten and another narcotic). Caleb was sitting in his own shit as well as Chucks. He did this in front of his own son and left him in a very dangerous position. So we took Caleb back into our custody and told him he was not going to get custody back after doing something like that.

     So we have custody of Caleb as of the 9th of Augusttold Chuck he is not going to get Caleb back until he cleans himself up and has stayed clean both physically and mentally for a couple years. So to attempt to get back at us for what he did on August 28th he went to Social Security Addministartion and had all of calebs stuff switched over to his name.

     We (Erin,Brandon,Caleb and myself) with no moneyhad to leave that apartment Brandon stayed with friends Erin, and Caleb with a friend and myself with my family. So we have been trying to find a place to live since then to get everyone back under one roof. Well not knowing that Chuck had done what he had done at social security. We started to look for places in September and Erin was still part time at  Ruby Tuesdays and was paying $70 dollars a week to stay where she was at only making about $120 leaving her with hardly any money to support herself or her son. where i was i was paying $70 a week as well i made more money but after gas for the car and buying food for all of use scattered all over the place was broke way to fast. So Erin, Caleb, And myself started to stay with each other sleeping in our car and a friend or family members house here and there also my bosses house . Now we are at a hotel and its going to cost more then it would cost to get our own place.

     Now we are doing everything we can to get things switched back but he is causing more problems for us trying to switch Calebs SSDI back into his name again thinking that we are going to allow him to have custody of Caleb becuase of the stress we are under but if you read this you can see that e are justified in telling him no he can't have custody of Caleb. He has threatened to take Caleb so we put a PFA against him and have filed Parental rights and responsibities papers against him and are going to have him served. He stole Calebs SSDI check out from underneath Erin using a previous consent that he got before he tryed to kill himself. So we had an apartment lined up to move into on the first of October we just needed the money and then when we went to go get the cash and get the apartment we found out Chuck switched it around and he refused to give it back to Erin to provide the support that Caleb need, Like a place to live and food in his mouth.

     So basically to sum it all up for you Chuck is a piece and he is trying to screw Erin over for her telling him he is not getting Caleb back and we need some major help. I feel you should get involved in this case because soomeone like Chuck should not get the satisfaction of messing with his own family by keeping them homeless while he is out using drugs and lord knows what else. this is going to help us out because we can get in a place and start to save money for a lawyer and when we go to court we can prove residence in our area. Plus winter is coming soon and it is getting very cold.

      PLEASE if you can help me and my family out we aint got much but we would love to send you a thank you card and some love from our hearts.

 Sorry if this was long i had obviously left out details so if you have questions we will be glad to answer them.