My story of abuse – raising money for legal fees

Hey everyone,

My name is Georgia Barry, I'm 18, and I'm originally from the United Kingdom (Stanmore). I lived at home with my abusive, controlling and manipulative mother, and occasionally my brother (who is schizophrenic and a regular drug addict). He's been in and out of jail my entire life. I've been going to the doctors almost every month in the past 18 years, with the exception of 4 year(ish) period. Since as young as I can remember I've been moving every year, due to my family (mainly my sister and brother) causing mass amounts of violence among neighbors, and at one point this led to an attack on our home, where windows were smashed in, and swastikas were placed on the walls and on cars.

In 2004, my mother got in a car accident with me in it, and sent me to school pale and dizzy (image of medical record entry: https://i.imgur.com/Sjc5LRg.png), and this is just one of many occasions where my mother didn't care for me, or my wellbeing. My brother, Daniel Barry, back in 2012 was on Brent's most wanted list for theft, harassment, wasting police time, burglary, theft from motor vehicle and threats to kill (http://www.kilburntimes.co.uk/news/crime-court/escaped_prisoner_features_on_brent_police_s_most_wanted_list_1_1587389). It was around this time that he pointed a knife towards me, however the Police closed the case as they assumed I was lying.

I have been under CAMHS almost all my life, (due to my mother, sister, and brother) and my mother, Karen, used to ask my school to write letters to CAMHS for her to get benefits from the U.K. government, and on the side she would do eBay and sell stolen clothes. When I left home, she took all my remaining items in my room, and listed it on her eBay page. In one breath, she tells on Facebook that she misses me, and in the mean time she's selling all my stuff I left in my room, and committing mass amounts of fraud. As well as this, the remaining stuff I left behind, it's all been thrown away and I was sent malicious messages from Lara, antagonising me and sending photo's of my now empty bedroom. If you genuinely loved your family, why would you do that to them? It hurts to even call them family, as they were never a family to me. My house wasn't a home, it was a place. And as a result of my past, I suffer from reoccurring nightmares nightly, and get a few hours of sleep if I'm lucky.

I left the UK on February 6th 2017. My boyfriends family paid for my ticket as they agreed to take me in and protect me. I escaped my house just after my mother went to sleep at 4:00 AM in the morning, and got my taxi to the airport. By 9:00 AM my mother had woken up and saw me missing and all my stuff gone, and instantly started phoning everywhere, including Canada (my destination) saying lies to get me sent back home. She accused me of being an ISIS sympathizer, and went as far as forging a suicide note (which, my sister Lara wrote). Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) stopped me off the plane and took me into immigration. After almost two hours in immigration, they denied my entry into Canada as they feared I was an ISIS terrorist, which was never the case. I tried my hardest to prove it, and even wrote out on a piece of paper to show it's not even my handwriting. I phoned my boyfriend to inform him I was being rejected entry into Canada, and four hours later, over two dozen phone calls, including my boyfriend's family to the CBSA, I decided to make a refugee claim as it was the only chance I would ever have at being happy. It has been over 20 years since the last successful refugee claim was from the United Kingdom. During all of this, my friend sent my boyfriend CCTV footage of my sister saying, quote, "when Georgia is back she's f**king done, I'm going to punch her right in the face" (link: https://goo.gl/Kqi145).They handcuffed me, and held me in a detention cell where I could barely sleep as it was cold, and dark. And while I was crying in fear, my boyfriend's family drove through a freezing rain storm to help me. After hours and hours of interviews, interrogations, and tears, I was finally released to my boyfriend and his family.

The past three-ish weeks we have received non-stop harassment, my mother, Karen Barry, had created a fake missing teen poster, and got a post viral on Facebook, to the point where we had vigilantes show up on our front door. We called 911 and it took one hour for police to respond. When they arrived, we were informed there wasn't much that they could do. Fast forward to 2/26/2017, we had three days prior to 2/26/2017 of peace. Then it happened. They started sending pizzas, cabs, etc. to people in London, hacked my Facebook account, Whatsapp, and a ton of other social media, and started harassing people and lying. We backed up copies of the hacking, and reported it to British Authorities, and as of 2/26/2017 are waiting to hear back. On a daily basis, we receive numerous calls, texts, threats, and all forms of harassments and threats of serious violence/death threats. The people I lived with, what was supposed to be a family, are just monsters who feed off of theft, violence, and pain.

The money I am asking for is for a lawyer retainer fee ($2000) so I can have a lawyer help me defend my refugee claim in order to stay in Canada indefinitely. The lawyer costs $5000 total. All the money will be used to pay for the lawyer, and keep my safe, over 3000 miles away. If I go home... I don't even want to think what would happen to me.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story, and I would be eternally greatful if you support my campaign. This means the world to me, moving to Canada to start a new life, a life I deserved to have for the past 18 years.