Help Bring Lisa’s Daughter Home

$8,866 raised

From 91 Donations
TARGET $20,000

Please support this cause

AUD
$
Raising funds for: Lisa and her daughter - appeal legal costs
In the first week of June 2022, Lisa’s 7-year-old daughter was ordered to appear in Family Court with her mum. The court removed her from her mum's care without any warning, and immediately handed her over to her father who she hadn't seen for two years. She was not allowed to say goodbye to her mother. All she had with her was the clothes on her back, a backpack, felt pens, modelling clay, bubbles, a stuffed toy dog and a crystal. Not even her toothbrush. Her mum is devastated and urgently needs funds to launch a legal appeal to bring her daughter home. Her mum is our beloved friend Lisa and needs our help. It is cruel that Lisa’s daughter was removed from her mother's care without time or opportunity for her mum to explain to her what was happening, and without any of her belongings. She was taken away from her assistance dog, a school she loves, and a shocked and devastated community who love her dearly. She has been placed with a parent she hasn't seen for 2 years. She is not allowed any contact with her mum for 12 weeks. Lisa can appeal the judgement and bring her daughter home to the love of her community. To do this she needs approximately AUD$30,000 for legal costs. She is using her savings and money from her Super, but doesn't have enough to cover all the legal costs for the appeal. All donations given via this page will go directly a lawyers trust account to pay appeal costs. Lisa has not committed any crime against her daughter and this type of removal does not seem to be in line with the Safe and Together model as adopted by the Circuit & Family Court and asserted by the Hon Will Alstergren https://www.cyjma.qld.gov.au/campaign/supporting-families/news/recent-news?id=kqa0sg41&start=1 WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP? 1. If you can, please donate to help with appeal costs to bring Lisa’s daughter home. Any amount, no matter how small, will help and is deeply appreciated. 2. Visualise sending love to Lisa’s daughter as often as you think of it. 3. Call or email the Hon Shannon Fentiman, Minister for Women and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence. Please politely let her know that the court system is not serving the needs of the child. The Minister's office can be reached on 07 3445 3100, waterford@parliament.qld.gov.au or attorney@ministerial.qld.gov.au 4. Call or email Hon Mark Dreyfus Attorney General QC, MP as for Hon Shannon Fentiman. Office: 566 Main Street, Mordialloc, VIC, 3195 Telephone: (03) 9580 4651 THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR CARE AND SUPPORT. It means the world to Lisa to know that people care, and that the wider community are helping to bring her daughter home.
Update
21 Sep 2022
From Lisa in her own words… Just a monumental thank you for all the donations, they have really helped and all the love and support and letter writing. The trial is in Brisbane on 28 September FC The new legal team is getting organised for it. They are not being overly promising. Getting good support legally has been very difficult the entire time. This page will be finished at the end of September. I appreciate everyone’s help, please keep sending good vibes that justice will be done. I will always remember your generosity and kindness Lisa
Update
24 Aug 2022
A personal update from Lisa: Thank you all again for your continued support and the money raised. It has helped us to get legal advice. The Appeal is moving along quickly and on Tuesday, 30 August 2022, we have a number of documents that will be filed supporting our Appeal. The funds are now exhausted, as are my savings and superannuation. Whilst I do now have Legal Aid funding, the lateness of the approval has meant the new team may have difficulty being across our matter. I am still trying to work out how to deal with this. I am working around the clock as are several of my friends to make sure that we have all the documentation finalised and are putting our best argument forward. I still have not seen, or spoken to my daughter for going on 11 weeks now. It is incredibly difficult for me to face everyday without her, and I can only imagine what a child ripped away from her home and not allowed to contact her mummy may be feeling. It is the messages, the letters, the care in the form of donated money, the meals delivered to me, the time my friends are taking to listen to me endlessly and all their time and effort that is keeping me motivated to continue. Along with all the other mums before me, who have shared their own stories of the horrific treatment of the family court towards themselves and their children. I know the Attorney Generals met only last week to discuss issues regarding the abuses of women and children in the Family Court, so I am confident that the issue is at hand. I will keep you updated as to when we have filed the documents. It is so important that this Appeal be successful. Thank you as always for your prayers, visualisations, love and financial support.
Update
29 Jul 2022
AMAZING NEWS … Lisa and the legal team have been working really hard and have got the excellent news that the Appeal Court decided to not even hold a hearing about whether the appeal would be struck out or not, and accepted that an Appeal needs to go ahead. The Court has set a trial date for 28 September 2022. The court has also seen fit to grant the transcripts and do the appeal books, which would have been over $20K in expenses for Lisa and an impediment to the appeal. This is very encouraging. These things are unusual for the Court of Appeal. Lisa believes all the prayers, love, support, visualising are really working (and of course the donations to pay for legal team and expenses!) Thank you so much to everyone for your generosity and your sharing of the page. Please keep up the sharing as we still don’t have enough to cover the legal costs for the appeal. Lisa has not seen her daughter since the beginning of June. It’s very hard but we have reason to hope. Thank you again for all your support.
Update
25 Jul 2022
Huge thank you to everyone who has donated so far. An update for you from Lisa in her own words: ******** Thank you to everyone for your support. And the donations. The money is being used carefully. Many people have said they feel powerless to help and want to be able to do something. Supporting me is really helping and I wish I didn’t have to read the IMO horrible judgement; the messages, kind words, sharing your experiences with me, knowing how many people care and love my daughter and want to see her back home, is really helping. As myself and our new legal consultants wade through the judgement document, we are slowly finding errors which factored into the judgement made. In the meantime, we have a court date of 4 August 2022 to find out whether the court will allow our appeal. I will give an update after that, and share the next steps. I truly appreciate you all. Please keep sharing the page and sending love n good vibes to my daughter and I if you feel to. Making it known to people that this kind of thing is happening to mothers and children also helps. Thank you so much, I’m thinking of you all, Lisa
Update
05 Jul 2022
NEWS from Lisa - Thank you so much to everyone who has been so generous. The first month’s funds raised have been deposited to the legal firm’s trust account. Lisa has now lodged an appeal. And now we wait and pray. Please continue to share this page with your networks. The legal costs of the appeal are high. Thank you again for your care, your support and your generosity. It means the world.
Update
16 Jun 2022
Firstly, thank you so much to everyone who has donated so far. Over $7000 raised already, which is amazing. You’ve likely noticed that the fundraising page has changed a fair bit, which we needed to do for legal and privacy reasons. Lots of work is going on behind the scenes to get all the legal pieces in place and we should be able to deposit funds raised so far into a the lawyer’s trust account by the end of the week. Here’s a short update from Lisa in her own words: The support everyone has given has been overwhelming and has kept me going. i have received so many messages of support, shock and disbelief and many stories from others who have had terrible experiences within the family court system. I feel privileged to hear them. Many people have also come confused as to how this has happened?! I wish I knew exactly and I wish it was just one thing, I think it is a combination of things. What I know is what has been highlighted in many recent inquiries and reports is that the system is broken. It was something I was afraid of the whole way through. Despite what parents go through, children should be treated with respect, especially by the court - they are the ones that need to be cared for the most and I completely disagree with the way (child) was treated that day at the Court. IMO No child should be treated that way. ..and I think that is also something we can bring awareness to. It's a betrayal of what she was told and what I was told would happen that afternoon. I have constructed an email to be sent to various politicians, to alert them of what has happened and I am constructing a petition as well. As the shock starts to wear off, it is becoming more and more painful to get through the day, Receiving a message of support or an emoji buoys me and helps me to keep going and not feel like it's an insurmountable thing. Knowing people are constantly sending love and care to (child) makes me so grateful. I think this is also raising awareness of what is happening in Family Court and I have also been turning to @custodypeace for answers. Seeing the appeal fund rising, I can't even put into words how supported I feel. I know that people care and it humbles me. I’m incredibly grateful because it means we can pay for lawyers to do the work. It especially warms my heart when I see a smaller amount with a caring message. I’m realising just how loving and caring people are. We have a timeline for the appeal lodgement. The lawyer is working away and myself and other friends are helping with research and finding precedents to help the case. Thank you again for your support.
DONATIONS91
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Anonymous
Thu, 29 Sep 2022
$ 100
$ 100
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Summer Read
Wed, 21 Sep 2022
$ 50
$ 50
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Middleton Sarah-Jane
Tue, 6 Sep 2022
$ 66
$ 66
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melissa langridge
Thu, 1 Sep 2022
$ 200
$ 200
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Lisa Brewster
Mon, 29 Aug 2022
$ 500
$ 500
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Sarah Rutch
Sun, 21 Aug 2022
$ 50
$ 50
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Jane Little
Fri, 12 Aug 2022
$ 100
$ 100
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Kaye Cooper
Wed, 6 Jul 2022
$ 100
$ 100
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Nat Brouard
Fri, 1 Jul 2022
$ 50
$ 50
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Damian Carstens
Wed, 22 Jun 2022
$ 50
$ 50
RAISING FUNDS FOR
Lisa and her daughter - appeal legal costs
FUNDS BANKED TO:
Lisa Legal Fund

Campaign Creator
FOL&HD
Friends of Lisa & her daughter
Brisbane City, QLD
Created Jun 2022

$8,866 raised

From 91 Donations
TARGET $20,000

Please support this cause

AUD
$
RAISING FUNDS FOR
Lisa and her daughter - appeal legal costs
FUNDS BANKED TO:
Lisa Legal Fund
Campaign Creator
FOL&HD
Friends of Lisa & her daughter
Brisbane City, QLD
Created Jun 2022