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Urgent help needed for Sikh children in Kennesaw I am helping a really lovely Indian family who have fallen on very bad times. I urgently need help in the next day or so and any assistance that can be given would be hugely appreciated. The father is a Sikh software developer. He recently joined a new company in Atlanta. His wife is a housewife and has raised their two children, a daughter (14) and son (10). The children have been raised in the US. They live in Kennesaw. About 2 weeks’ ago, I was contacted by his employer because he had been arrested for striking the children. The wife was visiting her mother in India. The children climbed out of their bedroom window and called 911 on him. He was arrested for cruelty to children. It then came out that he had a Major alcoholic problem. Most serious I have ever seen. He has tried rehab in the past, but because he has been the sole breadwinner, he has never had the opportunity to go into a residential program to completely fight this problem. The children were taken away by DFACS who did an excellent job with them. I was called in to I get the children back into the mom’s care when she returned from India, which she did last Wednesday. The deprivation hearing was on Thursday and I got the kids back to her, as planned. There are two major problems here: (1) the dad is currently in jail because he breached the terms of his bond by drinking again so the employer revoked the bond and he is now in Cobb jail; and (2) he has just been fired by his employer so his H-1B visa and the visas of his family have been revoked. It is highly unlikely that he can obtain a new visa, given his current situation. With regard to the family, they do not have funds for very long. He got paid his last salary on Friday, but there will not be another. They have money for about 10 days. Then nothing. The wife is unable to work and they have about 10 days to leave the country. I can probably arrange with the former employer to pay the airtickets back to India, but they will not have money or work when they arrive back. So for the family, I need the following: 1. To raise some money for them to survive a period of about 3 months (whether they remain here for part of that time or return to India to begin a new life there again); and 2. To reach out to a network in New Delhi to support them socially and also financially when they arrive back there. The wife is prepared to go to work when she returns, but she has very few contacts. I would like to see if anyone has an idea of some jobs she could do. For the husband, I am trying to get him out of jail. I can only do this in 1 of 2 ways: (1) by paying $3,500 for his bond, which will then be returned when he appears at his hearing; or (2) get him into a residential rehab program that accepts custody of him directly from jail. I am working on the latter, but if anyone has any ideas about solutions for him, I would appreciate it. I am helping them pro bono and really am concerned about them. This is a very unfortunate situation and a good opportunity to help our neighbors. Any assistance would be appreciated. Toni L. Castel The Castel Law Firm, P.C. 413 Holland Springs Drive Powder Springs, GA 30127 (678) 462-5611 |