I am the mother of three girls, Lexie (12), Sadie (9), and Sofia Sirico(4).  In January of 2012, the Santa Clara Family Court decided that Sofia's father, Louis Sirico should be her primary custodial parent.  This was not due to drug abuse, or alcohol abuse, or child abuse/neglect, but because Sofia's father had hired the top lawyer in San Jose.  His lawyer, who is also a 'pro-tem' judge in the very same courthouse, convinced the court that Louis was more financially capable of raising Sofia.  The order gave me only a few weekends a year, a week in the summer, a week at Christmas and 4 days over Mother's Day.  Prior to this ruling, I resided in CA with my three daughters.  Initially, I had 70% custody of Sofia.  Sofia's father systematically eroded my ability to afford to live in CA.  I had been a stay-at-home mother, per his request, and when he left us, he closed all our bank accounts, terminated our lease, stopped paying my car payments (which he had agreed to pay, convincing me to get a car I could have never afforded on my own) and when I did begin working, he called my employer and told him that I was a drug addict, alcoholic, child abuser (all of which was disproven) which caused me to lose my job.  I was forced to live in a hotel with my three girls.  I had no choice but to move back to VA, where our entire family resided,  with my two older daughters by a previous marriage.  Sofia's father would not let her go.  Sofia's two sisters, 9 cousins, 6 aunts and uncles, grandparents, and mother live within 10 miles of each other.  Even Sofia's paternal grandparents live on the East Coast, just 5 hours from us.  Sofia is not allowed to visit VA, ever, because she has experienced rashes the last few times she visited, and the court decided it must be because of stress.  The pain and sadness we are all experiencing is inexplicable.  We are fighting to gain awareness and ask anyone that can see that this is unjust to please sign our petition.  Also, please visit "Braids for Sofia" on Facebook to get a better feel for what we are doing.  Thank you.