Former 90 Day Fiance star Karine Martins is asking fans for donations to help her fight to regain custody of the two children she shares with ex Paul Staehle, while also confirming that she is currently expecting her third child.
As The Ashley previously told you, Paul and Karine had their two sons, Ethan and Pierre, removed from their care in 2022 and as of June 2023, the boys were in the care of Paul’s cousin. Paul claimed in March 2024 that Karine hadn’t seen the children since late 2023 and that he hadn’t seen the boys himself since the summer of 2022. Karine has been fighting to regain custody of her kids, and recently launched a GoFundMe to raise money to aid in her fight for her sons.
While Paul has reportedly been living in Brazil for some time, Karine has been living and working in Kentucky. According to the GoFundMe she launched this week, the former TLC star turned to accepting donations “out of desperation and as a last resort,” claiming that Paul’s cousin (who is the kids’ caretaker) is demanding from her an amount of child support that she is unable to pay. The goal of the fundraiser is currently set at $50,000.
“ … Paul’s cousin, who I have always offered everything I could to help my children, declined because she owns a very large interstate construction company and told me she didn’t need [the money],” Karine explained on her GoFundMe page. “Now she has demanded child support, which is over 50 percent of my income. I work part-time at UPS and attend college using the UPS program at JCC.”
Karine said she is being asked to pay more than $1,000 a month in child support and that she also has to pay nearly $400 a week to see her children at a supervised facility. In addition, Karine claims that the family court lawyer she’s been working with “now wants $5,000 a month,” telling fans her “daily and monthly living expenses are overwhelming.”
While explaining the reasons for her financial issues, Karine confirmed on the GoFundMe page that she’s currently expecting her third child, telling fans that, due to a new law in Kentucky, her baby may be taken from her at birth. (According to “90 Day Fiance” blogger John Yates, Karine’s boyfriend Michael is the father of this baby, not Paul.)
“ … a new law is about to go into effect in KY, Kentucky House Bill 574, which will allow the government to take my newborn baby after she is born and not allow me around her unsupervised,” Karine wrote. “I breastfeed my children, and this is a huge problem for me. I know I have made many mistakes in my past, but I love all my children and want to be with them.”
Karine concluded her GoFundMe message by telling fans that if she’s unable to pay her monthly child support, she may be arrested, which would hinder her court application for citizenship and residency and potentially result in her being deported. In the event that this were to happen, Karine said she would have to get a federal lawyer to “fight to allow my children to return with me to their home country of Brazil, where they were born.”
“This would never happen in Brazil,” Karine added. “I am so confused. They treat me so hostile because I am not American.”
As of press time, Karine has raised less than $1,000 through her GoFundMe.
As fans of “90 Day Fiance” may remember, this isn’t the first time Karine has turned to GoFundMe in an attempt to raise money to regain custody of her children.
Back in 2022, Karine launched an online fundraiser titled, “Lawyer to get my kids back,” where she told fans she was not being given an opportunity to get her kids back “because I am Brazilian.” She further stated in the description for the fundraiser that she’s an immigrant from Brazil whose “two Brazilian children were taken from [me] by American CPS because me and my husband argued in front of our children.”
Karine also stated on her previous GoFundMe page that, despite being compliant with CPS for nearly a year, she was only allowed to see her children once a week during a one- or two-hour supervised visit.
“Please help me to hire a lawyer and fight for my rights to have an opportunity to get my children back,” she wrote.
Karine’s GoFundMe from 2022 appears to still be active, with the most recent donation being made in early 2025. Her goal for the previous GoFundMe is set at $10,000, of which she has raised nearly $7,000.
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(Photos: TLC; Instagram; GoFundMe)
15 Responses
Karine and Paul don’t deserve their children. They can’t even take care of themselves. If you don’t have custody of your children, you shouldn’t be able to have custody of your “do-over” baby either. No one is hostile because she isn’t American- people just expect her to not be a massive piece of sh*t mother, which is apparently too much to ask. Stop getting pregnant and let your kids be raised by people who are capable of putting them first. Paul is just as bad. They can both get bent 🤷🏻♀️
Since the law she mentioned wasn’t explained, I looked it up.
“Baby Miya’s Law,” inspired by the tragic death of Miya Rudd, aims to protect children born to parents who have other children in state custody or have a history of neglect or abuse, by requiring reporting and potentially triggering emergency custody orders.
House Bill 574, sponsored by Rep. Myron Dossett of Pembroke, would require anyone with reasonable knowledge of a child born to parents who have other children in state custody or an ongoing dependency, abuse, or neglect case to report it to Kentucky State Police or another relevant authority.
Miya was 8 months old when she was found stuffed in a duffle bag. Cause of death seems to be undetermined at this time. 4 adults have been charged with her death, including her parents. Some reports say Miya was born with meth in her system, others say meth was in her toxicology report. I didn’t see anything initially indicating that the parents have other kids in CPS custody, but the law leads me to believe they do. It seems to be a pretty recent case, so facts aren’t completely solid yet.
Knowing the absolutely bonkers behavior of both Paul and Karine, I can see why she would be worried that her baby would be taken from her. To be honest, it’s not a bad idea. She clearly has financial issues that require her full attention and trying to balance that with full time infant care by herself would be extremely difficult. If she thinks she can do better back home, I don’t understand why she would want to stay and struggle here. It might be easier for her to establish herself in Brazil and then try to regain custody. But I honestly have no idea what that would look like for her. As long as Paul keeps his distance, she could potentially get everything back on track
You can’t afford the kids you already have. You don’t have custody of them. You can’t pay their caregiver child support. Your legal status is uncertain. You only work a part time job. But you get pregnant again even at risk of going to jail and/or getting your baby taken away by CPS???
People this stupid shouldn’t be having kids.
If Paul’s cousin adopted the kids, why would Karine pay child support? That makes no sense.
One supervised visit also doesn’t cost $400 either…
These two are such a mess. I’m glad Karine is trying to do better by working and going to school. Having a third kid isn’t helpful, though.
Did the cousin actually legally adopt them or are they just fostering/have guardianship?
Idk why she is even still here… not saying she should abandon her kids but why is she the only one being held liable while he’s off making g@y-for-pay (but getting nothing) OF videos with her barely legal cousin🤷🏽♀️
I feel like I missed an entire disgusting story here… Paul is doing what???
well y’know how he started OF with Karine initially, well that wasn’t as marketable as they’d hoped and when their relationship dissolved, Paul continued without her. Somehow, he figured out that the vast majority of paying customers didn’t want to see him doing anything conventional so he started taking requests and most of them were for g@y content. So he did stuff with guys and, as I’m told, one of the guys is Karine’s cousin who was barely 18 in Brazil. Lol there’s a video of him expressing disappointment that his fans still aren’t buying his content after he obliged their requests. I think he doesn’t realize he’s being trolled.
I was trying to make this all one comment but it wouldn’t let me, sorry guys:
Why is Paul off the hook? He’s still there dad…..
Paul kidnapped one of the children back when CPS was going to take the kids. He eventually gave the kid back and took off to Brazil. He has not been back since because he will get arrested immediately.
Paul is living in Brazil to escape the police in the US. He makes a living here in Brazil committing crimes and when he is caught by the Brazilian police he will face a long prison term.
She’s not exactly proving that she is doing everything she can to get her sons back when she gets pregnant with a third (and with no signs of a stable relationship). And it seems like everything she says has to be taken with a huge grain of salt.
Cps could be making her pay child support to show she can financially take care of her children, but she’s flipping it on the cousin because she clearly feels wronged. If she can’t pay child support now, than what makes her think she can afford to take care of 3 children at once? Clothes, food, after school activities, birthdays, Christmas. She’s been begging people online for money for years now. Those kids are in a stable household. She cannot provide that for them. Cps didn’t just take them because she’s ‘brazilian’
I’m all for people coming here and making a better life for themselves, but her comment “they would never do this to me in Brazil” then go back there?! She makes no sense. That poor baby.
She’s a mess. Why have another kid?! Her kids are better off where they are at with a relative. Who knows what Paul is doing down in Brazil, they are both looney tunes