[blparent] Fw: [il-talk] Fw: [Chapter-presidents]Setting therecord straightabout Baby Mikaelaand her parents

[Tammy, Paul and Colyn]

Hi,

I agree with you.  I just hope the nfb truely wants to make a difference in 
situations like this one, and aren't just in it for the money or the fame, 
for lack of a better word.  As most people know I've made no secret that I 
don't agree with all of the organization's "causes," but if the people 
running the show keep their eye on the ball it will be a battle worth 
fighting and winning.

Tammy
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, July 26, 2010 4:58 PM
Subject: Re: [blparent] Fw: [il-talk] Fw: [Chapter-presidents]Setting 
therecord straightabout Baby Mikaelaand her parents


> I'm not sure what you mean by "if this is truly his mission," but Gary was 
> the person who was most responsible for our response as an organization. 
> Whether one
> thinks it is vengance or not, and this has not been directly stated, 
> someone should pay both us and the couple for all of the legal fees 
> required to resolve this
> situation.  At the very least, that should be sought.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Steve Jacobson
>
> On Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:14:33 -0400, Tammy, Paul and Colyn wrote:
>
>>Hi,
>
>>If this is truely his mission, then more power to him and any other
>>organization or person who might want to get involved.  Disability alone 
>>is
>>not a reason for a child protection organization to swoop in and take a
>>child from it's parents, and it's more than past time for said 
>>organizations
>>to realize that their discrimination will not be tollerated.
>
>
>>Tammy
>>----- Original Message ----- 
>>From: "Deborah Kent Stein" <dkent5817 at att.net>
>>To: "Multiple recipients of NFBnet blparent Mailing List"
>><blparent at NFBnet.org>
>>Sent: Monday, July 26, 2010 1:05 PM
>>Subject: [blparent] Fw: [il-talk] Fw: [Chapter-presidents] Setting 
>>therecord
>>straightabout Baby Mikaelaand her parents
>
>
>>>
>>>
>>> I'm forwarding a note that Gary Wunder, President of the NFB of 
>>> Missouri,
>>> posted to the Chapter Presidents Listserv regarding the Baby Mikaela 
>>> case.
>>>
>>> Debbie
>>>
>>> From: "Gary Wunder" <gwunder at earthlink.net>
>>> Sent: Saturday, July 24, 2010 9:29 PM
>>>> To: "'NFB Chapter Presidents discussion list'"
>>> <chapter-presidents at nfbnet.org>; "nfbmo list" <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
>>> Subject: [Chapter-presidents] Setting the record straight about Baby
>>>> Mikaelaand her parents
>>>
>>> Hello folks. I've been off the list for a couple of days, and I have to
>>> tell
>>> you that I'm somewhat disheartened by some of the messages. It's almost
>>> like
>>> the facts have gotten lost here. Let me see if I can put some of them
>>> down.
>>> When Erika first attempted to feed her baby, she was not given 
>>> instruction
>>> as to how to do it. She was the one who reported a problem, and that
>>> problem
>>> was resolved simply by repositioning the baby and showing Erika how to
>>> ensure that the baby's nose was free for breathing. The hospital records
>>> do
>>> not reflect anything to indicate there was a code blue or that anyone
>>> besides the nurse had to become involved in the incident.
>>> Now we come to what happened afterward. You can certainly make the
>>> argument
>>> that the nurse, if there was any kind of question, thought of herself as 
>>> a
>>> mandated reporter and took the safe road by calling the Children's
>>> Services
>>> Division. For me the biggest problem is what happened after the 
>>> Children's
>>> Services Division became involved. Erika reports that she was asked how
>>> she
>>> would bathe her baby, diaper it, know where it was, and take its
>>> temperature. These questions she answered. That should have been
>>> sufficient.
>>> When we heard about this incident, we started by contacting 
>>> Rehabilitation
>>> Services for the Blind, which, like the Children's Services Division, is 
>>> a
>>> part of the Missouri Department of Social Services. They were certainly
>>> upset by the situation, offered services,  but told the judge they were 
>>> in
>>> a
>>> difficult position because, while they had offered their services to
>>> educate
>>> The Children's Services Division about issues of blindness, they were in
>>> no
>>> position to see that their offer was accepted.
>>>
>>> We contacted the Children's Services Division both through in formal
>>> channels and through legal counsel. They were not interested in learning
>>> about blindness. They were not interested in talking with us.
>>> When we were involved in what was the second hearing regarding this 
>>> case,
>>> the judge (actually she is called a commissioner) was quite concerned
>>> about
>>> the actions of the agency and let it be known. She observed that this 
>>> most
>>> certainly was not the first blind couple to raise a child, and that she
>>> would be very surprised if the hospital in question had not seen blind
>>> parents before. She indicated that while she was on vacation, an attempt
>>> should be made to increase the number of visits which Blake and Eric got
>>> with Mikaela, that some of those visits should be unsupervised, and that
>>> there should be some overnight visits in the mix. This did not find its
>>> way
>>> into her written decision, however, and with the exception of one
>>> unsupervised visit, which took place on the Friday before Mikaela was
>>> returned, I know of only one unsupervised visit in the fifty-seven days 
>>> in
>>> which Erika and Blake were prevented from caring for their child. There
>>> were
>>> no overnight visits, unsupervised or otherwise.
>>>
>>> Some have observed here that the Children's Services Division actually 
>>> did
>>> the right thing by coming to its senses. May I politely respond hogwash!
>>> The
>>> Children's Services Division started negotiations on the day before the
>>> evidentiary hearing was to take place. They delivered Mikaela to her 
>>> home
>>> at
>>> 9 AM, produced papers for our lawyer at 11 AM, and all to avoid the
>>> hearing
>>> which was scheduled for 3 PM. They did not benevolently relent. They
>>> waited
>>> as long as they possibly could before having to defend their actions 
>>> with
>>> Blake, Erika, and the national Federation of the blind being represented
>>> by
>>> counsel.
>>> There has been a lot of discussion about whether the actions we are now
>>> going to take are vengeful or punitive. The religions which many of us
>>> share
>>> give us no right to be vengeful. Let me ask you to consider whether we
>>> should let Blake and Erika's case rest now that they have custody of 
>>> their
>>> child, or whether we should use it, as we have used so many others in 
>>> the
>>> past, to establish some meaningful precedent. I, for one, am not 
>>> satisfied
>>> to let the prevailing legal wisdom be that you can take a child from 
>>> blind
>>> parents and, if you decide you've made a mistake after 57 days, can 
>>> return
>>> them with no consequences. I respect the work that children's services
>>> workers do. I want children protected from abuse. I want children 
>>> removed
>>> from homes where drug use makes the parents irresponsible. I want 
>>> children
>>> removed from homes where they are clearly neglected. I do not wish to 
>>> make
>>> the lives of hard-working public servants more difficult than they 
>>> already
>>> are. Nevertheless, I don't think those of us in the National Federation 
>>> of
>>> the Blind should be happy or comfortable with settling for anything less
>>> than a systemic change. What was done was against the law. The Federal
>>> Office for Civil Rights is extremely interested in the case. There are 
>>> at
>>> least three motions we are prepared to file in the court system where 
>>> the
>>> legal and constitutional rights of blind people have been violated.
>>> One of the most troubling experiences I had at the national convention
>>> this
>>> year was talking with young people who almost begged me to convince them
>>> they were hearing it wrong. Some came to talk with me and started our
>>> conversation by asking whether this was some urban legend which had 
>>> gotten
>>> started on the Internet with which my name had been associated. I had to
>>> tell them that it was no urban legend and that its association with my
>>> name
>>> was no accident. Others came to ask me whether this was a past event 
>>> which
>>> somehow had resurfaced. What they wanted to know was how long ago this 
>>> had
>>> happened. No matter the questions with which they came, all of them left
>>> badly shaken. Many remarked that they were newly engaged and were 
>>> planning
>>> to have children. Others reported being newly married and that a child 
>>> was
>>> on the way. All of them were concerned, because they thought all of 
>>> these
>>> issues about child custody and blindness had long since been resolved by
>>> the
>>> National Federation of the Blind.
>>> Sometimes government bashing takes second place only to the World Series
>>> and
>>> the Super Bowl in terms of a public past time, and I don't want to be a
>>> part
>>> of that. What I do want to see the Federation be a part of is exposing
>>> this
>>> behavior for exactly what it is, and for saying to everyone who has 
>>> ears,
>>> whether they work in a social service agency, a hospital, a newspaper, 
>>> or
>>> in
>>> some small factory down the road, that blindness is no reason to take a
>>> child from its parents. Should we educate? Of course we should, and no
>>> doubt
>>> one of the things we will be asking that the court address is education
>>> for
>>> the entities that are the targets of our actions.
>>>
>>> I understand, as do we all, that blindness is a terribly misunderstood
>>> disability, and whenever I can, I try to be compassionate about the way 
>>> I
>>> address the issue. Even so, there is a difference between being
>>> compassionate and understanding about people who are ignorant when it
>>> comes
>>> to what we need and what we can do, and concluding that because there is
>>> widespread misunderstanding, we really have no right to complain or do
>>> anything about it. I think we have to make a firm statement. That firm
>>> statement has to be "You will not take our children. If you do, there 
>>> will
>>> be consequences and they will be severe. If you will let us teach you
>>> through our public outreach and our seminars, will be glad to have you,
>>> but
>>> if you make us, we will teach you in the commissions and courts charged
>>> with
>>> defending the civil rights of America's citizens."
>>> As a final note, let me suggest that Missouri happens to be the state
>>> receiving attention now, but Missouri is no different from many other
>>> states
>>> when it comes to their knowledge of blind people and the speed with 
>>> which
>>> they address issues such as this. One person several weeks ago wrote to
>>> inquire in what small backward town this took place, only to learn the
>>> small
>>> town was not a small town at all but Kansas City. Geography offers us
>>> little
>>> protection. We must all be vigilant and guard against the idea that this
>>> could never happen to us because we live in a more progressive 
>>> community.
>>> Gary
>>>
>>> P.S. We have some reason to believe this will receive national coverage 
>>> on
>>> CBS on Monday morning.
>>>
>>> GW
>>>
>>>
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>
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