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

[Tammy, Paul and Colyn]

Hi,

Me neither!  It's a great cause, one that wouldn't just impact cases and cps 
in the united states, but outside as well.


Tammy
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Angela Frederick" <angelahoward at mail.utexas.edu>
To: "'NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List'" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, July 26, 2010 9:25 PM
Subject: Re: [blparent] Fw: [il-talk]Fw: [Chapter-presidents]Setting 
therecord straightaboutBaby Mikaelaand her parents


>I for one can't think of a better cause that I would like to see our
> organization champion right now.
>
> Angela
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Tammy, Paul and Colyn
> Sent: Monday, July 26, 2010 4:19 PM
> To: NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [blparent] Fw: [il-talk] Fw: [Chapter-presidents]Setting
> therecord straightabout Baby Mikaelaand her parents
>
> 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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> m
>>
>>
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> 0visi.com
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