[blparent] Parenting and Blindness

[Agnes Steinhoff]

Hi there:  Thank you for responding to my comment on blind parenting and discrimination.  I totally agree with you that both boind and sighted people need to know how to raise their children.  The reason that the story of Jessica hit home was because my 2 children are currently in foster care and have been so for the past year now.  I thought that DSS was going to help me get services to take care of my 2 children better, which they are.  However, I signed a voluntary placement for both my children because I was so afraid of them being taken away from me after my husband left me.  I paniced and so I thought there was no other way out.

Thankfully, the National Federation of the Blind stepped in to help me and they are doing a great job.  If it was not for the NFB, it would probably have been so much harder to fight to get them back home so I am very greatful to them in assisting me with this process.

I think about my children every day and I can relate to how it feels.  I am doing everything in my power to get them home and I hope that Jessica will also get her child back.

As for your four-year-old daughter, I don't blame you.  I would not allow my 5-year-old son to be outside by himself either.  I don't even let him be in the backyard without me there.  My son has told me that he was not my friend so many times before too because I wouldn't allow him to do something.  My daughter is 17 months old so she is all over the place.  I put little Christmas bells on the back of her shirt so that I hear her anywhere she is.

Agnes