[il-talk] Template Letter about HB 2626

[Deborah Kent Stein]

Below I'm pasting the template letter regarding HB2626 which I read
yesterday at the Chicago Chapter meeting. Please copy and paste it into an
email and send it to your representative in the Illinois legislator. If you
have trouble finding out who your representative 

is, contact Dave Meyer at datemeyer at sbcglobal.net or Bill Reif at
billreif at ameritech.net. When you write, be certain to 

include your name, mailing address, and email address. Thank you for your
help to ensure passage of 

this important piece of legislation!

 

Debbie Stein

Dkent5817 at att.net

 

_______________

 

Dear Representative: 

 

I write to request your support of HB2626, the Parental Rights for the Blind
Act. This bill, which was 

introduced by Representative Laura Fine, was voted out of committee on March
15. Several blind 

parents testified on behalf of this bill before the Domestic Relations
Subcommittee on March 8, and I 

urge you to vote for its passage.

 

As a blind person and a member of the blind community, I know that thousands
of blind people in this 

state and throughout the country are raising children successfully. However,
members of the public 

often doubt the abilities of blind people to be good parents. HB 2626 is
greatly needed. Too often 

custody decisions made by the courts and DCFS in cases where one or both
parents are blind are based 

solely on the parent's blindness.   As blind people, we perform the tasks of
parenting by using nonvisual 

techniques, just as we conduct every other aspect of our lives. Because they
do not understand how the 

most basic tasks can be handled nonvisually, health care professionals,
social workers, attorneys, and 

judges frequently assume that parenting without sight is impossible. 

 

The concerns that led to the creation of Hb 2626 are far from theoretical.
Within the past few months in 

Illinois, a newborn child was removed from a blind mother while still in the
hospital. DCFS accused the 

mother of abuse and neglect, even though the child had never left the
hospital nursery. In a recent 

divorce case, a sighted mother argued that her blind spouse should not be
permitted visitation with 

their children unless a sighted person was present at all times. When the
marriage was intact, he was 

frequently the sole caregiver for the children, but his blindness was used
against him during the divorce 

proceedings. HB2626 would prevent DCFS from overreaching based upon
misconceptions about 

blindness, and it would stop estranged spouses from employing blindness as a
weapon in court.

 

HB2626 still protects children if blindness should be a real issue. A judge
simply would enter specific 

findings, and DCFS would have to provide the blind parent with the same
supportive services given to 

any other parent. Right now Illinois case law holds that the ADA is
inapposite when it comes to 

supportive services. Therefore, a parent who could care for children if
networked into the blind parent 

community for mentoring and if taught adaptive techniques may be separated
from a child 

unnecessarily.

 

Senator Mulroe has committed to help with this bill in the Senate. It has
bipartisan support, as it was 

preintroduced by Senator Resin. Please support children and parents who
should be together in a loving 

household. It is wrong to assume that blind people can't parent effectively
based on the 

misunderstanding of the capacity of the blind. It is bad for children and it
is bad for our state generally. 

Furthermore, the unnecessary removal of children from the home is fiscally
irresponsible. For humane 

and fiscal reasons HB2626 is past due. Please give this bill your
wholehearted support!

 

Respectfully,

[Name]

[Address]

[Email]

 

 



---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus