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<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>CONTACT:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Chris
Danielsen<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Director of
Public Relations<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>National
Federation of the Blind<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>(410)
659-9314, extension 2330<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>(410)
262-1281 (Cell)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><a
href="mailto:cdanielsen@nfb.org">cdanielsen@nfb.org</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<h1 align=center style='mso-margin-top-alt:12.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:
3.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:center'><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>National Federation of the Blind Successful<br>
in Returning Infant to Her Parents<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><i><span
style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Family Reunited After Wrongful Seizure
of Child<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Independence,
Missouri (July 22, 2010):</span></b><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>
The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and its Missouri affiliate announced
today that they have succeeded in a legal fight to bring a two-month-old
infant, Mikaela Sinnett, home to her parents, Blake Sinnett and Erika Johnson
of Independence. The NFB of Missouri hired an attorney to assist the couple
after Mikaela was taken from them at Centerpoint Hospital almost immediately
after she was born. For fifty-seven days the couple, both of whom are blind,
were allowed to visit their child in foster care but were not allowed to bring
her home. The sole reason given by Missouri’s Department of Social
Services was that the couple was blind and could not properly care for Mikaela
without the assistance of a sighted person twenty-four hours a day and seven
days a week. An evidentiary hearing was scheduled for July 20, but at the last
minute the state of Missouri dismissed the case against the couple.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Dr. Marc
Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: “The
National Federation of the Blind is pleased that the state of Missouri has
dismissed its case against Blake Sinnett and Erika Johnson and returned baby
Mikaela to their care. Despite the fact that blind parents are successfully
raising children across the nation, blind Americans continue to find that
misconceptions and stereotypes about the capabilities of blind people too often
result in hasty and unwarranted decisions to remove children from the custody
of blind parents. The worst nightmare of parents everywhere—having a
child taken away—is sadly part of the lives of too many blind parents.
The National Federation of the Blind stands ready and willing to help state
officials across the country understand how blind people use alternative
techniques to care for their children. But the blind of America will not
tolerate our children being taken from us.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>"We were
and are outraged at the action of Centerpoint Hospital and the state of Missouri,"
said Gary Wunder, president of the National Federation of the Blind of
Missouri. "Children's services have the job of protecting children
from abuse and we have nothing but admiration for that work. Taking a child
away because her parents are blind is an entirely different matter which
violates state and federal law. We have gotten Mikaela back home, but we must
fundamentally change a system that presumes the incompetence of blind parents
and operates on a principle of guilty until proven innocent rather than the
reverse. We cannot help but think that new parents who are blind in Missouri
will avoid seeking medical and social services that they may need for fear that
they will experience a similar ordeal. We can never give back the two months
this family has lost, nor can we restore to Erika the joy of nursing her child
that this separation has made impossible. What we can do is use their
adversity to change the system that allowed this atrocity and educate the
people who have mistakenly equated blindness with a lack of perception,
intellect, and judgment."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>On May 21,
2010, Erika and Blake went to Centerpoint Hospital, where Erika delivered
Mikaela. When trying to nurse the baby for the first time, Erika asked for
assistance from a nurse when she thought something was wrong. The nurse said
that the baby was turning blue and helped reposition the baby, who then began
to take nourishment. The nurse assured Erika that it was common for new
mothers to need some instruction and that she was doing fine. Blake and Erika
were therefore surprised when, some four hours later, they were met by a
children's services worker who made inquiries about their vision; asked how
they would feed, diaper, and supervise their child; and eventually decreed that
Baby Mikaela would not be allowed to be discharged with her mother unless the
social worker could be assured there would be constant supervision by someone
with sight. On the recommendation of Missouri's Children's Protective
Services, Mikaela was placed in foster care and one-hour visits were arranged
for several times each week. When the National Federation of the Blind of
Missouri determined that blindness was the only reason the child was taken by
the state, the organization hired attorney Amy Coopman to handle the case. The
National Federation of the Blind now has the option to file complaints with the
Missouri Human Rights Commission and/or the federal Office for Civil Rights, as
well as at least three options that can be pursued in the state’s courts.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span
style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span
style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>###<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p><b><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>About the National
Federation of the Blind<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>With more
than 50,000 members, the National Federation of the Blind is the largest and
most influential membership organization of blind people in the United States.
The NFB improves blind people’s lives through advocacy, education,
research, technology, and programs encouraging independence and
self-confidence. It is the leading force in the blindness field today and
the voice of the nation's blind. In January 2004 the NFB opened the
National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute, the first research and
training center in the United States for the blind led by the blind. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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