[New-york-news] IMMEDIATE ACTION ITEM: Blind Parent's Right to Parent Act

[Mike Robinson]

Below is a letter I have sent to the entire New York Assembly.  Our Blind
Parent's Right to Parent Act has passed the New York State Senate and been
delivered to the Assembly for their passage.

 

Please, Everyone, Contact your Assemblymember and encourage them to
co-sponsor A1071 (Simon) and to contact Assemblyman Donowitz's office
(518-455-5965) Chair of the Judiciary Committee, to get this important
legislation reported out of committee and passed before the end of this
legislative session. The session ends on June 20th.

 

Thank you for your hard work and immediate attention to this urgent matter.

 

 

Mike Robinson, President

National Federation of the Blind of New York State, inc

716-222-3632

716-222-3NFB

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Assemblymember <Name>;

 

On June 6, 2018 the New York Senate Children and Families Committee
reported, the Senate passed and delivered to the Assembly S3266, (Parker),
which Prohibits the making of decisions concerning guardianship, custody or
visitation or adoption petitions solely based on a parent's, guardian's or
custodian's blindness. This very important legislation would ensure New York
families could not be torn apart by the misconception that parents are
incapable of raising children solely because they are blind.

 

The Assembly bill, (A1071, Simon) currently has 37 co-sponsors and
multi-sponsors and is in the Judiciary Committee.   We are asking
Assemblymember <Name> to cosponsor this bill and help us encourage
Assemblyman Jefferey Dinowitz to report the Blind Parent's Right to Parent
Act out of committee and get it on the docket before the end of this
legislative session.

 

Below is our fact sheet regarding the Blind Parent's Right to Parent Act and
the importance it has to blind New Yorkers.

 

Feel free to contact us to discuss this essential legislation.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Michael P. Robinson, President

National Federation of the Blind of New York State, inc.

 

 

 

 

 

PROTECTING THE RIGHT OF BLIND PARENTS TO RAISE A FAMILY AND RETAIN CUSTODY
OF THEIR CHILDREN

 

All blind Americans have the constitutional right to found a family, to
freely and responsibly decide on the number and spacing of their children,
and to retain the custody of their offspring on an equal basis with others.
Unfortunately, blind people are often stripped of these constitutional
rights when state statutes, judicial decisions, and child welfare practices
are based on the presumption that blindness automatically means parental
incompetence. This is a misconception; the truth is that, given the proper
tools and training, blind people can compete on terms of equality with their
sighted peers, and blindness can be reduced to a physical nuisance. 

 

Many sighted people do not understand the techniques that blind people use
to accomplish everyday tasks. Judges, social workers, and state officials
assume that a blind person cannot perform those tasks. Using alternative
techniques, blind people are capable of living independent, productive
lives, including providing safe and loving homes for their children. For
example, blind people put small tactile dots over markers on home appliances
so that they can independently operate them. Blind parents may have their
young children wear a small bell on their shoes so that the parent will know
the child's location. Blind parents will also pull a stroller behind them
rather than push the stroller in front of them so their long white cane or
guide dog will find obstacles or enter an intersection before the child and
stroller do. 

 

When sighted parents are involved in a guardianship, adoption, custody, or
visitation proceeding, their parental capabilities and how those
capabilities affect the best interest of the child are thoroughly evaluated
through a careful review of evidence. Too often, however, judges summarily
dismiss a blind parent's capabilities under the misconception that blind
people are incapable of almost anything, despite evidence on the record
proving otherwise. Blind parents involved in these proceedings must first
overcome any bias or low expectations of the judge, and then also provide
evidence negating those misconceptions above and beyond the normal burden
placed on sighted parents. 

 

Widespread misconceptions about blindness often trigger a state agency to
act, unsolicited, against the wishes of a blind parent. One of many
devastating reports of discrimination occurred in 2010, when the state of
Missouri wrongfully deemed a blind couple unable to care for their 2-day old
daughter, who remained in protective custody until the family was reunited
after a 57-day battle. These parents had done nothing to demonstrate
parental incompetence other than happening to have had a child and been
blind. Yet, the agency solely considered their blindness and decided to take
action. In fact, in the Missouri case and many others, the parents had
voluntarily contacted social service officials in order to seek advice and
assistance and to ensure that all of their child's needs were being met.
Instead, they found themselves stripped of custody. 

 

In 2011, a blind mother in Troy, New York, who voluntarily placed her
children in foster care for reasons unrelated to her blindness, was later
denied the right to have her children returned to her, such denial based
solely on her blindness. For approximately four years, this mother was
permitted to see her children only three times per week, for a total of five
hours, and only with sighted supervision. This case was settled in 2015 with
the assistance of attorneys retained by the National Federation of the
Blind, and full custody was granted. 

 

The occurrences in Missouri and in Troy are not isolated incidents. Some
have been favorably resolved through the intervention of advocacy
organizations of the blind. Others do not come to our attention, and end in
tragic results. Such arbitrary and discriminatory conduct by courts and
agencies against blind parents and their children undermines the
parent/child relationship and runs counter to the family values that are the
bedrock of American society. 

 

We call upon the Legislature and the Governor to enact the Blind Persons'
Right to Parent Act, A01071 (Simon) and S03266 (Parker).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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