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

[Justin Young]

To find your New York State Assembly member, please use this link
where you'll have to enter your mailing address:

http://nyassembly.gov/mem/search/

I wanted to provide this link in case anyone was uncertain of who
their State Assembly Member was and how to contact them.  Great news
the bill passed the State Senate!

Justin Young
http://nyassembly.gov/mem/search/

On 6/11/18, Mike Robinson via New-York-News <new-york-news at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 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.
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> 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.
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> Thank you for your hard work and immediate attention to this urgent matter.
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> Mike Robinson, President
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> National Federation of the Blind of New York State, inc
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> 716-222-3632
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> 716-222-3NFB
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> Dear Assemblymember <Name>;
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> 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.
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> 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.
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> Below is our fact sheet regarding the Blind Parent's Right to Parent Act
> and
> the importance it has to blind New Yorkers.
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> Feel free to contact us to discuss this essential legislation.
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> Sincerely,
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> Michael P. Robinson, President
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> National Federation of the Blind of New York State, inc.
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> PROTECTING THE RIGHT OF BLIND PARENTS TO RAISE A FAMILY AND RETAIN CUSTODY
> OF THEIR CHILDREN
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> 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.
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> 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.
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> 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.
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> 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.
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> 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.
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> 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.
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> 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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