[Nfbmo] Fw: [Missouri-l] Infant is returned to blindcoupleafterstate placesher in protective custody

[Dewey Bradley]

This was ment to go to my friend in Colorado in who is a blind pairent.
I did the control F and put in her address, I don't know how it whent out to 
the list, but the question still remains.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Olver" <goodfolks at charter.net>
To: "NFB of Missouri Mailing List" <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 11:11 AM
Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] Fw: [Missouri-l] Infant is returned to 
blindcoupleafterstate placesher in protective custody


> Well, I remember when I was told the same thing about 20 years ago in 
> South Carolina. Chalk it up to ignorance, something we face on a regular 
> basis.
>
> Fred Olver
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Dewey Bradley" <dewey.bradley at att.net>
> To: "NFB of Missouri Mailing List" <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 10:00 AM
> Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] Fw: [Missouri-l] Infant is returned to blind 
> coupleafterstate placesher in protective custody
>
>
>> Well as a blind pairent what do you think about this?
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Fred Olver" <goodfolks at charter.net>
>> To: "NFB Chapter Presidents discussion list" 
>> <chapter-presidents at nfbnet.org>; <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>; "NFB of 
>> Missouri Mailing List" <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>; <Blindad at babel-fish.us>
>> Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 7:57 AM
>> Subject: [Nfbmo] Fw: [Missouri-l] Infant is returned to blind couple 
>> afterstate placesher in protective custody
>>
>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: Chip Hailey
>>> To: MCB Listserve
>>> Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 7:47 AM
>>> Subject: [Missouri-l] Infant is returned to blind couple after state 
>>> placesher in protective custody
>>>
>>>
>>> Posted on Wed, Jul. 21, 2010 12:15 AM
>>> Email
>>> Infant is returned to blind couple after state places her in protective 
>>> custody
>>> By LEE HILL KAVANAUGH
>>> The Kansas City Star
>>> Fifty-seven days after she was born, Mikaela Sinnett was home for the 
>>> first time Tuesday with her parents, Erika Johnson and Blake Sinnett of 
>>> Independence. State officials had worried they were unable to care for 
>>> her.
>>> DAVID EULITT | The Kansas City Sta
>>> Fifty-seven days after she was born, Mikaela Sinnett was home for the 
>>> first time
>>> Tuesday with her parents, Erika Johnson and Blake Sinnett of 
>>> Independence. State
>>> officials had worried they were unable to care for her.
>>>
>>> A folding cane used by Blake Sinnett rested in the baby carrier used to 
>>> carry home his daughter.
>>>
>>> On Tuesday, Blake Sinnett, guided by his mother, Jenne Sinnett, carried 
>>> his 2-month-old daughter, Mikaela Sinnett. Behind them was Mikaela's 
>>> mother, Erika Johnson.
>>> Erika Johnson will never be able to see her baby, Mikaela.
>>> But for 57 days she couldn't keep her newborn close, smell her baby's 
>>> breath, feel
>>> her downy hair.
>>> The state took away her 2-day-old infant into protective custody - 
>>> because Johnson
>>> and Mikaela's father are both blind.
>>> No allegations of abuse, just a fear that the new parents would be 
>>> unable to care
>>> for the child.
>>> On Tuesday, Johnson still couldn't stop crying, although Mikaela was 
>>> back in her
>>> arms.
>>> "We never got the chance to be parents," she said. "We had to prove that 
>>> we could."
>>> Tuesday, she and Blake Sinnett knew their baby was finally coming home 
>>> to their Independence
>>> apartment, but an adjudication hearing was scheduled for the afternoon 
>>> on whether
>>> the state would stay involved in the rearing of the baby. Then from a 
>>> morning phone
>>> call to their attorney, they learned that the state was dismissing their 
>>> case.
>>> "Every minute that has passed that this family wasn't together is a 
>>> tragedy. A legal
>>> tragedy and a moral one, too," said Amy Coopman, their attorney. "How do 
>>> you get
>>> 57 days back?"
>>> Arleasha Mays, a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Social 
>>> Services, said
>>> privacy laws prohibited her from speaking about specific cases. But she 
>>> added, "The
>>> only time we recommend a child be removed is if it's in imminent 
>>> danger."
>>> Johnson said she knew the system eventually would realize its horrible 
>>> mistake, but
>>> she often was consumed with sadness. Sinnett tried his best to keep 
>>> Johnson hopeful.
>>> For almost two months she and Sinnett could visit their baby only two or 
>>> three times
>>> a week, for just an hour at a time, with a foster parent monitoring.
>>> "I'm a forgiving person," Johnson said, but she's resentful that people 
>>> assumed she
>>> was incapable.
>>> "Disability does not equal inability," she said.
>>> Representatives of the sightless community agreed that people were 
>>> well-meaning but
>>> blinded by ignorance.
>>> Mikaela was born May 21 at Centerpoint Medical Center of Independence. 
>>> The doctors
>>> let Sinnett "see" her birth by feeling the crowning of her head.
>>> For Johnson, hearing Mikaela's whimpers was a thrill. The little human 
>>> inside her
>>> all these months, the one who hiccupped and burped, who kicked and 
>>> moved, especially
>>> at night, was now a real person whom she loved more than anything else 
>>> she'd ever
>>> imagined.
>>> In her overnight bag was Mikaela's special homecoming outfit, a green 
>>> romper from
>>> Johnson's mother, with matching bottoms and a baby bow.
>>> Questions arose within hours of Mikaela's birth, after Johnson's clumsy 
>>> first attempts
>>> at breast-feeding - something many new mothers experience.
>>> A lactation nurse noticed that Mikaela's nostrils were covered by 
>>> Johnson's breast.
>>> Johnson felt that something was wrong and switched her baby to her other 
>>> side, but
>>> not before Mikaela turned blue.
>>> That's when the concerned nurse wrote on a chart: "The child is without 
>>> proper custody,
>>> support or care due to both of parents being blind and they do not have 
>>> specialized
>>> training to assist them."
>>> Her words set into motion the state mechanisms intended to protect 
>>> children from
>>> physical or sexual abuse, unsanitary conditions, neglect or absence of 
>>> basic needs
>>> being met.
>>> Centerpoint said it could not comment because of patient privacy laws, 
>>> but spokeswoman
>>> Gene Hallinan said, "We put the welfare of our patients as our top 
>>> priority."
>>> A social worker from the state came by Johnson's hospital room and asked 
>>> her questions:
>>> How could she take her baby's temperature? Johnson answered: with our 
>>> talking thermometer.
>>> How will you take her to a doctor if she gets sick? Johnson's reply: If 
>>> it were an
>>> emergency, they'd call an ambulance. For a regular doctor's appointment, 
>>> they'd call
>>> a cab or ride a bus.
>>> But it wasn't enough for the social worker, who told Johnson she would 
>>> need 24-hour
>>> care by a sighted person at their apartment.
>>> Johnson said they couldn't afford it, didn't need it.
>>> "I needed help as a new parent, but not as a blind parent," Johnson 
>>> said.
>>> She recalled the social worker saying: " 'Look, because you guys are 
>>> blind, I don't
>>> feel like you can adequately take care of her.' And she left."
>>> The day of Johnson's discharge, another social worker delivered the news 
>>> to the couple
>>> that Mikaela was not going home with them. The parents returned the next 
>>> day to visit
>>> Mikaela before she left the hospital, but they were barred from holding 
>>> her.
>>> "All we could do was touch her arm or leg," Johnson said.
>>> The couple began making calls. Gary Wunder, president of the National 
>>> Federation
>>> of the Blind of Missouri, had trouble believing it at first.
>>> "I needed to verify their whole story," he recalled. "We had to do due 
>>> diligence.
>>> . I found the couple to be intelligent and responsible.
>>> "We knew this was an outrage that had taken place."
>>> He notified Kansas City chapter president Shelia Wright, who visited the 
>>> 24-year-olds.
>>> Hearing about the empty crib, the baby clothes, Wright recalled, "I felt 
>>> as helpless
>>> as I've ever felt in my life.
>>> "I hurt so bad for them. This is unforgivable."
>>> They rallied other associations for the blind nationwide. More than 100 
>>> people at
>>> a national convention in Dallas volunteered to travel to Kansas City to 
>>> protest and
>>> testify, both as blind parents and as the sighted children of blind 
>>> parents. (Mikaela
>>> has normal sight.)
>>> They also hired Coopman, who watched the young couple with their baby 
>>> girl on Tuesday.
>>> "I'm sorry," she said, wiping tears. "But this should not have 
>>> happened."
>>> Johnson kept a journal that Coopman is keeping closed for now. She 
>>> indicates that
>>> legal action will be taken.
>>> "Whether a couple is visually impaired or deaf or in a wheelchair, the 
>>> state should
>>> not keep them from their children," she said.
>>> Now breast-feeding is a lost option. And the beautiful newborn clothes 
>>> hanging in
>>> the closet went unworn, because their baby was growing bigger in the 
>>> arms of someone
>>> else.
>>> The couple said they had tried to prove themselves to the sighted 
>>> community since
>>> their early years. Sinnett rode his bicycle on the street with the help 
>>> of a safety
>>> gadget. Johnson graduated from high school with honors. But all the 
>>> challenges they've
>>> endured over the years shrink compared to the responsibility of caring 
>>> for 10 pounds
>>> of squirming baby girl.
>>> Johnson cuddled Mikaela. Gave her a bottle. Patted her back until she 
>>> burped. Mikaela
>>> gave a tiny smile.
>>> In their 24 years, the couple said, they've both endured prejudice from 
>>> others. They
>>> don't want any other blind parent to suffer the same obstacle they did.
>>> Fifty-seven days are too precious to lose.
>>> The Star's Laura Bauer contributed to this report. To reach Lee Hill 
>>> Kavanaugh, call
>>> 816-234-4420 or send e-mail to
>>> lkavanaugh at kcstar.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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>
>
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