[Nfbmo] Fw: [Missouri-l] Infant is returned to blindcoupleafterstate pla...
DanFlasar at aol.com
DanFlasar at aol.com
Thu Jul 22 03:17:22 UTC 2010
I was telling a friend about this case this afternoon and when I noted that
it is not uncommon for any woman, sighted or not, to need some advice in
initiaing breastfeeding, she laughed and said that in 1985, when she had
just given birth to her daughter at Barnes Hospital (always listed as among
the most prestigious and
state of the art hospital centers in the country), they had NO ONE on staff
to help her out! No lactation nurses, no training for it for the nursing
staff, nothing. She told her doctor about it and he went off to find
someone to help. He brought in a 50 year old black woman who had assisted
her children and grandchildren
in assisting the nursing process.
My friend said it worked out really well but she was amazed that the
only in-hospital newborn information availible to new mothers was how to
bathe the baby.
Her child, of course, was not taken from her despite these initial
problems.
When I had told her the whole story, her jaw almost hit the floor and
noted that her sister, who was blind, raised her child by herself. I
think more than anything else, the response I get from my friends about this
outrage is a startled WHAT????
Dan
In a message dated 7/21/2010 8:49:38 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
johnsusanford at earthlink.net writes:
One of the saddest partsof this story has not yet been told. In 1975,
1976,
and 1977 the NFB first organized what was called the Committee on Parental
Concerns, primarily because a number of us wanted to adopt and were not
being seriously considered because we were blind. This was before my kids
were born and they are now 35 and 34. Orlo and Mary Nichols from Maryland
were the first couple of the group of us who were successful. I think
they
adopted 4 children. Isn't it sad that 35 years ago it was found that
blind
parents can be successful at raising children and then 35 years later, we
have to start all over because social workers and nurses still haven't
learned about the capabilities of blind people. Just for the record,
Brenda
nursed for more than ten months and didn't suffocate once. I didn't know
any more than Erika did about nursing, but I had caring, considerate
nurses
and the help of La Leche League when I got worried that I must not be
doing
it right. As Debbie said, it has nothing to do with her blindness that
caused the nursing problem. It was her inexperience. When Brenda's baby
was botrn in February, she had the benefit of a whole lactation unit at
the
hospital whose job it is to work with new parents with individual
instruction, and classes in early parenting to help and support them.
Some
hospitals are more progressive than others. Boise may be rural, but it is
more progressive than Independence.
Susan
----- Original Message -----
From: <DanFlasar at aol.com>
To: <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 11:30 AM
Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] Fw: [Missouri-l] Infant is returned to
blindcoupleafterstate pla...
>I forwarded this story to my sighted friends with the following note to
> them. I haven't gotten any reaction yet but I will not be surprised
if a
> few
> defend the state action. I feel it's absolutely necessary to spread
> stories like these and explain why these things are so wrong. In all
> honesty,
> my heart feels lighter knowing that this child has gone home with her
> parents. The cynic in me felt that this was going to be a huge,
damaging
> affair.
>
> I can only echo whoever said that this shows both the power - and
the
> need for - the NFB.
>
>
> Friends,
> This was the big topic at the NFB convention in Dallas. A presentation
on
> the case was made at the beginning of the conference. The outraged
> crowd,
> which included many, many blind parents, gave extremely generously to
the
> campaign to get the child back to her parents. It was shocking that
such
> ignorance still
> exists, and that a state would take such precipitous action as to take a
> child from it's mother solely on hte basis of a disability but it did.
> The
> state capitulated minutes before a judicial hearing took place.
> We had been prepared for a long drawn-out and expensive court
> challenge. It is further evidence that civil rights can only be
> achieved by the
> concerted action of those who face discrimination, especially the most
> insidious form - well-meaning and ignorant individuals with power.
> The article below does a very good job in detailing the story.
> Dan
>
>
>
>
> In a message dated 7/21/2010 11:13:01 A.M. Central Daylight Time,
> goodfolks at charter.net writes:
>
> 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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