[Nfbmo] [Chapter-presidents] Fw: [Missouri-l] Infant is returned toblind couple after state placesher in protective custody

Gary Wunder gwunder at earthlink.net
Thu Jul 22 11:03:19 UTC 2010


We can't give Erika and Mikaela back the bonding which comes from 
nursing.  The separation put an end to that.  You are right - we 
are relieved and happy, but we still feel terrible about what has 
happened and our inability to make it shorter.



 ----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael D.  Barber" <michael.nfbi at gmail.com
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
Date sent: Wed, 21 Jul 2010 10:52:38 -0500
Subject: Re: [Chapter-presidents] Fw: [Missouri-l] Infant is 
returned toblind	couple after state placesher in protective 
custody

This is indeed heart-wrenching, sickening, and delightful, all at 
the same time.  I dare anyone to now say we don’t need an 
organized blind movement like the NFB.  Advocacy and support are 
two of our strongest services we can provide.

I hope we sue these people and win.  Trouble is, any monitary 
reward won’t give them back the 57 precious days of parenting 
they’ve lost with their little bambino.  Social Services should 
be made to pay dearly for what they’ve done.

Michael Barber
From: chapter-presidents-bounces at nfbnet.org 
[mailto:chapter-presidents-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Fred 
Olver
Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 7:57 AM
To: NFB Chapter Presidents discussion list; 
nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org; NFB of Missouri Mailing List; 
Blindad at babel-fish.us
Subject: [Chapter-presidents] Fw: [Missouri-l] Infant is returned 
to blind couple after state placesher in protective custody


----- Original Message -----
From: Chip Hailey <mailto:chip at gatewayfortheblind.com
To: MCB Listserve <mailto:missouri-l at moblind.org
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



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