[NFBNJ] Protecting The Civil Rights Of Parents

[joe ruffalo]

Greetings to all!

During the 42nd state convention of the National Federation of the Blind of

New Jersey, Live The Life You Want, Blind With Vision, the membership passed 
a resolution Protecting The Right To Parent.

The resolution was presented to Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez prior to her 
presentation.  She has agreed to assist the NFBNJ with the research and 
writing of a bill to present to the New Jersey legislators.

Linda Melendez, Vice-President of the affiliate, Joanna mallard, a certified

Foster mom and I, conducted an in-person meeting with Assemblywoman Lopez in

late December.

Recently, we have forwarded information for Ms. Lopez and her staff to

review with the list of states that have passed a bill and links to all

bills from the ten states.

I have pasted the resolution for your review.

In addition, the resolution is located on the state website, please visit,

www.nfbnj.org



Important Request:

I am constructing a data base of blind/vision impaired parents, those that

have adopted, those that are foster parents, grandparents that care for

their grandchildren and those that have or had the responsibility to care

for a child.

Also, we are collecting information from anyone  that is fearful of having a

child taken from them as blindness as the main concern.

If you are thinking of becoming a parent and are hesitating with the fear of

the state taking away your child, we need information.

What will happen with your information?

I will keep in a data base and as we move along on the process of presenting

a bill to the New Jersey Legislators, some of your contact information may

be needed to contact you to write emails, make phone calls and or travel to

Trenton to discuss further with those that make decisions pertaining to this

bill.

What is needed?

name:

address:

home number:

Cell Number:

email:

Note: write a sentence or two with information as a parent, parent either a

foster or adopted parent,grandparent, etc.

Please forward to the following email,

nfbnj at verizon.net

Please provide in a clean email.

My contact information is located in my signature block.





We care. We share. We grow. We make a difference

Joe Ruffalo, President

National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey

973 743 0075

nfbnj1 at verizon.net

www.nfbnj.org

Raising Expectations to Live The Life You Want!

Your old car keys can be keys to literacy for the blind.

Donate your unwanted vehicle to us by clicking

www.carshelpingtheblind.org

or call 855 659 9314Resolution 2018 Parenting Rights



On Saturday, November 3, 2018 during the 42nd State Convention of the

National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey, Live The Life You Want;

Blind With Vision, the members passed the following resolution highlighting

the need to protect the civil rights of blind parents.



The resolution was read in Braille by Mary Jo Partyka, Chair of the Braille

Committee, to all in attendance.  Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez was presented a

copy, she provided positive remarks and indicated her support for this

resolution. Linda Melendez, First Vice President of the NFBNJ, Joanna

Mallard, a certified foster parent and I will be meeting Assemblywoman Lopez

at her Perth Amboy office in late December.



We will keep all posted on the results.



In the meantime, read and share the following material provided below.



Joe







>From the desk of Joe Ruffalo, President, NFBNJ.



Received from Ryan Stevens, Director of Legislation, NFBNJ.



Distributed by Ellen Sullivan, Secretary, NFBNJ.



****





Resolution 2018-01



(Regarding Protecting the Civil Rights of Blind Parents)







WHEREAS, protecting the rights of parents with disabilities is a notion

that, incredibly, was rejected by the United States Supreme Court in the

case of Buck v. Bell 274 U.S. 200 (1927), in which Justice Oliver Wendell

Holmes wrote, "It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to

execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their

imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from

continuing their kind"; and







WHEREAS, this insulting and unjustified view that people with disabilities,

including blind people, are somehow "manifestly unfit" to be parents (or

otherwise to live the lives they want and to participate as members of

society with all rights and privileges associated therewith) has too often

continued to prevail in the courts even as we move further into the

twenty-first century; and







WHEREAS, this bias is reflected in matters involving adoption and

guardianship and in contested child custody proceedings, because blind

parents have been perceived by the courts, child protection agencies,

guardians ad litem, hospital staff, and others as incapable of caring

adequately for their children's needs, which has resulted in blind people

routinely being denied the right to be parents without unfair bias or

unnecessary overreach by government entities; and







WHEREAS, for most people a fundamental aspect of living life to the fullest

includes the joy of being a parent and sharing in the nurturing, growth, and

development of a child; and







WHEREAS, being a parent and raising children is a fundamental right which is

protected under the Constitution of the United States of America by the

First and Ninth Amendments and under the Fourteenth Amendment as applied to

the states; and







WHEREAS, in the case of blind parents, there is a need to protect this

fundamental constitutional right; yet New Jersey has no laws at all to

protect the right of blind citizens to be parents and raise their children

without the fear of discriminatory treatment or unnecessary inquiries of

fitness solely based on blindness; and







WHEREAS, ten states across the country have enacted legislation that

specifically protects the rights of blind parents, and momentum toward the

goal of equal rights for blind parents is growing: now, therefore,







BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey in

Convention assembled this third day of November, 2018, in the Township of

Woodbridge, New Jersey, that this organization call upon the New Jersey

Legislature to enact laws that establish procedural safeguards to protect

the right of blind people to be parents and prohibit discriminatory

presumptions of manifest unfitness solely because a parent (or prospective

parent) happens to be blind; and







BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we urge the New Jersey Attorney General, in

protecting the best interest of children in court proceedings, to use his or

her good office affirmatively to protect blind parents in the state against

discrimination and bias based solely upon blindness and to urge the courts,

guardians ad litem, and officials of child protection agencies to base

decisions about what is in the best interest of the child on the same

criteria used for sighted parents.






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