[Ohio-Talk] S.B. 202 Hearing

[Todd Elzey]

Good evening!

Earlier today I had the pleasure of traveling to Columbus to testify before
the Ohio Senate Judiciary Committee on our parental rights Senate companion
bill S.B. 202. This hearing was for the Committee to hear "Proponent"
testimony. I am pleased to report that the hearing went well.

I testified on behalf of the NFB and on my own personal behalf. I told the
Committee about how the NFB of Ohio gets several calls per year from
parents who are either being threatened with having their children taken
away, or in some instances have already lost custody of their children
simply because a social worker believed that a blind parent can't take care
of children. I explained to the committee that blind people can and have
indeed taken care of their own children. I pointed to the nearly 20
examples we submitted via written testimony from NFB members from across
the State. I also told the committee that there were many more examples of
capable blind parents throughout society.

I also spoke of how blind parents are often held to a different standard by
hospital social workers and CPS workers than are non-disabled parents. I
spoke of how often blind parents currently have to prove they are capable
of caring for their children. I told them how this is different because
non-disabled parents are not asked to prove that they are good parents -
rather when a complaint is received, social workers simply look to whether
or not the non-disabled parent is endangering the child. I also pointed out
that often social workers bend over backward to give non-disabled parents
an opportunity to resolve any care issues before taking children away, but
how often blind parents either lose their children right away or are
threatened with that loss immediately without ever being given an
opportunity to cure the problem through supportive services, etc.

I then spoke about how some parents, including myself, have faced the loss
of their children during divorce proceedings because of their vision or
other disability. I spoke of how this happens despite the fact that these
parents often co-parented with a non-disabled parent for years without
anyone raising the issue of blindness or disability. But that then during a
divorce it is often alleged that it is not safe for the children to be with
the blind or disabled parent because of their disability. I once again
talked about how when this happens, it becomes the burden of the person
with a disability to prove that they are a capable parent rather. I spoke
of how it should be the other way around, that a person alleging an issue
should have to prove by "clear and convincing" evidence that a person's
disability endangers the child.

I concluded by asking the committee to approve S.B. 202.

I believe the Committee understood our concerns. There were no questions
asked about the substance of the legislation.

Please let me know if you have any questions about the hearing.

Todd Elzey