[Ohio-Talk] EXT: S.B. 202 Hearing

[Andra Stover]

This is very great Todd. Thanks for giving your testimony and to all those
who have written testimony.
Andra

On Tue, Oct 26, 2021 at 7:43 PM Todd Elzey via Ohio-Talk <
ohio-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> 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
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