Category: Parent Talk
Check out this link
http://slateandstylish.blogspot.com/2010/07/mikaelas-story
In short if you don't wanna use the link, a blind cuppel in MO gave birth to there first child on the 21st of may, and she was taken away by CPS. From what the artical says, the mom asked the laber and delivery nurses to help her with learning how to brestfeed, and insted of helping her, the nurses called CPS on her. Mikaela the baby girl, was taken from her family that night, and placed in foster care. CPS's reason for taking the newborn away? "Because the family is blind and are incapeable of careing for a child." OUTRAGE! Boath my parents are blind, and they were aloud to raise there children, ither there are sercomstances that wernt menchend in this story, or there is a fundimental problem with the MO CPS. This is 2010, discrimanation as blaytent as this is unreal. Even the media is partisapateing, do a google surch, and you wont find any mager newspapers covering this story. But you can bet you're butts that if this baby was born to parents in wheal chairs, or to teen parents, there would be a screem of outrage from the media and most people that would shake the cuntry. Not so much for this little girl. My sincerist prares are going to be with this family, and little Mikaela as her parents fight for justis.
Thoughts?
Tracey
The link appears not to be working.
I have not heard of this particular case till now.
Yes, blind persons can be capable parents.
Yeah, that is messed up that the baby was taken from the couple just for being blind. I have a friend who had a similar thing happen, where her and her husband's children were taken, and it ws stated that her and her husband's disabilities had to be considered in their ability to care for them. This is with them having gone thru the parenting classes they were asked to attend and everything. I do understand that the average sighted or I guess non-disabled person might not get how we can care for children, but to straight-up take a child away for that reason is messed up. They wouldn't take a child away from a sighted mother who was asking for help on specifics of how to care for her children.
I think the link was messed up to begin with. Try
http://slateandstylish.blogspot.com/2010/07/mikaelas-story.html
If this is indeed what happened, it's not right. Although I would be interested to at least hear the other side's point of view on this. There are other blind parents out therre who have never had their children taken away from them. I'm not saying that these 2 were at fault, but that it is possible that there may be more going on here than what blogs say. Protective services will never get their side of this out, since it's totally in breech of confidentiality. If Protective Services did take the child away solely because the parents were blind, then that's bullshit and an injustice for sure.
I find it rather sad this board has been posted at all. It should have been the choice of those involved to post or not to post, and to discuss it in what is an open forum could potentially jeopardise any kind of hearing that may or may not happen in the future.
In light of the seriousness of such a topic, I wish it could be removed until the people who it involves are ready if ever to share their story, and not have it discussed in this manner. Sadly I fear that will never happen, so please just be careful what if anything you decide to add to this topic.
That's aweful! Sometimes, I think sighted people get there rocks off by acting like they are supreme and treating other people like they are scum. Just because one is blind, doesn't mean they are incapable and sighted people need to back the fuck off. Sorry, but that kind of thing pisses me off.
I personally know the girl this happened to, and she is not at fault. CPS is not God, and just because a story happens like this, does not mean that the parent is always in the wrong. Thousands of innocent parents lose their children each year. CPS is good for using hearsay evidence. As a matter of fact, they do not need any at all. They can make things up. They can make a completely good parent look like a treacherous criminal who should be gutted of all reproductive organs. All it takes is for one to over use power and for one not to like the parent or disagree with value systems the parent feels comfortable with. Anything can be twisted. Believe me. Do the research, and you'll see many accounts of this.
CPS is a corrupt agency that is backwards in many ways and is in need of a major overhaul. They have way too much power over our families, and we need to fight to take that back. I'm participating in an effort with thousands of others to overturn the law that was enacted in 1974 that gave these freaks power in the first place by petitioning senators and congress. For anyone who wants to participate, let me know and I can provide more information.
Many of you already know how I feel about CPS and how they are destroying families and parents right to raise their children in a way that works for them. They try to make parents conform to this one size fits all standard, known as "CPS approved parenting," and if parents so much deviate as much as a hair, they lose their children and they become government property. I don't trust CPS as far as I can throw them. I have my reasons. Those of you who know me well enough or who have read my previous posts and articles on the subject know why. As a matter of fact, I have written and published an article very recently, telling parents what they should do the minute they find out CPS is in their lives and how they can save their families from their treachery.
I do have permission to write and publish a press release all over the web because I'd like to get this out to the masses. I'm just waiting for the formal written consent.
The baby was returned home to her this morning, and the case was dismissed. Myself and other friends did advise her to sue the state and possibly the hospital, too.
I agree with kev.
If this story is out there due to the family's involvement i.e. if they have a blog/have been to the media/have done interviews etc then fair enough to discuss it.
If not then this is not IMO discussion for an open forum.
I am thinking the person who posted this story didn't even know how close to home it was... or was aware of who the persons involved were.
Agreed with Shawn, it's possible the original poster just didn't know...
well is there a way to report the thread and have it removed?
no, they don't remove threads. at least I've never seen a topic be removed. I believe the issue is resolved as it is. so what's the problem.
Two things. Yes, the issue is now resolved. I will not go into it here, but anyone can talk to the parties in question, or read the media articles that are out about it.
the removal of this topic was discussed by the staff. Some advocated for its removal, since it was posted here without the permission of those involved. I too wonder if the original poster even knew how close to home they were striking?
However, this story has been all over Twitter, blogs, the talk of national organizations, etc, and there are many, many ways it could have been read about in far more detail than here. That was the argument for allowing it to remain, and why it did. No info was given here that could not have been found, in much more detail, anywhere else on the Internet.
I am simply glad that it is over.
Since I'm fairly sure that at least 1 of the parents will read this, I'd like to congratulate you both on having a baby and finally being allowed to take her home.
No one here can even guess at how upsetting the past 57 days must have been for the both of you, although, in the nicest way possible, whilst what happened wasn't the right thing to happen, I'm sure that everyone did what they thought was the best at the time.
Everyone knows how much iggnerance there is towards blind parents and blind people as a hole, so if any good has come out of this at all, what happened should mean that children shouldn't be taken away from blind parents quite so quickly.
Also, I know plenty of sighted parents who have troubles brest feeding.
Take care, Ben.
Given what I've read from an article published today, it would indeed seem that the nurse and cps are at fault. Congratulations then to the parents who fought for their rights as a blind couple and who have exposed what I've read to be a problem for many blind parents. What a disgrace to the government, huh? Anyway, I hope the child can now live out a good childhood in the hands of perfectly capable parents.
and I hope the nurse and the CPs people involved in this case lose their jobs over this. This should never have happened and I'm overjoyed to see this baby brought back home where she belongs.
I'm really glad that things have worked out! That baby angel deserves nothing but the best and only her parents and God can give that to her. I'm very glad the baby is home where she belongs!
I to am glad the baby is home where she belongs. Congradulations to the parents for fighting and for winning. I read this story first hours ago, and I could not respond because honestly it scared the hell out of me. I am completely blind and my husband is sighted, and we want children. However, after reading this I could not help but think about the possibility of losing our baby; (if we are ever blessed enough...), meer hours after birth, and I had to go have a good, terrified, desperate cry after first reading this. I will tell you this much. I will not ask any but family, friends and others I trust for assistants or advice. If you can not ask for help without running the risk of losing your baby...It scares me to know I could and might face this, and my heart sincerely goes out to any and all who have ever faced this. You want to know what angers me though? Months ago I heard about a child; (infant if my memory serves), who was abused only a county away, and he was sent home with those who abused him. CPS has done nothing to protect that baby, and I honestly wonder if he is still alive today. And, just after reading this I found out about a couple; (in my county), who the guy shook a 2 month old, and they are not even certain that the little girl will live. If she does brain damage is almost certainly perminant. It is sickening to know that CPS and other public opinion is on the side of taking babies because we are a little different, and thus we do things a little differently, but let an adult abuse the baby and they shrug their shoulders! Where the hell is America's morals?...
and this is exactly why I'm paranoid about having children in a hospital setting later. will only go if it's a life-or-death situation or if something else is wrong. Grrrrr, damn that stupid nurse.
You are lucky you can think about alternative options; I can not because of the RH factor should I ever conceive. But, I plan on being prepared should this ever be a situation I might face; (if I ever do get lucky enough...). I am already making plans on who I will speak with, what resources I will/might have access to, how far range the issue might be; (live in one county, but might end up giving birth in another county do to the RH complication), ETC; believe me, I will not hesitate to use any and all resources I can get my hands on.
i have raised two kids to adulthood and both my husband and I are blind. This story disturbed and concerned me greatly. Thank goodness right prevailed and the child is where she needs to be. Please remember that not all professionals are bad. If you are concerned about these issues, frankly discuss these with your midwife, ob/gyn, and/or pediatrician. When my son was two, he fell off a baby gate which he shouldn't have been climbing on. we had just gotten glass dorrs installed in our family room and he was watching squirrels and forgot to hold on. i called the doctor because he was screaming nonstop for a long time and favoring his arm. the doctor said "whatever you do, don't take him to a certain hospital which he named. it is in a lower economic area and they are used to seeing abuse cases. you will probably get a raftload of crap. take him to this other hospital which he named and things will be fine." I did and all went well. The bad hospital was the closer one. thank goodness my doctor was straight iwth me because my concerns were written down and he knew us well.
O my god this is horrible! This just proves that discrimination is still going on today! Blind people are just as capable of taking care of children as say: deaf, disabled, or any other person with a disability! Instead of focusing on blind parents, CPS needs to focus on some of these parents who either abuse or abandon their children!
to be fair on the poster, she might not actually know the couple in question as some of us do and finding the link maybe she just wanted to post it out of anger at what she read.
I talked about it publically also with sighted friends on another forum, but I didn't use names or links, however I wanted to pose the question to them and find out how they stood on the issue.
but yes, it's good that she's back home, where she belongs.
Hopefully the nurse and CPS worker(s) are properly shamed rather than made martyrs. This is not said for revenge but if they are made martyrs, they are heroes in the minds of people who wish to behave badly in this way. However, if shamed, others will see it as less acceptable, or less cool, to conduct themselves this way.
Consider how it's in right now to be pro gay. Even Google is doing it. However, it's never been in to be supportive of us, and largely that is because nobody is ostracized or shamed for discriminating against us. If you go downtown to your local coffee shop and start dropping the n word like flies, you'll see what I mean: You'll be having people move away from you, servers become uncomfortable, maybe even asked to leave. Even if there's no African American within 25 miles.
Now ask an African American who's older than 50 years old, and you'll find out it wasn't always that way, even in supposedly progressive states like California. Why, Maya Angelou writes about it in "I know Why the Caged Bird Sings" when she tried to get a job on the street car in California.
The problem is, dropping the n word is now indecent, even gets popular shows temporarily removed from networks. But make nasty, inaccurate discriminatory comments about us, and nobody will properly ostracize you.
Nobody refers to professional women as "cute little gal" anymore, and hasn't for as long as I've been working (the 1980s) but if you're a man and you do, you'll find yourself ostracized by other men. In the same way, discrimination against us has to become shameful, something that will get you ostracized in public places, where people who know you will want to deny they knew you, if you're doing that. Currently, we don't have that. Groups in the blinkosphere think we should spend our time educating people. And, for the most part, nothing has changed in my lifetime. A few politically correct words that make speech more cumbersome than the thick-tongued slur of a good buzz, but nothing substantial. The media isn't outraged by this or any similar story, as they would be if any other group were to experience it. It's still cool to discriminate against us.
I'm not suggesting we do something on an individual level; I personally just tend to deflect and move on. Something has to change societally so it's indecent to behave that way. We need to see it not in the cushy light of "lack of education" but simply as bad behavior. Until that happens it won't quit.
Don't know about you, but basically the people I know either behave themselves or they don't irrespective of me.
I agree with this statement. I don't know how we can change the discrimination that goes on against us, but something surely has to be done about it!
the best way to change peoples minds is to do it by example.
Even some of my sighted friends find it difficult to understand how a person with a sight problem can safely look after a child, and noone is doing it out of dislike, hatred or anything so nasty as that, they do what they do and say what they say out of ignorance.
sighted people rely on sight so much, that they pretty much can't rely on any other senses, so it's a total mystery to them as to how we can.
I learnt a lot of this, having a sighted partner who doesn't understand how i do things a lot of the time.
But how does that account for the many sighted people who may not understand, but simply don't behave badly? Maybe they dont know how we do things, maybe they ask when they need to, but they either watch and learn or just ask.
We aren't doing all the sighted people who behave in a civilized manner (and they are many) any favors by lumping them into the same category as those who behave badly. All of us have met sighted people who from the get go were just fine with us, even though they "hadnd't seen a blind person before" (popular excuse for people who want to discriminate). And, incidentally, this was the same excuse laid out by men who said they had never seen a woman do x or y. However, many men, just like many sighted people in general, simply didn't act out or behave badly in this way. Think about all the times you go to the store without incident, pay for your food, maybe there's light conversation, and no issues. Think of all the people you pass on the street who never make a fuss, never start stuttering at you like a tongue-tied seven-year-old, all the people on the public transit system who behave themselves around you. And yes, even all the medical personnel with whom you interact without incident, even though that field has a bad reputation for people who behave badly towards us. The reason I don't buy tthe poor ignorant savage argument is that there are just untold amounts of people who pass by / through my life who behave themselves with no incident.
Even last night, I went to a Division meeting for the Coast Guard Auxiliary. I'm a new recruit, blindness aside, and this room was packed with people. Nobody, not a single one, made weird comment or incident towards me. As I said, I'm the new guy here, I'm learning more than anything else.
I did have to "call attention" to my being blind by asking how they did certain things, how much required paper or looking at things, and if anything they were simply forthright one way or the other.
So if we have poor ignorant peasant, how in the hell do I account for these untold numbers of perfectly civilized normal people who don't behave badly at all towards us?
This CPS and nurse are a couple people who behaved badly. Not all blind parents have their children removed, and not all medical personnel do this. Some do, yes. But the key word is some. The heaviest judgment, if you will, on people like that is the fact they are the weird minority that *chooses * to behave that way. Untold masses of humanity pass in, through and out of our lives, without incident. I personally think it's time we recognized the distinction.
It's like this.
Hundreds of people that you encounter every day don't have anything to do with you because they don't need to, that's the same for all the other people in the world, people pay no atttention to the drug addict, or even to the abusive husband.
But suddenly, when someone sees a child that could be in danger, I'm not saying they are, but could be in danger, people act differently. People probably think something like, ok, they can look after themselves fine, but a baby is a different story. people aren't so ignorant about blind people and independence anymore, but a hell of a lot of people are ignorant about blind people and children, and it's not just blind people, it's disabled people in general, it's people with intelectual disabilities as well, in spite of the fact that they can be perfectly good parents.
and people aren't doing it to be nasty or horrible or anything. People aren't doing it because they have a love of taking children away from their parents. they do it because they care a lot for the wellfair of children and they are ignorant.
and it's not right, I'm not defending it in any way. but I will say however that simple outrage won't stop it.
what will stop it is the education of such people instead of letting them stay in their ignorance.
agreed with the last two posts.