A North Texas mother claims her visit to Children's Health Medical Center in Dallas landed her in a Child Protective Services investigation.
Jocelyn Saunders, who is still recovering from a spinal cord injury that threatened her dreams of becoming a mother and left her “temporarily” confined to a wheelchair, says she has suffered the biggest loss of her life as a result. It meant losing custody of her “cheerful and observant personality.” son, Josiah;
Sanders and her father are scheduled to face CPS in a Denton County courtroom Wednesday morning.
“Just being able to give birth to my son naturally is a blessing. It's such a shame that someone would come and unjustly rip him from my arms. It's been over 60 days since he was gone.” she said at a press conference Tuesday. morning. “I don't know what to do other than scream for help.”
Sanders hasn't seen her 2-year-old son since before Christmas after seeing doctors at Children's Hospital Dallas.
Sanders said her son's doctor directed her to Children's Hospital for blood tests specifically related to contact dermatitis the child had recently developed.
The mother said the blood tests were to determine if sepsis had set in.
Ms Saunders claims her son is being “punished” for refusing to be given the antibiotic clindamycin and being discharged from hospital against medical advice.
The mother said that because she graduated from UNT in the top 10% of her class, she was able to spend more than seven hours thoroughly researching the drug and came to the conclusion that she did not want to give her son clindamycin. Masu.
“I think the doctor at the time was probably a little angry that I pushed back and questioned the authority of her knowledge,” Sanders said. “That was not the case at all. I want the best for my son, and I believe that those antibiotics were not the best thing for him.”
She said doctors verbally expressed concerns about the toddler's size and whether he was malnourished, but the mother claims that's not true.
Saunders said she breastfed her son for two years and recently weaned him, so she faced common eating issues, but also issues that a “feeding therapist” was trying to help with.
Her father, Jason Saunders, said claims that the boy was malnourished were short-sighted and that his daughter's small stature and thinness meant his grandson would likely be on the “small” end of his age group. He said that he did not take into account.
After leaving the hospital, Saunders said he returned to his primary care physician and was prescribed an “alternative” medication for the boy's rash.
CPS investigators and Corinth police, responding to a CPS request, then showed up at her home.
“She advised us to take our son to the hospital voluntarily,” Sanders said. “I said, 'Yes, Ma'am. No problem. I can take him to Children's Plano, but I can't bring him back to Children's Dallas because he didn't have a good experience there.' yeah.”
Sanders then asked the agent, who he described as a trainee, if he had been ordered by a court to stay at his home.
The woman called someone and then came back and told the family, “I didn't have a chance to take my son to the hospital, so she would take me there,'' the report said.
Coring Police Chief Jerry Garner confirmed the exchange after speaking with the responding officers and reading the report.
CPS officers are often asked to accompany children when they “seize” them, saying the agency is concerned about the child's medical treatment and is putting them at risk.
Garner said police officers are there to enforce the law and ensure that no one's rights are violated in these “highly emotional” situations.
“As observed by the officer, the child, who was with the parent, did not appear to be malnourished,” Garner said. “He was eating, he was drinking, he had a rash, but they didn't see anything that would make them think, “We need to get an emergency protection order on this child.'' thought.”
Police do not need permission from the CPS to issue the order, he said.
The family disputes that CPS reportedly removed Josiah despite not signing the court order, and Garner said CPS only said the state “applied” for the order. He admitted that he told the police.
“The CPS officer then directed the officer to grab the child, and the officer said, 'That's not what I'm going to do,'” Garner said. “Again, we have no reason to believe this child is in any danger. We are here to keep the peace, but we are not going to assist in the removal of this child.”
NBC 5 told the police chief that even if a CPS officer removed a child without a court order and the officer expressed concern for the child's welfare, his removal did not inherently rise to the level of kidnapping. I asked why.
“I don't think it was kidnapping,” he replied. “I think you're talking about civil matters rather than kidnapping. If a police officer had observed that CPS was about to do something dangerous to a child, obviously they would have taken action. There would have been a duty to prevent that from happening, but taking the child to the doctor is not considered a danger to the child.”
Garner would not say whether he believed the mother's rights were violated by CPS, saying it was up to the judge to decide.
The boy's mother was also furious because not only was the boy returned to Dallas Children's Hospital, but Josiah's online MyChart records showed that hospital staff had given her medication that she objected to. He said he is doing so.
“rear [CPS] They blocked my access to his medical records because they realized I had seen that information,” she said.
Sanders and his father said the family was able to go to the hospital, but were then asked to leave the hospital.
Her son was hospitalized for three weeks without seeing her.
Due to federal privacy laws, neither Children's Dallas nor CPS can share their side of the story with journalists.
A spokesperson for Children's Health provided NBC 5 with a statement that read in part: “The safety and well-being of all of our patients is our top priority.”
A CPS spokesperson told NBC 5, “We can confirm that Josiah is in our custody, but he is being placed with relatives.”
The family claims that's not exactly true.
Sanders said Josiah lives with a woman who is now a relative through marriage but is no longer part of the family.
She also claims that CPS allowed her to list seven people she wanted to keep her child with, and that CPS chose a woman who wasn't even on that list.
Sanders is allowed to see her son for one hour each week, but the first meeting was not designed with her wheelchair access in mind.
She said she couldn't reach her son because he was on the top bunk.
She says she ends the visit hearing her son screaming for her.
“I have never been without my son for more than a few hours,” she said. “That's my best friend. I gave birth to him. It's just heartbreaking.”
Sanders and her family are receiving support and guidance from the social justice organization Next Generation Action Network and state Rep. Carl Sherman.
“I apologize on behalf of the state of Texas,” Sherman said at a news conference. “No parent should have to go through what you and your father went through.”
Sherman points to research showing that seeking a second opinion often results in initial treatment advice that should be changed.
His office is calling CPS in hopes of getting the child returned to his mother.
“When you think about CPS’ mission statement, it starts with partnering with families and communities,” he said. “This is not a partnership.”
Next Gen leaders are asking the public to call CPS and plead for Josiah to be returned to his mother.
It's a call to action that Dominic Alexander says has worked in previous custody battles that were deemed unfair.
Next Gen executive director Lelani Russell shed tears during the press conference.
She said she faced a similar situation nearly two years ago at a children's center in Dallas with her baby boy.
Luckily, she says, her doctor listened to her concerns.
Russell pointed to longstanding beliefs within the black community about the health care provided in the United States, such as the inability to believe that pregnant black women are in pain and the “overly dramatic treatment.” ” is sometimes thought to be.
“This mother is not stupid. She wasn't born to stupid people and she's not raising stupid people,” Russell said. “They're doing medicine. They don't know everything. Just because they have a certain degree doesn't mean they have to give their all to people.”
Sanders is scheduled to appear in Denton County court Wednesday morning to regain custody of the baby.
