A new mother, Tess Strickland, was very concerned when she noticed that there was a bruise on her newborn baby's head. She immediately contacted the pediatrician about the marks.
Several tests were done on the baby but all came back negative. The mother decides to keep on monitoring new bruises on the baby, until the baby's 8 weeks checkup. At this checkup, the doctor start to ask questions.
When Tess told the doctor that there were still marks on the baby, the doctor's response was shocking. The Doctor told them that she had to report the parents for child abuse.
Next thing, two New Orleans detectives and DCFS, came to the family home to investigate. The parents were interviewed separately, and the detectives found no abuse and left.
BUT DCFS was not satisfied. They told the family that they have to take the baby to a child abuse pediatrician. The parents were horrified after the doctor's finding.
The doctor concluded, because there was “no known etiology,” that the bruising was caused by abuse.
“No known etiology” simply means they don’t know what caused the bruising. And since they can’t point to anything else, they conclude it must have been abuse. It is a diagnosis not based on the evidence, but literally based on the lack of any evidence.
The next day, based on this “diagnosis,” DCFS took the baby away.
But only days before the first ER Doctor diagnosed the bruising as "capillary fragility",
This condition causes very easily bruising in babies.
New Orleans Juvenile Judge Mark Doherty finding was:
*** “There is no physical or testimonial evidence in this case against the parents,” he wrote in his opinion, adding, “This is a system which borders on a sham.”
The parents here did exactly what medical professionals ask a new parent to do: if you find something strange with your infant, report it.”***
This family's nightmare was not over. Two months after their baby was returned, they received an unpleasant surprise from DCFS.
This letter notified them their names were added to the state’s registry of child abusers.
The system is deeply flawed, preventing most parents from getting any kind of legal due process until after their name has been added to the roll.
Chris and Tess won their appeal, and at least in Louisiana, it seems that their names were not actually put on the list.
Unfortunately this is not the case in every state.
Attorney Andrew Brown of the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) are working together with parental rights to bring reform.
He was also quoted:
“When you separate a child from their family, you are guaranteed to cause trauma to that child, even if it’s just for a week.”
Parental Rights drafted a model bill to made provision for due process before a parents name can be put on the list.
That’s why we drafted a model bill to provide due process before a parent’s name goes on the list. It’s why Parental Rights
introduced that model to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in 2019 and secured their endorsement of it.
It’s why we supported the work of Brown’s TPPF to bring that model to fruition in Texas during the 2021 session. And it’s why we’re gearing up to introduce similar legislation in additional states in 2022.
You can help Parental Rights if you know some lawmakers, that will champion this model. You can then mail this model to the Lawmaker.
Then you can let Parental Rights know by emailing Michael@ParentalRights.org
It's our responsibility to help protect patents like Chris and Tess. Raising their children is a huge responsibility, and they don't need to worry about innocently ending up on child abuse registries.
Source: https://parentalrights.org/nola-case-shows-need-for-reforms/
If you have advice or information on illegal kidnapping by CPS of families, please write about it under the #familyprotection tag. Help spread awareness.
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Thank you for reading.
