When I learned, just this morning, the story of Ruth Light--the Illinois baby that was taken from her parents and put into foster care because of alleged neglect (her parents refused a cesarean birth due to breech presentation and opted for a homebirth which resulted in a happy healthy baby girl)--I was heartbroken and very, very angry. I just sent this letter to the Illinois State Attorney. I will be gathering more evidence to support a second letter and encourage anyone reading this to do the same.
Rock Island County
State's Attorney's Office
Fourth Floor - Courthouse
210 - 15th Street
Rock Island IL 61201
Dear Mr. Terronez,
My name is Laura Gilkey. I am a Florida mother of two home-born children. Both of my boys weighed ten pounds at birth, and one was born with shoulder dystocia--all of these would have speculatively pointed me, in a hospital setting, toward a surgical birth. However, with the skilled help of my licensed midwives and the tried-and-true Gaskin maneuver, both of my boys were born safely and easily into my arms, and are as healthy as can be today--just like Ruth Light. The Lights chose to refuse a cesarean birth for their breech baby, which is perfectly within their legal right of informed consent and informed refusal (1).
I am very concerned for the future of our society when a government agency deems it appropriate to remove a healthy baby from the care of her loving parents during the most critical time in her development. During a baby's first moments, days, weeks and months, it is absolutely critical to her physical and emotional development (2)--and to her mother's (3)--to have the benefit of maternal bonding and breastfeeding (4). To remove that benefit from Ruth because someone somewhere didn't agree with her decision isn't neglect on the part of the Lights, but on the part of the state.
Mr. and Mrs. Light are well-researched folks who made an evidence-based decision to birth Ruth at home. Ruth is a healthy baby girl that was not neglected. To return Ruth to the home where she was lovingly born is the right, legal, and just decision.
I look forward to hearing your timely response.
Laura Gilkey
Vice President, Florida Friends of Midwives
Board of Directors-elect, Healthy Start Coaltion of Sarasota County
Informed Consent and Refusal Subcommittee, Coalition for Improving Maternity Services
Editor, www.borninsarasota.com
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Bravo, Laura!
ReplyDeletehere's my letter:
ReplyDeleteDear Mr. Terronez,
My name is Rosanne Catalano, and I am a Florida mother of two. I write to you on behalf of Ruth Light and her family, demanding that Ruth be returned to her parents’ custody immediately.
I do not understand how two parents in good legal standing could make a reasonable medical decision for their minor child and then be deprived of custody of that minor child. What legal grounds are there for such an action?
The Lights chose to refuse a cesarean birth for their breech baby, which is perfectly within their legal right of informed consent and informed refusal. If the Ruth Light is to be taken from her parents’ custody, is the state of Illinois saying that any time parents make a reasonable medical choice for their child, any adverse consequences, however minor, constitute neglect?
What will happen to all the babies born by elective induction or cesarean at 38-40 weeks of gestation, who consequently spend time in the NICU for breathing difficulties? Or a child who has, for example, an allergic reaction to an antibiotic? Or any other child experiencing one of a million possible results for a parent’s good-faith efforts to provide the best care for that child?
Beyond the lack of legal grounds for the state’s action, the net result of that action is to the child’s detriment. During a baby's first moments, days, weeks and months, it is absolutely critical to her physical and emotional development to have the benefit of maternal bonding and breastfeeding.
I look forward to hearing your timely response.
This is insane! Those poor parents, they didn't do anything wrong. They need their baby and more importantly their baby NEEDS them! I'm teary eyed and so angry! Love your letter, very well written. Please give the baby Ruth back to her loving parents. Let them enjoy this time as a new family!
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