Second Opinion? We're Taking Your Child.

  Shared from Parentalrights.org. Support the Parental Right's Amendment!

 

 

April 30, 2013

Second Opinion? We're Taking Your Child

One would think having the approval of a doctor and even clearance from the local police would be enough to protect a parent from having their baby taken away over cries of “medical neglect.” In this case, one would be wrong.

Anna and Alex Nikolayev of Sacramento lost custody of their 5-month-old son last week when they decided to seek a second opinion before having the baby undergo heart surgery. Though a second doctor found it safe to release the boy into their custody, and though an investigating officer also cleared the family to go home, the child was taken the next day.

 

Timeline of Events

Little Sammy has had a heart murmur since birth, which the parents have been closely monitoring along with a doctor at Sutter Memorial Hospital. So when Sammy developed flu-like symptoms a couple of weeks ago, his parents took him to Sutter again as a precaution. During his stay, a couple of incidents occurred that concerned the parents (such as administrating an anti-biotic to fight his virus). So when Sammy was put in the pediatric intensive care and talk turned to heart surgery, the parents wanted a second opinion.

Unable to secure release from the doctors at Sutter Memorial, the parents took Sammy from the hospital anyway – prompting an automatic call to Child Protective Services and the Sacramento Police – and drove straight to neighboring Kaiser-Permanente Hospital.

Doctors there determined that Sammy was healthy enough to go home with his parents. The doctor noted in his report that he saw no cause for concern in leaving Sammy in Anna and Alex’s care. (Corrective heart surgery is in Sammy’s future; the parents do not dispute this fact.)

Police met the family at Kaiser, checked out the smiling baby, read the doctor’s report, and agreed that Sammy was in no danger. The Nikolayev family was free to go.

That was April 23, 2013. The following day, a CPS worker and Sacramento Police arrived at the family’s home and removed the baby, carrying him back to Sutter Memorial, where he was held in “protective custody.” Though the parents got to visit Sammy to feed him three times a day for one supervised hour, they had to wait until Monday for a hearing.

By then, coverage had gone international, with media outlets in Germany and in the family’s native Russia paying close attention. Ominously, local ABC station KXTV reports, “CPS said they were overwhelmed with the amount of attention by the media into the case, and could therefore take longer than usual to render a decision on Sammy's fate.” (emphasis added)

How Would the PRA Help?

Traditionally, the Supreme Court has recognized the “fundamental liberty interest of natural parents in the care, custody, and management of their child,” found in the Fourteenth Amendment’s “Due Process” clause. Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745 (1982) This protection, however, has been lost on Sacramento CPS. It is also being weakened through judicial erosion in the courts.

Passage of the Parental Rights Amendment will provide parents an explicit constitutional protection; otherwise, they’ll have to rely on the courts, hoping they will continue to interpret the Fourteenth Amendment as they traditionally have (but increasingly no longer do). And the PRA will allow organizations like CPS to know exactly what the rules are that they must follow.

“The liberty of parents to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their child is a fundamental right. Neither the United States nor any State shall infringe this right without demonstrating that its governmental interest as applied to the person is of the highest order and not otherwise served.”

These two sentences would make clear that CPS cannot take a child away unless it is prepared to prove that the child was in danger caused by abuse or neglect. In this case, it would increase the chances that common sense would prevail and baby Sammy would have gotten to stay home safe and sound with his mom and dad.

Action Items

Yesterday the county and the family's lawyers reached an agreement to return Sammy to his parents' care, but with stipulations limiting their choices in medical treatment. (See video here.) CPS will continue to be a part of Sammy's life at least until the next hearing, set for May 28. While we rejoice in the reunification of this family, we grieve over the unnecessary loss of liberty this couple has suffered for no reason. We must make sure such abuses do not continue unchecked. Here is how you can help:

1. Share this email and the story of Sammy with everyone you know. Encourage them to support the Parental Rights Amendment and to sign on here.

2. Donate to support ParentalRights.org as we fight to protect the rights of parents like Anna and Alex. Help us make stories like Sammy’s a thing of the past.

3. Stay vigilant. Word is that the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will be back in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this month. Watch for alerts letting you know when and how to focus your energies on stopping that dangerous treaty. Click here for the current appeal to call your senators today.

Sincerely,

Michael Ramey
Director of Communications & Research

Joy Challenge: A Gift Given, Made, Sacrificed

 

Joy Dare PDF Found HERE!

Today's Joy Dare Challenge: A Gift Given, Made, Sacrificed

1) "For... unto us a son is given" Isaiah 9:6

2) "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." Job 33:4

3) "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name." Hebrews 13:15

Today's Encouraging Word: 40 Things You Need to Know Before You're 40...

"No one, down in the marrows, wants to live a midway life.
Live. all. out. 

Shake up out of the shallows. Wake up.

Live backwards.
From Well done, good and faithful servant — work your life backward from that.

Live upside down.
It’s the only way you’re ever going to get to see the Kingdom of God.

Live simply.
With great grace, no expectations, and lavish love.

Get your hands right dirty, live with life gritty and moving under your fingernails, give away what you wanted most, do without, write a card, throw out your wish-list, buy happiness by paying attention to God.

And this, every day still left, do this: Run to kiss, or to hug, or to make your heart beat hard and alive.
You’ve got time for it right now: Love Big or Go Home and Love the smallest the Biggest.

Love never gives up but lays itself down. This is the way of God. This is the way to live. Touch a child’s hand, smile on the street and up at the sky, tell someone they’re pretty amazing, use up all your time to pour out all love...

The only way to live faithfully is to focus.

In a world of Twitter and Facebook, the command not to turn to the left or the right takes on immediate gravity...."

Read More:

40 Things You Need to Know Before Your 40 . . . . Letters to a Woman Mid-Way 

Joy Challenge: 3 Gifts Moving

 

Joy Dare PDF Found HERE!

Today's Joy Dare Challenge: 3 Gifts Moving

1) The Spirit within me.

2) My family, my children.

3) My now working dryer. (Yay!)

How to Focus in an Age of Distraction: 10 Things to do Before you Click {Printable}

"The thing is – 
Sometimes you want to read a book when you should be making dinner, check Pinterest instead of pin another load of laundry on the line, clean the bedrooms when you could be connecting with the kids.
The thing is: Habits are hard but they make life easy.
The thing is: There are no habits without the habit of being focused."

 An excellent post and printable from A Holy Experience.

Click HERE for it!

Joy Challenge: A Gift Cloth, Steel, Wood

 

Joy Dare PDF Found HERE!

Today's Joy Dare Challenge: A Gift Cloth, Steel, Wood

1) Clean clothes.

2) Our truck. It was a literal gift to us from my dad when we needed it most.

3) Pencils. I do love to write, and pencils are so forgiving.

Consider the Lilies

"And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on.
The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.
Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?
And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?
If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?
Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?
And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.
For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.
But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you."

~Luke 12:2-31

 This is a passage that speaks volumes. It boasts of the Lord's physical provision which has been all too evident to me in these past three tough weeks. It exemplifies the nurturing and care of the Lord toward His creation, and how much more He cares for us. It specifies the importance and duty of humble obedience required of His children, and it ends with a promise that He will provide for our physical needs as we seek His face.

What touches me about this passage is simple, yet profound in my mind today. Consider the lilies.

Noah Webster defines "Consider" in his 1828 dictionary as such:

"To fix the mind on, with a view to a careful examination; to think on with care; to ponder; to study; to meditate on."

The Lord here, in making His example of provision, asks us to fix our mind on the lilies. To study them, to meditate on them, to ponder them, to carefully examine them, and to think on them with care.  Not just to 'see' the lilies in our mind's eye, but to really see them. As if to say, "Look at the lilies of the field! Examine with great care and tenderness the simple beauty of the wildflowers! They don't spin or toil, yet I dress them in their yearly garments of every color and hue. This clay that wheat finds difficult to put forth root in, the wildflower flourishes and grows with no thought of the hindrance. Really, LOOK and SEE the lilies and how they grow!"

It's personal for me today. A personal call to just stop, be still, and consider the lilies. Take time to "stop and smell the roses" as they would say. How often we find ourselves caught up. Caught up in this world and in the troubles that it undoubtedly brings. Caught up in worry, fear, and weeping. Caught up in distractions in many forms. In an i-Age, how often do we find time to put down the screens and keypads and

Just.

Simply.

Be.

How often do we make time to just stand, be still, and breathe? We give many passing moments to the Lord, we commune in constancy (which is not bad at all) as we are doing and going, yet how often do we make time to simply be still and know Him? To consider His words and promises, and to meditate on them to the very crossed T's and dotted I's of the definition?

In this hurried and "microwave" era, I feel a tugging call. The call to simply stop, and be still.

Stop and watch the bluebirds, cardinals, and sparrows as they gather dried twigs and grasses for their nests. Stop and listen to the sound of the wind in the pines and hardwoods and the comforting sound of the distant rolling thunder as the Spring rain comes rolling in to bathe the world in a sleek new coat of a farmer's liquid gold.

To smell the sweet fragrance of the pure air that envelopes me, consumes me, after the rain has passed, and to see the tiny splashes of color, flowers dripping wet yet grateful as they turn their faces back towards the sun with renewed exuberance and joy.

To simply stop and take the time.... make the time.

The time to just dance in the rain, in the storms of life, and laugh, resting in the comfort and provision of the Father.

A preacher reminded me yesterday that we can't live tomorrow today, but we can ruin today by trying to live tomorrow today. We are prone to worry, this cloak of flesh is, but we must remember that nothing we will face today is bigger than God is. So here I am, committed now to staying when I want to hurry, to slowing when we're running behind. The Lord says in Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God."

Consider the lilies. Consider the Words of the Lord. Examine them with great care and meditate on them, and simply be still.