On October 11th my dear friends lost their beautiful child, and my Godson Ezekel Fidencio Chavez Johnson.  Zeke was taken by the tragic, silent killer, SIDS.

The pain of this loss is great enough without the second tragedy of this occasion.  Zeke was a foster child of Mendocino County.  He has been in the care of Michael and Tony Johnson from the time he was 5 days old, until the day he was lost at 7 months.  Because of due process, the hearing to terminate parental rights was set for November 3rd 2016, only 23 short days away from the day he passed.

This means that Michael and Tony do not have the right to bury their child.  They are not awarded the opportunity to grieve the loss of their baby boy appropriately, to lay him to rest surrounded by the people who have loved him from the moment he blessed our lives until the moment he was gone.

Zeke's biological parents did not know him. They did not hold him in their arms and tell him about the world.  They did not ease his tears, watch him grow strong or give any indication that they had any interest in his future. But he remains with them.  They have the rights to everything involving Zeke, in his death.

A system that causes this much suffering to the people they ask so much from should be seriously evaluated and modified.  Foster parents should have the right to grieve the same as any other parent who has suffered such a loss to their family.

 Please help us change this system.  Please give foster children who have passed to the people who loved them and cherished them in life.  Don't let others suffer in the way that I have had to see my family suffer.  Help inspire legislation that will give foster parents a voice the next time this happens.  Thank you for your support during this terrible time. God bless you and yours.