My name is Amanda Taylor. I am a mother, a domestic violence survivor, and I have been pleading for 17 years for my babies.

 

On January 8, it will be six years since they took my youngest daughter out of my arms and out of my home. I have had no physical custody of her in five years, and I have not held her in two. The Indiana Court of Appeals proved me to be a fit mother — and still I fight, because a higher court's ruling should mean something.

 

This fight has cost me my health. The stress of it gave me stress-induced lupus, which cost me all of my upper teeth and is slowly killing me. I would not have stressed myself to the point of destroying my own body if I did not care about bringing my babies home. No parent should have to choose between their health and their children.

 

I am not the only one. There is a wave of parents going through this right now, begging other parents to please care before it happens to you. We don't want this to happen to any more children.

 

That is why I am asking for real reform of the family court system:

 

1. Honor fit parents' constitutional rights. The right of a fit parent to raise their child is protected by the Constitution — courts must stop treating it like it doesn't exist.
2. Require clear and convincing evidence before the state separates a child from a parent. That is already the law of the land — make every courtroom follow it.
3. Guarantee every parent a real chance to be heard, including remote participation for parents who medically cannot travel or drive. A hearing held without the parent in it is not justice.
4. Courts must follow higher-court rulings. When an appeals court finds a parent fit, no local courtroom should be able to ignore it.
5. Recognize what this process does to parents' bodies and minds, and build real support for families instead of a system that grinds them down.

We need to lift up all parents going through this, to show them they can stand up and have no fear.

 

Sign if you believe fit parents belong with their babies. Sign if you believe no family should be destroyed by a system that refuses to listen.

 

When the fear is gone, the warriors stand up.

 

— Amanda Taylor, @tn_valkyrie (The Feral Valkyrie)

Free resources for parents fighting for their babies: https://muse.ai/s/fight-for-your-babies-parent-resource-rc6yxsxm5xoxwlf/jbQBVlyqmzS8-2Ar1wl2B3AAmSCl9tciN307xCaHvNI