Update 7/25/2023

It is a sad day when a couple has their baby taken away and then put through torture for a year, only seeing her for 2 hours a week. I am sending this last effort before I hire and spend tons of money that could be used to care for this family instead of on new Lawyers to fight for Suzzanne and Chris’s civil rights to fair and equal rights. All we want is to agree to help the parents and ensure DCFS that the baby will be in a stable environment and find a solution that gives Suzzanne and Chris a vital part in their daughter's life and protects Cheyanne's well-being with stability and love. And make sure their wishes are known that they do not want their daughter with the biological mother’s abusive family.  The court system has failed this family. They happen to be a high-functioning intellectually disabled couple, which should not matter because the system is not supposed to be biased; they only want to be able to bring their daughter home or at least give them a fighting chance to prove they will be able to care for their daughter properly. One call to the DCFS hotline from the mother’s biological father, which is known because he told his daughter he called the hotline, which was nothing but lies about his daughter’s potential to care for her baby, especially when he never wanted anything to do with his daughter before she had her baby. DCFS gave the mother’s biological family relative foster placement without any background checks or anything, which, if checked, would have shown that the mother’s younger brother died of shaken baby syndrome at the age of three; the baby’s parents fought to move their baby from her family’s custody into a safer foster home, which was granted. Then as of July 19th, the child was replaced with the mother’s biological family after removing her from their home due to unsafe living conditions and other health concerns. How could the system remove a child from a dangerous environment, then turn around and put her back into that same environment? Violations of procedures to protect parents’ rights have repeatedly been ignored in this case. This couple has been battling DCFS and the court system for almost a year since their baby girl has been in foster care. The appointed lawyers never contacted either parent until the day of the next hearing, just before they went before the judge. The mother’s lawyer did not even show up for this hearing, and when asked, she told the mother to give up her rights, so she (the lawyer) could move on to her other cases, finally their lawyers are stepping up, but it is a little too late. There has never been an Adjudicatory hearing or dispositional hearing where the parents’ lawyers would call witnesses on their behalf.  The Adjudicatory hearing is supposed to happen within the first 90 days of protective custody. No one to this day, not even the parents, has been able to take a stand in their defense. If the mother gets upset and has outbursts at meetings because she is worried about how her daughter is and whether she is being taken care of but is instead repeatedly told that they do not believe they will be reunited with their daughter. Then the others in the room will tell the mother she must control herself because they know how she feels. No, they do not understand what she is feeling. She may have an intellectual disability, but she is still a mother and a human being that deserves dignity and a right to prove she can provide for her daughter with help from her family; the July 19th court hearing was once again postponed; the State’s Attorney, in this case, has decided that she wants to combine the Adjudicatory hearing with a termination of rights hearing at the same time.  You tell me, can anyone be so cruel? If they have already decided this family’s fate, what is the purpose of having witnesses to testify? In all circumstances, they are my children; our family is not bound by blood but by unity, friendship, and a connection that is there to help each other. Please enable them to fight for their right to prove they can care for their daughter. Call the DCFS office and the Moultrie County State’s Attorney’s office to ensure they get fair and equal rights, equip for equality which is supposed to be a service to make sure the rights of Intellectually disabled individuals get proper treatment, call the public defenders office which is the guardian ad litem. Let’s stand for justice against unequal rights for individuals fighting a battle against DCFS. #wehaveavoice #stopthemadness

Up date: 9/26/22 This young couple is now almost four weeks into having the Daughter put into protective custody and still has not been able to see their daughter. The brother that has temporary  custody continues to reschedule visits with the parents because they do not want her to have any contact with her baby girl. They have not been told if they have or will get a DCFS caseworker. This is blatant disregard for this couple because they are Intellectually disabled. The parents have called over and over to get answers and have got nothing from anyone. This can not continue as it is, they have the same rights as all other families. I am writing this letter in substantial disappointment/defeat in the continuous s unfulfilled, delayed, misleading, fabricated promises and assurances to the Department of Children & Family services in Illinois. I am reaching out to several agencies, government officials, along with legal guidance & anyone else to propel the recognition that a case such as this deserves and help this young Mother and Father get their baby back home where she belongs.

As I must convey, the discrimination left to the Intellectual disabled population is repulsive, unfair and needs to stop. Families and individuals like Suzzanne and Chris are left to no defense, and left hopeless, lifeless and made out to be the “abnormal” one that have no right to live in our society or able to raise a family of their own. I am done/depleted of the belief in our system to treat all individuals fairly in the state of Illinois. I cannot stand and see such blatant and lame treatment and services provided by our state. On July 7th ,2022 a preterm baby came into this world as surprise but a wonderful surprise, to 2 parents with High Functioning Intellectual disabilities. Their baby was sent to the NICU in another hospital due to her low weight and being a preterm baby. These parents were in contact with the hospital often to check on the health of their baby girl. They went to see her as often as they could since neither of them drive. They would stay as many weekends as possible to spend time with their baby girl and learn as much as they could in the process.

Not everyone was happy with the decision the couple had made to raise their baby girl, instead of just giving it up to family or adoption. They both loved their daughter and wanted to raise her with help and support from agencies and friends that loved them and were their family. With continued resistance from her family that truly wanted not a lot to do with this baby’s mother. Despite all the negativity she was getting from her family and others in the committee she continued to care and learn how to take care of her baby, along with the baby’s dad.

This couple along with many other helped them prepare for their little one coming home. They were so happy and prepared to bring her home and then their world got turned upside down. Even before they even got a chance to prove they could take care of their little one. A call to DCFS was reported on them. The mother’s family in one motion of lies and mistreatment their baby was gone, into the hands of family that wanted a baby, but was unable to have their own, so why not take their sisters baby, because after all they was not fit to take care her they were, I will not repeat the words that were used, intellectually disabled.

 To others this is unacceptable and deliberate disregard/discrimination of people with disabilities.

As much as I am exhausted with fighting/advocating for these ID young adults; it makes me that much stronger and more determined to shed light on the ongoing inequality/unfairness to Suzzanne, Chris and others such as her. I hope that you are able to assist in this undertaking so that we can impact residents of Illinois that are experiencing the same from our government agencies.

As of now, still no credible indication has ever been provided to us as to why this little innocent baby girl was taken from her parents. Removing a child from her family according to legislation should always be a last resort and even when this is truly necessary (which has never been proven in the case of these parents), family reunification should remain a central aim. Meanwhile, several of these parent’s fundamental human rights have been broken. parents with intellectual disabilities, their parental rights are sometimes terminated solely upon the determination that a parent has an intellectual disability.

Sometimes parents with intellectual disabilities may need more support in some areas than parents without intellectual disabilities, but that is different from declaring that no parent with an intellectual disability can raise a child. The right to marry and raise children have long been recognized as fundamental under the Constitution of the United States. While these rights apply to Often, there is no assessment of the parents’ actual abilities or the likelihood that they could successfully parent with appropriate supports. states that people with I/DD have the right to make decisions about having and raising children and to have access to the Parents who have intellectual disabilities may be closely scrutinized for any sign or symptom of abuse or neglect to their children. On the contrary to what many people think, people with intellectual disabilities can be good parents. Most of these parents live in fear of having their children taken away. Many whose children have been removed with support on an individual basis to assist them in raising their children within their own home.

 Field and Sanchez (1999) suggest that the ability of a parent to provide adequate childcare cannot be predicted on the basis of intelligence alone. As with parents without disabilities, the ability to parent successfully depends on a wide range of factors. Grayson (2000) reviewed studies attempting to identify factors contributing to successful parenting. Half of these adults had intellectual disabilities themselves. They conclude that the children’s destinies are not fixed by having a mother or father with intellectual disabilities. Their experiences in leaving school to adult life were similar to other people from the same social class and neighborhoods. Most of them maintained a valued relationship with their families. There was little evidence of them assuming responsibility for “parenting their parent.”

As I stated earlier in this letter, how can any agency state any risk of harm or unfit parenting when the child in reference has not even made it home from the NICU yet. Also these parents had many support systems in the making to make sure that the parents had proper support for them to succeed. In-home programs provide an opportunity to model and teach parenting skills in the setting where parents will use them. This makes the skill easier for the parents to learn. The service providers can provide appropriate supports focusing on nutrition, cleanliness, safety issues and other issues related to the home. Many studies have shown that the children’s destinies are not fixed by having a mother or father with intellectual disabilities. Their experiences in leaving school to adult life were similar to other people from the same social class and neighborhoods. Most of them maintained a valued relationship with their families. There was little evidence of them assuming responsibility for “parenting their parent.”

So why do so many people assume that just because a person has a disability or an intellectual disability that they are broken and can not have a life like anyone else. In actuality they are truly more aware and prepared to not only get married but have a family. They have more love for one another, because their love is honest love, not I will love you until you make me mad, then I want a divorce.

In all honesty the only reason that DCFS got a call on this couple is that here family could use the fact that she has a disability and could use lies and unnecessary tactics to convenience DCFS caseworkers that they were a danger to their own child. That could not even be tested because the child had not even been in this couples care yet. The next question is why do they give the parents of truly abused child back to their parents time and time again, because they say it’s best to keep a family intact. Then why did this family get spilt apart and told by her family that her daughter was never coming back to her and she needed to move on back to her normal life. STOP THAT’S JUST NOT RIGHT. THIS FAMILY DESERVES THE SAME RIGHTS AS ANY OTHER PARENT. LET’S HELP THIS FAMILY GET REUNITED WITH THEIR DAUGHTER. YOU CAN START BY CALLING MARC. D. SMITH DIRECTOR, IL DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES IN ILLINOIS and demand this child be returned to it’s proper place in her mother’s arms.