It is time to RISE UP and let this couple's story be heard. It is sad when a couple has their baby girl put into protective custody for abuse and neglect before they ever leave the hospital with her, then put through torture for a year, only seeing her two hours a week.  Violations of procedures to protect parents’ rights have repeatedly been ignored. It has been a year since their baby girl has been in foster care. An Adjudicatory hearing is to happen within the first 90 days of protective custody. To this day, no one, not even the parents, has been able to speak on their behalf in court. This couple has made their wishes known that they do not want their daughter with the biological mother’s abusive family, but still have been repeatedly ignored.  Neither lawyer has done much on their behalf. In this case, this couple was told that the State’s Attorney has expressed interest in combining 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? Then if they get upset and have outbursts at meetings because they are worried about how their daughter is being cared for. They are told to control themselves; because they know how they feel—then told repeatedly that they probably would not be reunited with their daughter. No, they do not understand what they are feeling. They may be labeled high-functioning intellectually disabled, but they are still parents and human beings who deserve dignity and a right to prove they can provide for their daughter, which is all they want. 

The baby’s parents fought to move their baby into a safer foster home, which was granted.  July 19th, after removing her, DCFS put her back into that unsafe environment. Many other individuals have told them they did not deserve to raise their daughter. Then others will tell them there is no way they could care for their baby girl. They have been belittled, mistreated, and ignored long enough. #WEHAVEAVOICE  #STOPTHEMADNESS