Parents investigated by child protective services after giving birth at home
Natural birthing parents say they were harassed and forced to prove that the baby was put under government-approved medical supervision.
Posted on June 10, 2014 by Site Staff in News
PHILADELPHIA, PA — A woman says that after delivering her baby naturally at home, she received multiple visits from social workers to her home requiring her to prove that her baby was healthy and under government-approved medical supervision.
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Fatima Doumboya, 22, recently shared the story of her home-birth experience (in graphic detail) with a blog called Ms. Wright’s Way, and bluntly discussed her interactions with doctors, police, and social workers.
The birth itself went peacefully, she said, and for several days afterward, she and her husband stayed home with their new baby daughter. The couple feels some aversion to unnecessary medical interventions — part of the reason they chose to give birth at home — but reluctantly decided to visit a hospital for a checkup on Day #6.
The hospital experience, Doumboya wrote, was infuriating. When doctors found out they had performed a home-birth, she and her husband were allegedly treated as if they were “crazy” and “incompetent fools.”
While at St. Joseph’s Hospital ER in Philadelphia, after some brief checks, Doumboya says that doctors rudely told her that her baby would be transferred — without permission — to another hospital. The supposed reasoning was that St. Joseph’s did not have a dedicated pediatric center. The mom says the decision was made behind their backs and an ambulance was already dispatched by the time she was informed.
Even though nothing was found wrong with her baby, Doumboya says that rejecting the transfer was not an option. A staff member named Dr. Elisa Evans allegedly “came in the room with a stern look and said, ‘If you refuse to transfer her, we WILL CONTACT DHS AND THE POLICE,’” Doumboya recalled.
The mom says that cops appeared and blocked the exit. “The officers stood in front of the emergency room doors — arms crossed and said you cannot leave with your child.“
The baby was involuntarily transported by ambulance to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (costing the parents $3,320.00). Doumboya says that doctors performed “test after test, hoping to find something.” For four hours this process went on, without the parents’ consent and under the threat of government compulsion. The parents had walked into St. Joseph’s at 10:00 a.m. and were not allowed to leave Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia until 9:30 p.m.
The harassment didn’t stop there. As Doumboya wrote at MsWrightsWay.com:
The next morning, we get a ring at the door, Hubby and I already knew what it was.
“Hi my name is …. I am here because we received an alarm from the hospital about lack of supervision of your newborn”
HUH???!!??? I was at the top of the steps listening (she couldn’t see me) Hubby asked for her warrant lol, she informed us she didnt need one. They would be back EVERY SINGLE DAY until they were let in or would come with the cops.
After the third try, we knew we had nothing to hide so we let them in. Three different ladies came out.
Doumboya said that despite nothing being found wrong with the baby girl, the investigation process has been arduous.
“They called my baby’s physician to MAKE SURE we went to the doctor,” Doumboya wrote, “and now they are waiting for the doctors office to put it in writing that we did in fact take her and that she was healthy.”
Doumboya and her husband felt so violated by the ordeal that they have considered leaving the country to find somewhere where their parental rights will be respected. “The mere thought of them taking my child made me vomit and brought chills down my spine,” the violated mother wrote.
The practically boundless power of child welfare agencies to interject themselves into the lives of families introduces a frightening prospect for parents who make non-mainstream lifestyle choices; especially those that do not abide by the sanctioned methods of the medical complex.
Topic: Mother harassed after uneventful home birth (Read 852 times)