Police Report Woman for Gestating in a Fixer-Upper

When a newly pregnant 27-year-old in Staffordshire County, U.K., called to report a dangerous driver, she never expected to be reported to social services for being an unfit mother.

But a few days after speaking to a policewoman in her doorway about a driver who almost ran her over, Mary Cooke received a letter from the county council’s children’s services informing her that her unborn child may be referred for services.

Why? Because of peeling wallpaper, stripped floors and unfinished paint jobs in the house. Continue reading »

Kids Taken from Mom and Dad for Pictures of Bathtime

My mind moved through every photo in my daughter’s albums when I read this one: parents in Arizona are on the warpath after temporarily losing their kids to a child abuse investigation started by their local Wal-Mart.

Turns out the parents took pictures . . . gasp . . . of their kids in the bathtub! Continue reading »

Should Speaking English be a Requirement for Moms?

Short answer, no. Actually, that’s the long answer, too.

Yet late last fall, authorities took Cirila Baltazar Cruz’s two-day-old daughter Rubi from the Pascagoula, Mississippi, hospital where she was born and placed her in foster care.

Hospital social workers claimed in a report that Ruby was a neglected and in need of protection. The evidence? Quoting the report, the Clarion-Ledger and the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, say authorities were concerned that the baby “was born to an illegal immigrant,” the “mother had not purchased a crib, clothes, food or formula,” and that “she does not speak English which puts baby in danger.” Continue reading »