The Tampa Tribune has been reporting (thanks to Chaina Turna for the tip) on the case of 22 year old Parita Patel who has been visiting the U.S. and is reportedly staying with some friends (while her husband and family remain in India).
Tears streamed down her face, a few falling to her lime green punjabi before she could wipe them away. Her friends tried to comfort her, patting her back and whispering condolences in Gujarati outside the courtroom at the 13th Judicial Circuit Court.
Parita Patel, 22, just wanted her baby daughter. And she thought Friday she’d walk out holding little Krinna in her arms. She just had to get past a dependency hearing.
A visit with Krinna on Monday, arranged at a Florida Department of Children and Families office, may have given her false hope.
“I have not been sleeping,” she said. “I say to myself, `Tomorrow my baby may come with me.’ I wonder why this situation?”
In a matter of minutes, the hearing was over. Krinna wasn’t there. They weren’t going home together.
So what’s up? Why did the 13th order her baby into the system? Florida’s Department of Children and Families (DCF) accused her of putting her baby in harms way.
A visitor from India, Patel gave birth prematurely on May 13 at Tampa General Hospital. Her 4 1/2 pound baby was in the neonatal unit for 18 days, with Patel staying close by at the Ronald McDonald House.
A caseworker asked her whether she had a home here. A job. Any way to support herself.
Patel said no to all.
DCF took the baby into foster care on May 31, accusing her in court of “prospective neglect” and her husband of abandonment.
But what the caseworker didn’t understand, Patel and her supporters said, is she is staying with friends who are giving her shelter, food to eat and everything she’d need to care for the baby. Her home and husband, Vikesh, are back in India.
…DCF wrote in court documents Patel isn’t a fit parent – she “found out she was pregnant on or about October 2004 but failed to have any prenatal care” and ignored “referrals to local homeless shelters.”
Going only on the details reported, this seems like a pretty ridiculous overreach by DCF. “Failed to have prenatal care?” Are you kidding me? Given the sad state of the healthcare system in this country, babies would be seized every few seconds if this was the criteria. You have to put this into context by remembering that the Florida DCF (and Jeb Bush) have been under assault for years because of incompetence and negligence in child services and foster care related matters (see here and here and here). The following is an excerpt from the last of these links:
When candidate [Jeb] Bush was running for Governor, he made a promise to fix the state’s child welfare agency. Bush had criticized Gov. Lawton Chiles’ handling of the department he would leave no child behind. But that’s exactly what happened. His administration headed by his appointee lost track of Rilya Wilson. He said, “I am the person…to provide a solution. That is my responsibility and I accept that.” So what does that really mean to him? Not a thing. It’s just something he says to appear to be responsible. Because to Jeb Bush, all that matters is what things appear to be like, not how things really are. So what does he say now – now that he’s failed miserably ? “In an imperfect world, with imperfect parents…”, Jeb said that we can’t blame his administration for these failures, now he says that government can’t do everything.
Around May 5, 2002, The Miami Herald has revealed that DCF paid a private company, the Pinellas County-based Florida Task Force for the Protection of Abused and Neglected Children, $4.8 million to investigate and close unresolved child abuse reports. The company was abruptly fired in March for poor performance.
The Tribune article has one quote in particular that got me thinking:
“This must be the first Indian baby taken into foster care,” translator Malti Pandya said Friday. “We are a big and supportive community.”
I wonder if that is really true.
UPDATE:
Parita got her baby back:
What a crock of shit. Instead of an apology, she gets probation:
If there is a lawyer, please help her. Maybe on a Pro bono basis.
Sometimes people who come from foreign countries are not aware of foreign laws, get into such unfortunate situations.
God please help her and her daughter!
I UNDERSTAND THIS STORY WAY TO WELL THIS HAS SOMEWHAT HAPPENDTO ME AND MY HUSBAND DCF CAMEIN AND PLACED OUR 3 CHILDREN WITH FAMILY AND WE LIVE IN OHIO BUT IT HAPPENEDIN FLORIDA AND WE MISSES AND LOVE OUR LITTLE GIRLS SO MUCH IT BRAKES OUR HEARTS EVERYDAY
ALSO IF THERE IS ANYONE OUT THERE THAT COULD GIVE ME SOME INSITE ON HOW TO GET MY GIRLS BACK LAWYERS OR JUST SOMEONE TO GIVE US SOMEHOPE LIKE I SAID WE ARE HEART BROKE WITH OUT OUR CHILDREN AND DCF HAS NO HEART THEY JUST TAKE YOUR CHILDREN WITH OUT PROFF I JUST WANT MY FAMILY BACK TOGETHER WE HAVE 3 GIRLS AGES 17 MONTHS , 3 YRS OLD, AND 6 YRS OLD THEY NEED US AS WELL.
0well all i can say is.. really sorry to hear this…
i also got my two children taken from me while living in panama city the dcf in 2002 lied on me said i abused my son because he had a black eye that was almost healed my daughter was jumping on a bed that set low to the floor and he was under the bed an by her bouncing on it it gave him a black eye i did not take him to the doctor you go to the doctor. every time you get a bruise? when the dcf showed up the case worker ask me if i would take the child to the doctor that evening i said yes he is ok tho he said just to make sure of it i agreed when i got to the doctor office the police were there the case worker had the car seat ready in the suv the state issued him police arrested me on the spot the doctor worked for dcf due to all the lies an an no more money my family an i spend 14,000 dollars on legal fees every time i would go see my children one worker would give me false hope while the other cut me down for being a northern she would say when no one could hear a yankee should be up north they do not belong in the south after 14,000 dollars my attorney said for 4,000 more dollars she would get me a aquittal i could not come up with anymore money so i pleaded out to attempted child abuse got 5 years probation i lost my kids to my ex when he got custody he moved to miss. and will not let me see them my son does not belong to him only my girl the dcf knew i did not hurt my child,I was not a native of florida when i started looking into the children that the dcf removes from parents are not natives of florida around the ages of 1 to 8 i now live in tn where i am more than welcome still trying to get all the court records where my kids was taken from me illegal im not no longer on probation i had to stay in florida till my probation ended feb. of this year i will now get my kids back, i will seek civil litigations against everyone involved including the judge i will show all of america how florida state gov. did me an how my kids an i paid heart broken price for corrupt gov. and while the case worker michael gilfuil with the dcf in panama city molested my son and the dcf an da office refused to do anything about it.
None of this is uncommon ! Sad but true. I too had two of my three girls taken from me by DCF. It will be a year this month since they have been gone. No matter what I do, I cant seem to get them back. They were taken because DCF had recived a call that my girls were being neglected. This just happend to be during my divorce. I was a stay at home mom, my girls hurt or wanted for nothing. PTA mom with the support of the school, church, family, and friends. But still to this day I DO NOT HAVE MY GIRLS BACK !!!!!! This is a corrupt system, a corrupt state, with money and federal grants as the main concern, not our children. This has to stop ! If your reading this just remember hold your kids close, this can happen to anyone.
I saw this happen all too often when I lived in Florida. In most cases, the parent just needed some counseling or financial aid, but dcf took their kids–I think– for their own job security in these tough financial times. Their was one case in which this young couple had a fight and the husband hit his wife for the first time. And there is always a first time. The young wife did the absolute right thing and called the police, went to her parents, and 2 days later got her child taken from her. DCF’s reason: she should have forseen this event. She lost custody for a year, which is the standard if you do everything they say. This has many problems, the most important of which is women will not report abuse for fear they will lose their child. On the other hand, I know wealthy people there that have some bad habits and their children are exposed. I’m talking nasty stuff; drug use, swing parties,nasty stepparents. yet when these cases are reported they always seem to be unfounded. Also, it’s not easy to get public assistance in the state of Fl. I would have all my info together, hand deliver it days in advance, only to be turned down because I didn’t get my info in on time. Florida ,to me, is an elitist state that exploits the poor and their children. I’m glad to be back in the midwest. I might vacation in fl but never live there again.
None of this is uncommon ! Sad but true. I too had two of my three girls taken from me by DCF. It will be a year this month since they have been gone. No matter what I do, I cant seem to get them back. They were taken because DCF had recived a call that my girls were being neglected. This just happend to be during my divorce. I was a stay at home mom, my girls hurt or wanted for nothing. PTA mom with the support of the school, church, family, and friends. But still to this day I DO NOT HAVE MY GIRLS BACK !!!!!! This is a corrupt system, a corrupt state, with money and federal grants as the main concern, not our children. This has to stop ! If your reading this just remember hold your kids close, this can happen to anyone.