[AERNet] Fw: [BVI-Parents] Canadians, help please!

[Jennifer Forzono]

I am forwarding this email from another listserve.  
This is for anyone from Canada or familiar with Canadian Law, who can help/advocate on behalf of a woman who is partially sighted and pregnant.  She is being told that she is unfit (as well as her boyfriend, who is totally blind) to care for a child, so the child will be taken away from her at birth.  
Jen
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Elizabeth 
To: BVI Parents List 
Cc: mama2babies at earthlink.net 
Sent: Sunday, March 04, 2007 9:32 AM
Subject: [BVI-Parents] Canadians, help please!


I'm forwarding this from the Blindhomeschooler list, because this list has more members.

If you have questions, *please* contact Trinh or Rose directly. I'm not involved at all, except to forward this email, so don't ask me any questions! LOL

Elizabeth

----- Original Message ----- 
From: trinh martin 
To: Blindhomeschooler at yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Sunday, March 04, 2007 2:43 AM
Subject: [Blindhomeschooler] o.t. this is the email from the girl i was writing about

Hi all:
This is just Rose writing in with a concern and am wondering if anyone can think of anything that can be done.
I don't know if I told anyone on any of these lists or not, but I'm expecting a baby. I'm almost at the fourty-week mark, so I could go in at any time now.
For anyone that's either from Canada or is familiar with the Canadian law, I have a question for you.
The children's aid society of Brantford, where I am presently residing, is involved with me because of the fact that they say they have concerns because
of my visual impairment.
I am considered partial, so I do have a little bit of vision, though not enough to read print.
CAS first told me that they were involved because they felt that my baby would be at risk because of my visual impairment. They've been involved since early
October, perhaps early November. They had drawn up a service plan for me in December, which was signed in early February.
This service agreement stated that I had to be willing to participate in parenting classes after the hcild was born, that I was to go to all my appointments
after the birth, and that I was to report any problems I felt I was having with either myself or the baby. They also said that as long as I did everything
they'd asked me to do, such as going to parenting, prenatal as well as postnatal classes, that I was to keep my child.
It has gone from that to not being able to keep it.
They are now trying to say that they have other concerns. I will have you know that I am living with my boyfriend who is otally blind.
We both have extensive experience with children.
CAS is also saying that I have little to no knowledge of what it takes to raise a child. They are also telling me that neither my boyfriend or I can look
after ourselves, much less a child.
They are also saying that I have refused to go to my docor's appointments. There's never been one time I didn't go to my appointments, with the exception
of ast Monday, because of the fact that my care was transferred over to the midwives at the birthing center where I'm going to be giving birth.
I went to see a lawyer today about my case, and I found out that CAS had written a letter to him saying that they had other concerns. That's where all the
junk about me not being able to take care of myself came from, was the letter they had written to my lawyer.
>From what my lawyer is telling me, there's nothing that can be done at this point until CAS has presented me with documentation saying that the baby is
going to go into foster care, which they have not yet done.
CAS is also telling me that I have not gained enough independence.
They are also trying to say now that when I was staying at a maternity home for a while, I had refused to use my cane, thereby endangering the infants that
were there. They are lying through thei teeth here, because never once did I leave my cane somewhere whenever I was walking around in the house.
They are also saying that I have been refusing assistance. This is also not true. I have been trying to ask for assistance, and have gotten a lot more than
was expected.
I gues what I'm trying to ask, is do you know if there's anything that can be done to try and prevent this agency from taking my child?
They have said to me that this is going to be for a minimum of six months, perhaps longer. If it goes beyond one year, my child will then become a crown
ward of the CAS, by which time I'll be screwed, because there will be little to no hope of me getting her back.
I will also have you know that my caseworker had first made this foster care idea sound like a suggestion, then when I was on my way to the birthing center,
she'd dropped the bomb on my head that she had already had foster parents lined up for my baby.
When we got to the birthing center, she told the midwives there that after the baby was born and I was ready to go home, the foster parents were going to
come and take the aby to their home from there.
As I said, they have not yet presented me with any documentation stating that this is going to happen.
I do have the Canadian Council for the blind advocating on my behalf about their concerns, but for anyone in or from Canada, what I'm trying to ask is if
there are any more advocacy groups or something that I could possibly get to advocate for me on my behalf about all of this?
Any suggestions anyone has will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Rose
her msn address is this

shane.rose at sympatico.ca

e-mail:
musical_angel at shaned.net

please let us just bring her in prayer every time we think of her and her boyfriend and baby!!!!!!!!!!

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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