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Inside Hmong Outreach — p. 3
Volume 10, Number 9
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Courage Center Awards — Page 7
SOURCES
September 10, 1999
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“We need more people who specialize in the impossible.” — Theodore Roethke
RESOURCES
September 10, 1999
LOSING OUR CHILDREN Women With Disabilities Struggle For Custody by Kaye Henry Since this story aims to raise issues regarding child custody for parents with disabilities, rather than spark battles over specific cases, the names of individuals have been changed, and counties are not identified.
T Doris McFaggan receives Army Commendation and Good Conduct medals for Korean service in the 1970s.
Common Vision Compromise by Charlie Smith, Editor
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reached, but is under negotiation.
At that time, Commissioner Earl Wilson made assurances that he would do his best to fund the program with resources within the Department of Economic Security (MDES). After a series of meetings between MDES and ACT, a compromise has been reached for the first year of the biennium. MDES will provide $57,980 of the original $125,000 appropriated for this year. The funds will be targeted for Common Vision Leadership Training with people with developmental disabilities. An agreement for the second year of the biennium has not been
Senator Jerry Janezich (DFL), Chair of the Senate Economic Development Budget Division and author of the Common Vision legislation says, “I’m disappointed in the governor’s veto. As author of this legislation I am very pleased that an agreement was reached between ACT and the Department. It is my hope that funding can be found for the second year of the biennium.” According to ACT, department officials have expressed interest in exploring options for second year funding. “We are meeting both ACT’s and Rehab. Services goals through this solution and we will continue to explore other ways to partner to serve our joint customers,” says MDES Assistant Commissioner of Rehabilitation Services Mick Coleman. Kim Rezek, Director of RS Contract Services for MDES, points out that “People with disabilities will benefit from this partnership because empowerment training will now be a service in both our vocational rehabilitation and inde-
n June, Access Press reported on Governor Ventura’s veto of a line-item in the Minnesota Department of Economic Security’s budget that would have provided a $250,000 appropriation f o r Advocating Change Together’s Common Vision Leadership Program. Common Vision teaches self-advocacy, community organizing and empowerment skills to people with developmental disabilities. Its goal is to develop leadership skills that people can use to achieve equality.
pendent living programs.” Historically, people with developmental disabilities have not had control over the services they receive or the accommodations made for them in the community. Policy makers and institution administrators set policies or drafted regulations, and people using the services experienced the results. Their desires for education or dignified employment went unheard. This trend has changed. Disability rights activists, self-advocates and their allies have worked hard to ensure that persons with disabilities be in charge of these issues and that they have the skills to make their voices heard. The ACT-sponsored Common Vision Leadership Training Program builds leaders within the developmental disability community and ensures that they learn skills to act on their own behalf at home, at work and in the communities in which they live. David Harris, ACT Board President, is pleased that something has been worked out for the first year. “Programs for people with disabili-
Act - cont. on p. 10
hree Twin Cities mothers with disabilities told Access Press their stories about losing custody of their children. All feel they were unfairly judged to be unfit parents primarily on the basis of their disabilities. They feel that county social workers and court officers too easily remove children from parents with disabilities rather than providing in-home supports which would keep families intact. The women state social workers often assume disabilities prevent good parenting, and make snap decisions without carefully evaluating reallife situations, pull children from their homes, then put the parents through years of testing-meanwhile the children have been hurt more by the disruption than they would have been at home. And it’s hard to fight the system when there are few attorneys who effectively represent persons with disabilities, they say. Erin Sullivan Sutton, state di rector of Family and Children’s Services, says counties follow federal and state law aimed at family preservation, but that federal and state law also calls for removal of children when they are endangered by neglect or abuse in the home. Disabilities of parents in and of themselves are not grounds for removal.
Jill Jill, 39, believes her blindness is the main reason she had to “jump through hoops” to
prove herself as a parent to social services for six years to regain full custody of her children. As a young mother in Colorado in 1984, Jill suddenly lost custody of her three children, ages 3, 4 and 6, when her husband was suspected of, but never charged with, sexual abuse of the younger two kids. The children were placed in foster care for two and onehalf years, while Jill was required to meet a long list of demands from social services. Told she must break off contact with her husband, she separated from him in 1985 but couldn’t afford to divorce him until 1989. Once he was out of the home, Jill felt the county focused on the issue of her blindness. Although “legally blind” and unable to drive a vehicle, Jill had 20/200 vision that allowed her to do most things required of a parentcooking, housekeeping, child care, and holding a job. But it took years to prove this to social services. “Many, many times throughout the whole thing they would say to me - even in front of my kidsI couldn’t be a good parent due to my disability,” she said. “They wouldn’t give my kids back to me because they felt that with my disability I couldn’t keep them safe, yet the system allowed [the younger two] to be unsafe [physically abused] in four out of five foster homes,” she says. In 1986, Jill gained physical, but not legal, custody of her children. But because she had only been allowed one hour of supervised visitation per week during the separation, “I felt like my children didn’t know me, and I didn’t
know them,” she went on to say. “Abandonment was a very big issue for them. It took a long time to win back their trust.” Adding to their fears, “the social workers didn’t hesitate to tell [the kids] they’d take them away again if I didn’t tow the line, Jill says. “That’s emotional abuse on their part.” Jill moved her family to Minnesota in 1987. Because she still didn’t have legal custody, she had to “start the whole process over” of proving herself as a parent to a new county. After allowing her husband back into her home, the county threatened to take the children away for good. At that point, Jill says, “I woke up and my kids became my full time priority.” Having divorced and met county demands, Jill finally was granted legal custody in 1990. She, her kids, and second husband moved up north and were a “very happy family” at last. But the 3-year-old son who was “physically ripped from my arms” years ago “still has emotional problems,” Jill added. Sara Sara, 37, is struggling to regain custody of her two sons, taken away from her twice since 1997. If she doesn’t win them back by October 29, she may permanently lose her children, under a new law that ends parental rights after 18 months of foster care. Having to walk on crutches due to cerebral palsy hasn’t stopped Sara from working as a counselor since age 16, getting a B.A. (and soon an M.A.) and raising two children as a single parent. She’s never been on welfare, and was only
Children - cont. on p. 8