|
|
|
|
Baby Seized by State Police
from Mother’s Hospital Room She
Fears For Children’s Safety While With DSS By Ed Oliver The mother whose newborn baby
was seized by state police and DSS agents from her arms at the Mary Lane
Hospital last month, says she fears for the lives and safety of her
newborn, Aaron, and her four-year-old, Damien, who are in DSS custody. Her 5-year-old son, Kyle, died
after a Rottweiler attacked him this June while in another DSS foster
home. Atty. Gregory Hession says the
snatch from the hospital could be retribution for the wrongful death suit
the mother has filed against the agency. In an interview with
Massachusetts News, Diana Ross from Ware said, “They murdered one child.
I am not going to sit back and let them hurt my other two boys.” Compounding her worries, Ross
said DSS placed her infant son and Damien together with two homosexual men
who say they want to adopt them. “I told DSS I didn’t want that. I
said I think the boys should bond with their mother, not with gay men.
They told me I have no say in the matter.” Ross told MassNews she would
have the boys checked out at a hospital for molestation immediately after
she gets them back from DSS, particularly after a gay, foster care parent
in Worcester County was arrested last month for raping two boys in his
custody. Judge
Is No Help Circuit Judge Patricia M.
Dunbar decided yesterday in Hampden County Juvenile Court that DSS could
keep custody of the newborn infant. Atty. Hession told MassNews
that Dunbar said that DSS did not meet the burden of proof with the baby
and did not make reasonable efforts to keep the child with the family.
However, the judge decided that custody of the infant would remain with
DSS based on Ross’ previous history with DSS. “Essentially, Judge Dunbar is
saying ‘we don’t care what the law says. There is a problem here and
we are going to take the child,’” said Hession, who added, “The
department simply wants to take children rather than provide services so
the family can stay together.” Hession said he would have to
study the opinion before deciding on any future course of action. DSS spokesman Michael
MacCormack released a statement on the Ross case and told MassNews he did
not want to comment further. “The Department’s decision
to file a petition for custody of Infant A. Ross was the result of a
careful review of this family’s history, which was incorporated,
together with information provided by medical, child welfare and mental
health professionals, into a petition filed with the Northhampton Juvenile
Court, and led to the temporary transfer of custody of this infant to DSS.
“Cognizant of Ms. Ross’
desire to care for her infant, we are nonetheless mandated to insure that
the infant’s safety and best interests are protected in a safe
environment. We are grateful that the Court’s decision today affirms the
Department’s position on the safety of this child.” While mindful of the privacy of
the child, DSS would not even reveal the identity of the Police
Raid Hospital Room After giving birth on Sunday,
August 5, Ross says she was celebrating with her family in her hospital
room on Monday. A nurse entered the room and took the baby, saying she had
to check his vital signs. Within minutes a posse of
police, state police and DSS social workers swarmed the room and informed
the family that DSS had taken the baby due to a 51A report of
“neglect,” which had been filed by a nurse only hours after the baby
was born. The report alleges that Ross had not fed her baby “the right
way” when she was in recovery and had allowed her mother to hold and
feed the newborn. The physician, Dr. Torbin
Iverson, entered the mother’s room to see what was occurring and
expressed his shock and confusion at the state’s action. He stated that
the mother and baby were doing well and he had not seen any problems. It
was difficult to understand how the charge of “not feeding right”
could be made while the mother was under the care, supervision, and
scrutiny of maternity ward staff. Ross told MassNews, “A DSS
social worker told me they had a complaint of neglect and they were taking
my baby. They threw a paper on my bed and told me to fight it in court,”
said Ross. “I was hysterical.” Ross’ mother Sandra told
MassNews that when she drove up to the hospital to visit her daughter, she
saw a DSS social worker running out of the hospital with the baby and
flanked by state and local police. She said a state policeman prevented
her from entering the hospital. Dr. Iverson told MassNews,
“It was unusual for DSS to come in this manner and remove a baby. The
times I saw the mother with the baby she seemed okay. She certainly seems
to be very concerned and caring and loves her children.” Dr. Iverson, who is an
obstetrician-gynecologist, told MassNews that although he can’t prove
that Ross is a fit mother, because it is outside of his field, Ross always
kept her appointments and took good pre-natal care of her baby. A copy of the “Nursing
Progress Continuation Notes” from the hospital reveals that DSS told
social workers at the hospital to tip them off when Ross delivered her
baby. The records note that after the
birth, Ross was encouraged multiple times to hold the infant and the
bottle upright, as well as stimulate the infant to stay awake during
feeds. “Mother not following instruction,” it says. It also states
that the mother did properly clean and change the infant and that bonding
was occurring between mother and child. The nursing notes were relayed
by phone to DSS social worker Ann Kochis, according to the notes. According to the notes, DSS
told the hospital to issue a “51A Neglect Report” against Ross. The
hospital informed DSS that they were unable to establish neglect in such a
short time, yet, they filed the 51A anyway with DSS social worker Kay
Durepo. “51A form sent to DSS per
their request. DSS aware that we are unable to establish neglect in such a
short period of time. Form sent regardless,” the nursing records state. DSS Social Worker Ann Kochis
and Area Director Ellen Patashnic at the DSS East Springfield Office
refused to comment for MassNews, directing all questions to public affairs
in Boston. Attorney Greg Hession, who is
helping to get Ross’ baby back, told MassNews that in order for DSS to
take the baby, the law requires either “serious abuse and neglect,”
such as broken bones, wounds and starvation, or “the likelihood of
future serious abuse and neglect.” He added that DSS “would have had
to make reasonable efforts to keep the child with the mother.” Attorney Alan Goodman told
MassNews, “The only abuse that has taken place in this whole situation
has been the abuse of Diana Ross, the mother, by this bureaucracy called
DSS that is out of control. DSS appears to be an agency bent on breaking
up families under the guise of child protection.” Many observers point to the
adoption bonuses that DSS receives from the federal government if takes a
child from its parents and adopts it out to foster parents. Seized in
1999 Ross’ two boys, Kyle and
Damien, were seized in December 1999, after Kyle wandered outside the
house. Ross, a single mother, had previously clashed with DSS over similar
incidents. Kyle was born in September 1995
and Damien in September 1997. DSS placed Damien with a gay
couple and Kyle was placed with Linda McNeil and her boyfriend, Eddie
Finklea Jr., who kept a Rottweiler in the backyard. “Kyle told me he loved me and
wanted to come home,” said Ross. “DSS told him he was never going
home. I promised Kyle I would get him home. “He told me he got hurt in
the foster home. He had bruises on his bottom and legs and burns he said
were from a flatiron. DSS told me the burns were from a heater. Kyle told
me the people at the foster home locked him crying in the bedroom, while
they partied with drugs and alcohol.” In a shocking story that made
headlines, Kyle was attacked and killed by the Rottweiler in June of this
year after he wandered into the dog’s unlocked pen. Ross’ mother, Sandra Daneault,
told MassNews that she remembers after they got the news, Diana was
distraught and tearfully apologized to a photo of Kyle that she could not
get him home like she had promised him. With the help of Attorney Alan
Goodman, Ross, who was pregnant, filed suit against the dog’s owner and
has taken preliminary steps to sue the Department of Social Services for
wrongful death and emotional distress on behalf of her son. In an apparent retaliation,
Ross’ infant son Aaron was seized from her by DSS at the hospital the
day after he was born and just two months after the tragic death of Kyle. |
