deaf parents fights for custody of hearing son

cdmeggers

cdmeggers

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Custody battle hits two states
By NANCY HICKS
Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star

The big people are fighting over little Matthew.

His parents believe their 6-year-old belongs with them, in their two-bedroom apartment in Cheyenne, Wyo. They say relatives tricked them, lied to them and stole Matthew away two years ago, because they are deaf and Matthew can hear. His parents took him back.

Those relatives — Matthew's aunt and uncle — want the boy living with them, in their three-bedroom home in Hastings, Neb. They say he's not safe with a father they believe is violent and a passive mother, a couple who blew through millions in lottery winnings and are now deep in debt.

The fight is complicated. Matthew has different legal guardians in two states. There are both criminal charges and civil cases, and six attorneys. Matthew's parents face jail time for whisking their son back to Wyoming, violating a Nebraska court order.

So for two years now, the big people have been fighting over Matthew, a blue-eyed charmer who loves Legos, can count way past 40 and sign his bedtime prayer in American Sign Language.

It is a fight with ugly allegations on both sides -- allegations that Matthew was the victim of parental neglect and abuse, and allegations that his parents are the victims of intimidation and lies.

Full article: http://www.casperstartribune.net/ar.../wyoming/23dcf8602fb7ede18725705000726767.prt
 
YEs it does. and I know the father of the boy, have met him several times. Really sad for them, and i hope they do get custody of their son.
 
What a horrible story! I am suprised that the professionals have not stepped in. In our state this never would have been allowed to happen.
 
:thumbd: This has been happening so many times in the deaf community, where a person who is hearing, whether they are family members, or not, feel that deaf parent's are not able to care for their kids.

Here in R.I. several years ago, a deaf woman who had 3 children that were hearing, had the Department of Children, Youth and Families come to their home because a neighbor, who is hearing, said the yells constantly at her children everyday. The children were taken away from the mother. What this hearing neighbor actually saw was the mother signing quite rapidly to her children, she had been frustrated because she was late for a doctor's appt., also the facial expressions of the deaf mother look to the hearing neighbor like she was going to beat them.

After going to court, it was realized that this hearing neighbor reported to the police a misunderstanding complaint. Too many hearing people who are not educated in the culture of deaf automatically pinpoint that deaf people cannot take care of their children. As with this brother and sister in law, they had these children taken away because of a mistaken fact that the parent's are deaf, and now these children cannot be taken care of.

I hope and pray that these parent's will get their children back home soon because this set of deaf parent's deserve to have children just as much as a hearing couple.
 
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