The headline is sensational: "Black Couple Says Texas Authorities Seized Their Newborn Because They Chose a Midwife Over a Hospital"
But are the facts true? Here's the narrative, TL;DR version:
- The Jacksons, who live in Desoto, near Dallas, Texas, chose home birth and gave birth to Mila 2 weeks ago, with a licensed midwife
- Jacksons took Mila to their pediatrician for a checkup, and doctor diagnosed Mila with jaundice, a common condition.
- Jacksons chose home treatment with their midwife instead of hospital stay.
- The doctor reported the Jacksons to Texas Child Protective Services (CPS) even though the Jackson have explained to the doctor that the midwife will conduct phototherapy.
- Desoto police and CPS agents raided Jacksons' home at 5AM but the parents refused to hand the baby over. Police and CPS left after a while, only to return later demanding that the couple hand over the child again as she's legally a CPS ward at this time, despite after hearing explanations from both the parents AND the midwife. They eventually left again. Several days went by.
- Last Tuesday, police returned and demanded the baby AGAIN, and when the parent refused, one was arrested, then police took his keys, and used it to enter his home and took the baby.
- Jacksons have had ONE visit with the baby, and when they noticed some problems with the baby, they were DENIED permission to seek treatment, was told "it's the foster family's responsibility"
Not quite. Here's what they don't tell you, or it got glossed over, and you have to dig to find it.
While mild jaundice does go away by itself, baby Mila's bilirubin level is 21.7. That is considered "go to the hospital ASAP" level of jaundice.
And according to reports, the family has been with the same pediatrician for years, so presumably he did not call CPS at the drop of a hat, but only did so when he felt he had no choice in the best interest of the child.
But let's make things perfectly clear:
A midwife is NOT a pediatrician or a neonatologist. And severe jaundice is beyond the expertise of a midwife.
So in essence, the parents are right: they did get their baby taken away BECAUSE they want a midwife to treat their baby for severe jaundice instead of a hospital and a pediatrician.
That's the equivalent of asking your local quick-lube place (that changes your engine oil) to replace your car's engine.
But the real question now is, is CPS sending the baby off to get the phototherapy done? Did it work?
And the post-mortem, why did the whole thing took another two days for CPS to take custody?