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If CPS Starts Taking Children Away From Parents Who Make Unpopular Choices, Then We’re All Screwed
A Washington couple has had their three children, including their newborn twins, taken away from them by CPS. The couple says that it is because of their decisions to have a home birth and to rely on “natural remedies” for their children instead of medical treatment. I say that these people are quite possibly wackadoos, but that’s no reason to take their kids away.
Erica Carey and her partner Cleave Rengo do life a little differently than many of us do. For example, the decided to get married within hours of meeting each other, and when they got married they didn’t have a ceremony or even a license. Instead, Rengo told King 5 news, “We just prayed and invited God to bless our relationship so we’d have a family built on a firm foundation.”
Sure. Fine.
Erica soon became pregnant and delivered their oldest son in a hospital. She became pregnant again very quickly, and this time the pair decided they would have an unassisted home birth. Not a choice I would make, but then this isn’t about me, right? So, fine.
But then, in order to: “preserve the sanctity of her womb,” Carey and Rengo also decided not to have any ultrasounds. That’s why it wasn’t until after one baby was delivered that they realized that Erica was actually pregnant with twins. They never sought medical attention after the birth, but from everything I’ve read Erica recovered just fine and all of her three children under the age of one (mercy) were also doing well. I see a little bit of what I would call risky/nutso behavior here, but still nothing that warrants a visit from CPS.
Apparently, someone disagreed and called the paramedics to report the birth. When the paramedics arrived, they suggested that the couple take the twins to the hospital for a check up. Carey and Rengo said no, because they didn’t want their newborns surrounded by sick people. Fine. Again, not something I agree with, but whatever. It would seem to me that if the paramedics were there and saw that the children were in good health, then that should be a choice the parents could make. Right?
