Jail denies nursing mother's request to feed baby
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GoogleThis breaking news story from Charlotte, North Carolina has me truly outraged and ashamed of my home state: a Brazilian woman was jailed in Charlotte on Friday for immigration charges, and has been denied the opportunity to pump breast milk for her son, who is younger than two months old.
You can imagine what it means for a breastfeeding infant and mother to be separated and needlessly denied the opportunity to at least pump her milk to be delivered to the baby.
The Charlotte Observer reports that Danielle Ferreira's baby Samuel is "crying incessantly and keeps spitting up baby formula."
I feel intensely angry about this situation, but rather than compounding that with helplessness, I am doing what I can to at least magnify the awareness of this situation. I have reached out to local advocates and my legislators. Now that you know, is there anything you can do to help?
The immigration issues here are significant, and are addressed in the Charlotte Observer coverage. This fall at a UNC Breastfeeding and Feminism conference, I heard two attendees speak about their knowledge of immigration raids in North Carolina that have caused some mothers to become fearful of even leaving their homes.
There has been some reporting about this on a national level, and I highly recommend Claudio Sanchez's ongoing coverage of the effects of immigration raids on families, children, workers and schools, as reported on All Things Considered. You can listen to the series online.
Women shouldn't be discriminated against simply because they are mothers... but they are! Read about true experiences of American mothers, and learn how shared problems can be solved. Members can download the first chapter of the book today.
THis can happen to anyone
My heart goes out to this mother. Immigrant or not, her health and health of her baby were put at risk. She committed a non violant offense, she was not a danger to anyone, jail is for convicted criminals, not nursing mommy's.
I too ama nursing mother, I have 4 children. April 11th, I was arrested for moving MY car. I did not know I was not allowed to. Th officer arrested me knowing I had a nursing baby right there. I asked ot nurse her before he took me away. I was kept for nearly 24 hours in jail. I asked to pump or have the baby brought to me to nurse many times. I explained how mastistis happens and that I had had it before so that makes me prone. All my children are daily sensitive with many allergies and apparently females should not eat soy now. So my exclusively nursing babies food options were greatly impacted while I was away.
Don't be fooled, this can happen to ANYONE. I am a 29 yr old white American house wife with no record. I have never been in trouble with the law. Yet, here I am, already spent one night/day in jail and I am looking at up to a year for the trumped up charge I have been given. Wake up people, post 911 America is NOT a free country.
A Nightmare!!!
This does not suprise me! Today many families live in fear of our goverment. So when you hear of cases like these it just verifies what I already know. Our goverment is BRAINWASHING the local goverments through the MEDIA, and policy it makes, and through its local Policy Makers!! Where I live you see and hear about these kind of issues and they try to make normal people/families look like criminals when they are just minding there own business. When somebody tries to stand up and defend what they believe to be right morally, our goverment slaps them with criminal charges.
Change starts at the local level. Who we elect as Sheriff, Board of Education, Mayor, Govenor, House Representative, Senator! Of course money buys votes, but we the common people need to rally together to daily, in each city to make our Goverment change. Again this type of situation just proves to show that goverment is trying to control the masses, and oppress the Free Country called America!!!!
Have you SERIOUSLY thought about the health concerns!?!?!
In SHORT, I applaud the administration at the jail for having the forethought to consider the health implications for the child of that Mom. Perhaps, in her obvious emotional state, the mother wasn't thinking clearly. Perhaps, some of you are overlooking the serious health concerns involved with something so "simple" or you just don't realize what she's asking here and the consequences attached.
It's not simple, there ARE financial and legal implications to provide such a "service" for incarcerated women (remember, she is in JAIL) and, most importantly, the concern for the safety and well being of the child far outweighs her wishes.
For my LONGER and more detailed response, This issue SOOOOOOO got my juices flowing, I wrote my own response. See it here...
http://www.empowermom.com/hot001.html
Have an Empowered Day!
Excuse me but apparently you
Excuse me but apparently you are not educated about the benefits of breastfeeding. This baby was spitting up and not able to digest that old formula. Babies are not intended to be fed that old chalky formula, but mother's milk.
I think it is criminal not to breastfeed - there are many untrue excuses as to why women are not breastfeeding - it is rare for a mother not to be able to breastfeed or have enough milk. I am horrified that this baby has been punished - its mother was taken away from it as a newborn and the wonderful nourishment from its mother, too. This baby was born in this country and has rights as a citizen whether or not the mother has done something wrong. She was also postpartum - what a horrible way to treat her!!! But we have no respect in this country for new mothers and their babies - just look at the length of the unpaid maternity leaves most mothers have to put up with.
Update on Danielle Ferreira
Danielle Ferreira has been reunited with her children, but the long-term issues remain. Jail officials are asking for a review of breastfeeding policy. Other jails have said they don't allow breastmilk pumping because of the liability issues in case the milk would become contaminated and the baby got sick. What a cop-out, or put more positively, this should be a solvable problem.
Updated coverage of Danielle Ferreira's story in The Charlotte Observer:
http://www.charlotte.com/local/story/381449.html
I am most worried about people being incarcerated for status offenses. I am not an immigration expert by any means, but local activists have told me about the severe effects of ICE raids in North Carolina. Equally worrisome to me is the idea that anti-immigrant sentiment is the last bastion of sanctioned racism.
The Charlotte Oberver says that "Since last year, the Mecklenburg jail has participated in a federal program that identifies illegal immigrants after they are arrested and turns them over to immigration officials." We all need to learn a lot more about this program that empowers local lawenforcement agencies to perform immigration functions. See the US Customs and Immigration page for more information on this "ICE ACCESS" program. Of course it is promoted as an effort to reduce violent crime it's also sweeping up people who have not committed anything other than status offenses. Please read this recent New York Times editorial about the armed midnight raids that have terrorized families:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/opinion/04thur2.html
Amy Tiemann, creator of MojoMom.com
This is so egregious. What a
This is so egregious. What a nightmare for that poor mother and her needlessly hungry baby. Are people flooding the Charlotte jail with calls?
Horrifying
The way we treat mothers in custody is needlessly harsh and damaging to their children. Many mothers are imprisoned for nonviolent offenses, such as this case.
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