PRESS RELEASES
The National Organization for Women - New York State, Inc. Seeks to End the Era of "Childless Mothers"
May 12, 2006 |
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For over 20 years, the National Organization for Women-New York State has stood by mothers who have lost custody of their children to their abusers. As in the case of Dr. Amy Neustein, women are charged with “child neglect” on the sole ground that they believe their child has been abused. In a great majority of the cases, when mothers file charges of abuse, those charges have been supported by the children themselves, psychologists and eyewitnesses. Today, NOW New York State and advocates like Dr. Neustein continue to mark childless Mother’s Day bereft of their children, though ironically, the only thing they have been accused of is believing their children were abused by the other parent.
Mothers who make good-faith charges of abuse are too often charged by Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) and other child protection agencies as if they were guilty parties, and as a result their children are cruelly taken away from them and placed in foster care or with the abusive parent. Abused mothers look sadly at the bedroom where their child has slept, and the toys that they played with. For many it has been 5-10-20 years since many have laid eyes on their child. Still after all these years, they sob from the void in their life, not knowing where their child resides, who she/he is playing with, or if she/he is being fed, clothed and educated properly. Mom remembers all too well, the abuse that she and her child endured, and she knows all too well that life probably has not changed for her child.
NOW New York State and the 23 chapters throughout the New York receive as many calls from mothers embattled in the family court system as we do from women afflicted by other social problems. NOW New York State continues to fight for mothers around the state. We have raised our voices to sound the clarion call in this state to address the biased family court system. We have paid a great personal price for our activism on this issue, but with perseverance we have defeated A-330/S-291 this year; a piece of legislation that was introduced by the NYS Legislature, mandating joint custody by the courts. How archaic and cruel this piece of legislation is!
Today, we honor all mothers who have suffered from the injustices of family court and child protective agencies. The misuse of government that continues to plague the child welfare system nationwide must be brought to an end. We remember all mothers who have lost custody of their children to the batterers that they lived with. Their children have suffered ten fold because many of them are still in the hands of their batterers. The National Organization for Women-New York State joins with Dr. Neustein and advocates from around New York State to bring the childless mother era to a close. It is our hope that this will be their last Mother’s Day without their children.
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