[nfb-talk] Blind mother flees NZ with her child

[Peter Donahue]

Good evening everyone,

    We've all heard of children being unjustly taken away from their blind
parents , but this one takes the cake! Our prayers and thoughts are with
this woman in her struggle to maintain sole custody of her child.

Peter Donahue


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Rae" <thepenguin at rogers.com>
To: "John Rae" <thepenguin at rogers.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2007 12:55 PM
Subject: vip-l: Blind mother flees NZ with her child


Blind mother flees NZ with her child

By NATALIE AKOORIE
Stuff.co.nz - New Zealand, March 14, 2007

A blind Hamilton woman is believed to have fled the country with her young
daughter to escape a bitter custody dispute - with her own mother.

The Hamilton woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is believed to
have taken her five-year-old daughter to Europe in a desperate bid to escape
the custody battle.

She has been fighting her mother and stepfather since last May for full
custody of the girl.

The woman, in her late 20s, went blind suddenly following the removal of a
benign brain tumour when her daughter was almost two. The girl went to live
with her grandmother while the woman rehabilitated.

It took almost two years for the woman to regain sole custody of the child,
though the Waikato Times understands custody is now officially shared.

The dispute is before the Family Court. The woman's mother could not be
contacted and the stepfather declined to comment on why they are seeking
custody, but the woman believes it is because of her blindness.

In a letter in November last year to Disabilities Minister Ruth Dyson, she
pleaded for help.

"Ms Dyson, I do not know what to do or where to turn," she wrote. "I pray
that you, the disabilities minister of New Zealand, can do something to help
our dire situation. I am about to lose my daughter. The only crime I
committed was going blind."

A friend of the woman, who the Times has agreed not to name, said she was a
competent and confident parent who had tried hard to maintain an amicable
relationship with her mother.

She said the woman had undertaken hours of parenting classes since going
blind in a bid to provide a loving and stable environment for the child.
"She has gone to huge lengths to rehabilitate and huge lengths to ensure
that child's safety and wellbeing."

The friend believes that while the woman was recovering from her operation
she signed over guardianship of her daughter to the grandmother which, under
the Care of Children Act 2004, gives as many rights as a biological parent.

The friend said that while she could not condone "kidnapping", she
understood why the woman had fled. She understood the woman and her daughter
could be "lying low" in Spain or France where her British father - who
supported the woman's right to sole custody - had property.

The woman's former partner and father of the child recently relocated with a
new partner from Wellington to Hamilton to support the woman and be nearer
his daughter. The 51-year-old said he did not know the woman was planning to
leave but he was glad she did.

"I'm 100 per cent behind (her) and 100 per cent behind her actions."

A Hamilton police spokeswoman said police had not yet been alerted to the
fact any child was missing.


http://www.stuff.co.nz/3992666a11.html



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