Snatched Up: When Medical Care Means Family Separation

When Nekayba McNeal arrived at the hospital to give birth to her second child, she had no idea that she would never bring her baby home. She never anticipated that she would be incarcerated at Rikers Island until her preschool son was separated from her as well. The clinical team at Cohen Medical Center stated the newborn baby required a blood transfusion due to anemia. When she requested to consult with her partner (and the baby’s father) Eddie Bellas, before giving consent for the transfusion, the hospital made an allegation of child abuse and neglect to the New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS).

Joyce McMillan, family regulation system abolitionist and impacted parent, joins the conversation as well, explaining how regularly Black and Brown families find themselves under investigation and separation when attending routine medical appointments. For white and middle class parents, questions posed to physician’s about their child’s care is typically interpreted as evidence that the family is informed and invested in their child’s medical care. For Black, Latinx and recipients of Medicaid, these same questions are interpreted as hostility, aggression and grounds to remove the children from their care. 

This episode does surface traumatic violence at the hands of multiple systems but it also ends with a surprise musical performance by the couple. Their message is one of hope, resistance and refusing to back down from the fight to have their children returned to them on their terms.

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**Note to our listeners, this is one of a series of episodes we have produced on the family regulation system featuring impacted parents and academics. We’re making additional efforts this season to provide a platform as well for former foster youth, adoptees or people who have been in the position of the child when encountering any aspect of the system including international adoption. Please contact us at WeBeImagining@gmail.com if you’re interested in coming on the show to share your perspective. 

We acknowledge that violence does occur within the family. Our position is abolition must provide restorative justice models and infrastructures of care as we dismantle this system of poverty management and policing. This is not just a theoretical argument and resources for restorative justice approaches are linked in the show notes.

Guests: Nekayba McNeal, Eddie Bellas and Joyce McMillan 
Host: J. Khadijah Abdurahman, Ilan Mandel
Music: Drew Lewis

Links for the Episode:
Abolishing Policing Also Means Abolishing Family Regulation
Do We Need to Abolish Child Protective Services?
In New York, Calls Grow to Address Racism in Child Welfare

Racial Differences in the Evaluation of Pediatric Fractures for Physical Abuse
Racial and Ethnic Disparities and Bias in the Evaluation and Reporting of Abusive Head Trauma

Resources
A Practical Guide to Stop Interpersonal Violence (Creative Interventions)
Child Sexual Abuse: A Transformative Justice Handbook (Generation Five)
Reimagine Support (Movement for Family Power)