Milwaukee mother claims children taken away because of learning disability
Posted: Jun 10, 2015 7:42 PM CDT | Updated: Jun 10, 2015 7:46 PM CDT
A group of activists is claiming that Children's Hospital of Wisconsin is taking kids away from their parents without proof of abuse or neglect.Lashei Dickerson is the mother of three kids in Milwaukee. She claims Children's Hospital of Wisconsin Community Services division took her children away because she has a learning disability.
\"They shouldn't be using my disability against me,\" said Dickerson. \"I feel that isn't abuse and neglect... both of my kids were removed from me because of how they felt.\"
Dickerson says she has complied with what the agency has asked of her. She has obtained a home, clothes for her children, has gone to anger management classes and received mental evaluations, as well as other conditions. However, her children are still in the system.
That's why the organization \"Welfare Warriors\" held a rally Wednesday morning outside of Children's Hospital of Wisconsin Community Services division in West Allis.
\"The problem is, they are illegally detaining children who have never ever been abused or neglected by their family,\" said Patricia Owens, who has been advocating for mothers like Dickerson for almost 30 years.
\"They are taking children from mothers because the mothers have low IQs.. they say the mothers are mentally ill, sometimes physically ill, but none of them are legal reasons to take a child,\" Dickerson said.
The organization has been successful to help other mothers in similar situations and are now doing their best to get Dickerson's children back as well.
\"I'm just staying strong and doing whatever it takes to get my kids home,\" Dickerson said.
Children's Hospital of Wisconsin sent CBS 58 a statement saying:
\"Children's Hospital of Wisconsin Community Services provides a wide range of services to support families and the children who are under our care. Our primary concern is always to keep kids physically and emotionally healthy and provide permanency, stability and well-being for all children.\"