Stolen Child
Use of marijuana by a mother leads DHR to take newborn
Last Update: 12/8/2005 7:27:26 PM
(Mobile, Alabama) December 08 – Imagine giving birth to a new baby and then being told you can’t take it home. Charyta Williams says she knows the feeling. “I just lost everything and now they’re taking away my kids.”
Williams, a New Orleans native currently displaced by Hurricane Katrina, says that scenario became real life after she delivered at USA Children’s and Women’s Hospital in Mobile. A urine sample taken at the hospital revealed a small trace of marijuana in the mother’s system. She admits to using the drug for the first time as a way to keep cool during the storm, after learning her best friend drowned while trying to escape an attic. “I was on the phone with her and she couldn’t get out of her attic. You could hear her beating on the ceiling. She was only four feet eleven,” Williams said.
In addition to not allowing the baby to go home, Williams says the Mobile County Department of Human Resources also took away her 2-year-old daughter. Williams says besides using marijuana for the first time during the storm, her record is squeaky clean. “I’ve never had a parking ticket, traffic ticket, nothing,” said Williams.
When asked about their drug testing policy, a spokesman for USA Children’s and Women’s Hospital said, "Federal law prevents us from discussing an individual patient's care." The Department of Human Resources faxed a statement to NBC 15 News citing several factors it considers before removing a child from parental custody.
In the meantime, Charyta Williams is left to stare at an empty crib. She says the television in her 2-year-old daughter’s room will remain tuned to Nickelodeon until the child finally returns home.
Use of marijuana by a mother leads DHR to take newborn
Last Update: 12/8/2005 7:27:26 PM
(Mobile, Alabama) December 08 – Imagine giving birth to a new baby and then being told you can’t take it home. Charyta Williams says she knows the feeling. “I just lost everything and now they’re taking away my kids.”
Williams, a New Orleans native currently displaced by Hurricane Katrina, says that scenario became real life after she delivered at USA Children’s and Women’s Hospital in Mobile. A urine sample taken at the hospital revealed a small trace of marijuana in the mother’s system. She admits to using the drug for the first time as a way to keep cool during the storm, after learning her best friend drowned while trying to escape an attic. “I was on the phone with her and she couldn’t get out of her attic. You could hear her beating on the ceiling. She was only four feet eleven,” Williams said.
In addition to not allowing the baby to go home, Williams says the Mobile County Department of Human Resources also took away her 2-year-old daughter. Williams says besides using marijuana for the first time during the storm, her record is squeaky clean. “I’ve never had a parking ticket, traffic ticket, nothing,” said Williams.
When asked about their drug testing policy, a spokesman for USA Children’s and Women’s Hospital said, "Federal law prevents us from discussing an individual patient's care." The Department of Human Resources faxed a statement to NBC 15 News citing several factors it considers before removing a child from parental custody.
In the meantime, Charyta Williams is left to stare at an empty crib. She says the television in her 2-year-old daughter’s room will remain tuned to Nickelodeon until the child finally returns home.
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