- One evening, the daughter was struggling with affect dysregulation issues from multiple traumas following yet another incident at school during which the child reported to her mother that she had been told by white students to “kill yourself.”
- The Mother called for an ambulance and specifically asked for medical personnel instead of the police to respond.
- The Mother went to the bathroom after making the call, and when she returned to her living-room, was shocked to discover a blonde woman in plainclothes in her home, uninvited.
- The woman refused to identify herself by name, only stating she was a ride-along. The Officers refused to identify her, only stating she was a ride-along.
- The Mother asked the unknown ride-along to exit her residence
- Only the police arrived, no medical personnel
- MPD repeatedly refused to call for EMS personnel to do a medical evaluation, insisting that only the police officers would deal with her family.
- Mother reports this caused escalation of the girl’s terror and trauma
- Mother agreed to allow the police to transport rather than delay and further traumatize her daughter, but related she felt she had no choice but to allow the officers to put her pre-teen in the back of the police car as if she was a criminal
McDonough District Hospital’s Emergency Room
- The mother left her home about 10 minutes after the police so she could gather some necessities before heading to the hospital.
- When the mother arrived at the hospital, the worker at the front desk repeatedly claimed her child wasn’t at the hospital.
- The Mother reported that the front desk worker was very unfriendly, short, and refused to answer any questions.
- The Mother and the family gathered in the waiting room, repeatedly begging the hospital staff to let them know where their disabled minor child was.
- Mother reportedly asked for a hospital administrator. Once she spoke to the person, the front desk worker admitted the child had been there all along, but that the police said they weren’t permitted to see the child.
- For another hour or so, the mother stayed, distraught, in the waiting room. She was distressed, confused and crying. She reports confusion, hurt, and feelings of horror and shame that the hospital would not allow her to see her own child.
- Mother reports the police officers handed her a form and told her she had to sign it. It was a form to relinquish her parental rights and give her daughter over as a ward of the court.
- When she refused to sign it, the officer demanded she sign the form or that he would sign it for her.
- When the mother demanded more answers, the nurses said they were told by an officer that she said she did not want to see her child.
- MDH staff told the scared and confused child that their mother did not wish to see them, which was not at all accurate, and which traumatized both child and family
- Mother also reports the child had repeatedly asked for period products for over four hours, and the hospital staff kept “forgetting,” leaving her without them, feeling ashamed and humilited in the ER
- After they allowed the mother to be with her child, the mother asked the hospital for pads and a comb.
- They gave the child pads, but the white staffer claimed that the combs would not fit through the child’s hair, so refused this Black child a comb based upon their ignorance.
- As a result, the mother had to comb her child’s hair with a fork, as hair combing is an affect regulation/mindfulness exercise which brings her daughter comfort
- The mother relayed that every time the police have to be called in these incidents, they refuse to call an ambulance even when the mother has specifically requested that her child be taken in an ambulance.
- The mother said that she and her child are so traumatized that they hesitate to call or go to the hospital for anything.