Black Couple Says Texas Authorities Seized Their Newborn Because They Chose a Midwife Over a Hospital

By: Kylie Cheung

Article Reprint

Dallas residents Rodney and Temecia Jackson say Dallas CPS and police took their newborn daughter Mila last week shortly after her home birth, and they don’t know if or when they’ll get her back.

UPDATE 4/7, 9:15 a.m.: This piece has been updated to include additional context about the baby’s medical situation from the pediatricians’s letter to Child Protective Services, as reported Thursday evening by the local news outlet WFAA.

Two weeks ago, Dallas parents Temecia and Rodney Jackson opted for a home birth for their newborn daughter, Mila, with licensed midwife Cheryl Edinbyrd. As of Thursday, the infant remains in the custody of Dallas Child Protective Services in what the Jacksons and their advocates at the Dallas-based, Black-women-led birth and reproductive justice organization The Afiya Center have likened to a “kidnapping.” Minutes before the start of a scheduled Thursday morning hearing for the couple to get their newborn back, the hearing was postponed to April 20th—two weeks from now.

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