Shortly after Mila’s birth last month, upon taking her to see their pediatrician, they learned she had developed a case of jaundice—a highly common condition in newborns resulting in the yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes, which typically goes away without treatment within one to two weeks. Dr. Anand Bhatt said the case was severe enough that they should take her to the hospital for phototherapy treatment, but the Jacksons opted to do the same phototherapy treatment for Mila in their home under Edinbyrd’s guidance. According to the letter Bhatt ultimately wrote CPS, published by local outlet WFAA, he was concerned that they had the wrong lights for the treatment. They’d connected him with Edinbyrd, but he was having trouble getting bacl in touch with them directly, and he decided to report them “after trying 10 attempts to appeal to the family through phone calls, text messages and leaving voicemails as they did not pick up the phone.”
“Parents are very loving and they care dearly about their baby,” he wrote of the Jacksons. “Their distrust for medical care and guidance has led them to make a decision for the baby to refuse a simple treatment that can prevent brain damage.”
Within days, the Jacksons say Dallas police officers and CPS agents arrived at their doorstep at around 5 a.m., informing the family that their pediatrician had reported them and demanding that they turn her over. The officers eventually left their home when the Jacksons refused—only to return hours later and tell the family that Mila was legally in the custody of Dallas CPS. The Jacksons again refused to turn over their newborn and instead reached out to their midwife for help. “Our midwife then reached out to the pediatrician, just letting him know that he had traumatized us, that we were woken up by police banging our door at 4 a.m., 5 a.m. Then after she gave him all the credentials he’d requested from her, he pretty much said he was going to leave our care and our midwife teams,” Temecia said at a Thursday press conference organized by the Afiya Center.
Over the next few days, everything seemed fine. But last Tuesday, as Rodney was walking the family’s dog outside their house, the police returned. He refused to surrender the baby when they confronted him, so they placed him under arrest, seized his keys, and used them to enter his home. There, officers took Mila from Temecia while she was alone.
Puzzlingly, on top of all this, Temecia claims the warrant that the Desoto Police Department and CPS agents used to take Mila didn’t even list her own name, instead listing her mother as another woman who’s previously had run-ins with CPS. The Jacksons still don’t even have Mila’s birth certificate because she wasn’t born in a hospital. “Instantly, I felt like they had stolen my baby, as I’d had a home birth. I didn’t know where to turn,” Temecia said.
Press Conference: NGAN & AFIYA Center https://t.co/Qkhqi812Fd
— The Afiya Center (@TheAfiyaCenter) April 6, 2023
In the last week, the Jacksons have been allowed a few supervised visits with Mila, who they say is in the care of a foster family. The visits have taken place at CPS offices in the presence of police officers, where Rodney told reporters they’re “treated like criminals.” Rodney claims that every attempt by the couple to deliver breast milk to Mila or otherwise care for her has been shut down.