Where Advocacy, Special Needs Parenting, & Life Collide
Cause of the Week | Ayn’s Freedom Fund
This week’s Cause | A young Canadian’s crime is being autistic
Help bring Ayn home
Can everyone imagine for a moment that you personally lived in a world where as you went about your day, you knew that at any moment… be it at home, work in school… people could come and grab you and forcibly put you in a vehicle and drive you to a big building where you were isolated and confined with strangers forcing medication…
– Derek Hoare, father of Ayn, who is severely autistic, trying to describe how being taken from school by CPS personnel would affect his daughter. (used with permission from Derek’s Facebook Group)
This week’s Cause of the Week hits me hard. Derek Hoare is a single father, trying to do the best he can for his three children, two of whom are autistic. Ayn, who Derek has described as a “spitfire” of a sweet girl, is nine and severely autistic. Her curiosity led her away from their home one morning and Derek, like many parents, immediately called the police for help.
His daughter was autistic, she was helpless, she was unaware of the dangers in this world of ours. So he called the authorities to help find her. They responded. She was found.
The story was supposed to have a happy ending.
Instead, CPS showed up at his front door only four days later, while Ayn was at school, to request that he “allow” them to take his daughter into custody. As Derek said in an open letter at his Facebook Group’s page, “There should be no illusions here when someone approaches you and says “give me your child or i’m taking her” you should not pretend that any such choice would be done “voluntarily.“
A worthy cause: One special needs dad who won’t say “quit”
Derek is now trying to raise awareness for not only his own little girl, but for all kids in this situation.
Kids whose only crime was being autistic.
Parents whose only crime was looking away for one moment.
There were no signs of neglect. No signs of abuse.
Who among us hasn’t looked away from our child for a moment?
Thousands are already standing with Derek, worldwide. Here in the states, I find myself moved to do the same. I’ll be writing about Derek’s cause for Ayn and for all children and their parents faced with this kind of nightmare. While awareness is raised one person at a time, I firmly believe that as more caring folks learn about this family’s plight the public outcry can lead to positive changes, in Canada and the US, and around the world.
Would you stand up with this family?
A special needs cause that’s personal
I’m placing a Chip-In widget here at the Cafe this week, but I’m’ going one step further for this, a cause that hits so close to home. Here’s what will happen at the Cafe over the next five days:
Friday:
- A Bloghop will start on Friday, at 12:01 am, and end on Saturday at 12:01 am when the regular Special Needs Blog Hop will commence.
- Another post about Derek and Ayn will be posted on Friday to kick off the Blog Hop for Ayn, with an informational post as soon as possible regarding it.
Monday:
- If not sooner, I will have a permanent page at the Cafe set up for Ayn’s cause. I will have streaming information from the Twitter campaign and blog posts from all who would like to post to just this page, under this category listing.
- While I will choose a new Cause of the Week next week, the Chip In widget for Ayn will continue to have a home on my sidebar as long as it is needed.
Now, it’s your turn!
What will you do to raise awareness today? If you don’t think every contribution is important then you haven’t been listening. My motto is ”Awareness starts with one person at a time” for a reason. It takes us all working together to make a difference and raise awareness.
- Tweet about it
- Share it to Facebook
- Repeat
- Join Derek’s Facebook group
- Sign the Petition
Do you blog? Join me for the Blog Hop on Friday and tweet about it!
This single dad of three kids, two of whom are special needs, needs your help today! Won’t you join the cause?
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Katrina Moody
Graphic Designer, Wordpress Addict, Blogger at Kat's Media & More
I'm a special needs parent before just about everything else in life, but also a passionate advocate for my three boys and husband, who all have a bit of awesomeness about them. Awesomeness = Axenfeld-Rieger Syndrome, Autism, Epilepsy, Dyslexia, Cerebral Palsy, and more. It all adds up to some awesome kids and an amazing family.
@KatrinaMoody
Wife; Mom to 3 guys w/ARS, autism, epilepsy & awesomeness; Advocate. Writer, Graphic Designer, Wordpress addict, social media nut. Site: http://katsmedia.com &
Employee Engagement: Every Leader’s Imperative http://t.co/TbC54zF6cB via @MeghanMBiro - 2 hours ago
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Kat,
So, are you saying that this girl was missing and as a result, CPS felt that was neglectful and removed her? I find that deplorable especially in light of the fact that Casey Anthony didn't even report her daughter missing for 31 days, she was found dead, and they didn't find her guilty of murder or neglect or abuse!!!! What kind of world do we live in?
To help spread the word, should I link to your story?
Michelle
Michelle – This girl is autistic and escaped her fenced-in backyard and was found two yards over, safe, and returned home. Four days later the local CPS authorities came and demanded that Derek allow them to take her, not from home, but from school. She's severely autistic and didn't understand why they were taking her, why she couldn't see her dad. They didn't think he was neglectful, at least they didn't say he was neglectful or abusive (and he's a great parent, this from several unbiased reports from school and others) – just that he was a single dad with three children and two of them were autistic. They took her from school and had her drugged within 70 hours, against the family's wishes, on three different medications while they did assessment. Now she is in foster care while they wait for another program to open up. I know there is more than that, but from the outside, it certainly seems that they took her away from her father for the crime of being autistic. Hard to fathom, isn't it? While this was in Canada, worldwide attention is spreading because it happens every day even here in the US. The authorities don't understand autism and react inappropriately to a child on the spectrum, not taking into account their distinctive emotional needs, as well as behaviors that are a result of being autistic. This leaves parents facing the unthinkable.
To help spread the word you can link to the story (by all means) or you can link directly to the Facebook group or petition site mentioned in the story, or both. Thanks for caring! –Kat
[...] Needs Blog Hop ♥Cause of the Week ♥Kat’s Times ♥Deep Thoughts Cause of the Week | Ayn’s Freedom Fund »A4CWSN Wants to Give Special Needs Kids the WorldBy Katrina, on July 21st, 2011 [...]
[...] for Ayn”I wrote earlier this week, awarding this week’s Cause of the Week status to Ayn’s Freedom Fund. I’ve felt personally challenged to become involved in this campaign, even more so as I have [...]