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Mother of malnourished baby freed
Sep. 16, 2008 News Summary
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Mother of malnourished baby freed
The mother of a malnourished infant boy at the centre of a standoff between members of a religious sect and concerned hospital workers was released yesterday on bail, while his father remained in police custody.
The nine-month-old child weighed only 11 pounds when his parents took him to the Hospital for Sick Children and then fled after refusing treatment, according to police reports.
The 22-year-old mother, 36-year-old father and a 24-year-old friend were arrested after they returned and were allegedly combative with hospital staff. They were charged with obstructing police.
Members of the religious sect, the Moorish Science Temple of America, who reject institutionalized medicine and are encouraged to observe a meat- and dairy-free diet, defended the young mother’s parenting abilities outside the College Park courtroom where she appeared.
They described a doting mom who placed socks on her baby’s hands so that he wouldn’t scratch the red and oozing rashes caused by his food allergies, and who observed an increasingly restrictive diet in an attempt to curb the baby’s allergic reactions to her breast milk.
“It’s not like [she] neglected the baby for nine months,” said Kudjo Adwo Sut Tekh El, Grand Sheik of the year-old Toronto chapter, which includes about 30 members.
[...]The mother and her 24-year-old friend are scheduled to appear again in court at College Park today at 10 a.m.; the father is scheduled to appear tomorrow.
Religious sect at centre of malnourishment case denies medical ban
The religious sect at the centre of a case in which a mother was arrested for removing her baby from a hospital does not prohibit members from seeking medical treatment, a local leader said yesterday.
The 22-year-old woman who is accused of refusing treatment for her malnourished baby won release yesterday.
Family members said the woman, who cannot be identified because her 11-pound, nine-month-old son is now in the care of Children’s Aid Society, grew up in a Methodist Christian home. Last year, she began meeting with members of the Moorish Science Temple of America, which has about 30 followers in the Toronto area.
The movement was founded in 1913 in Newark, N.J., by Timothy Drew, who took the spiritual name “Prophet Noble Drew Ali.”
Its followers believe that African-Americans were descended from the Moors or northwestern African Muslim people, and say it is a “way of life” rather than a religion. They prefer homeopathic treatments to traditional medicine, but are willing to “compromise.”
“We’re not refusing [the mother] going to the hospital and getting the medical attention that Sick Kids thinks this child should get. The child needs an IV to survive? Give the child an IV,” said Grand Sheik Kudjo Adwo Sut Tekh El, 33.
[...]The mother and her friend were both released on $2,500 bail. The mother, who also has a two-year-old son, is required to stay away from the Hospital for Sick Children and have no contact with the other accused.
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