My mother is a police officer in Florida.
She called me tonight because she wanted to get my input on a situation she encountered while working a week or so ago. As she was not the primary officer on this scene, she could not make any decisions regarding the outcome, but did her best to influence the primary officer into making the right choices.
The story--Police were called on a "domestic battery in progress." A male officer was first on scene, the "primary." My mom was his back-up, and his female sergeant was also on the scene. A man and a woman and their 9-month old baby boy were at the home. The man was accused of physically attacking the woman. The man denied the attack, saying, instead that it was a "mutually combative" situation, in which they were both attacking each other.
My mother says that, in her professional opinion, it was clearly a case of domestic battery perpetrated against the mother, given the marks and scratches on the woman and the lump on the back of her head, and the man was unscathed. The primary officer basically dismissed the woman's complaint and said he was not going to arrest the man for battery, thus leaving him free to remain in the home with the woman and child.
The woman was visibly upset and said that all she wanted to do was take the baby and go stay with her parents until she could figure out what she was going to do. Let me add here that the baby was breastfed. The primary officer told the woman that she could not take the baby out of the home if the father did not consent, and that she could leave but the baby had to stay. "But I'm breastfeeding," the mother advised, again.
Although my mother could not convince the primary officer to arrest the man, she was able to convince him to allow the woman and baby to leave.
She is now on vacation and trying to do some research on the Florida State Statutes that would affect child-custody in a situation like this--where the parents are not married and there is no court-order regarding custody. The father is on the birth certificate, but they have never been married, and my mother is of the understanding that in the absence of a court order, the custodial parent will always default to the mother. She is even further convinced that the fact that we're talking about a breastfeeding pair here would be even more to support that the mother (in this situation) would retain the legal custody rights.
She has been through her criminal statutes book, but has been unable to locate any information specifically supporting (or denying) her position. She would like to be able to find something to legally support her position so that she can share it with other officers.
I know this may be only partially related to breastfeeding and lactivism, but I think my primary concern is that the male officer was willing to force a breastfeeding mom to separate from her nursling in order for her to not feel afraid for her life, and that is why I'm hoping some of you who are more versed in the lactivist-side of things might be able to help me.
Any ideas where to look?
She called me tonight because she wanted to get my input on a situation she encountered while working a week or so ago. As she was not the primary officer on this scene, she could not make any decisions regarding the outcome, but did her best to influence the primary officer into making the right choices.
The story--Police were called on a "domestic battery in progress." A male officer was first on scene, the "primary." My mom was his back-up, and his female sergeant was also on the scene. A man and a woman and their 9-month old baby boy were at the home. The man was accused of physically attacking the woman. The man denied the attack, saying, instead that it was a "mutually combative" situation, in which they were both attacking each other.
My mother says that, in her professional opinion, it was clearly a case of domestic battery perpetrated against the mother, given the marks and scratches on the woman and the lump on the back of her head, and the man was unscathed. The primary officer basically dismissed the woman's complaint and said he was not going to arrest the man for battery, thus leaving him free to remain in the home with the woman and child.
The woman was visibly upset and said that all she wanted to do was take the baby and go stay with her parents until she could figure out what she was going to do. Let me add here that the baby was breastfed. The primary officer told the woman that she could not take the baby out of the home if the father did not consent, and that she could leave but the baby had to stay. "But I'm breastfeeding," the mother advised, again.
Although my mother could not convince the primary officer to arrest the man, she was able to convince him to allow the woman and baby to leave.
She is now on vacation and trying to do some research on the Florida State Statutes that would affect child-custody in a situation like this--where the parents are not married and there is no court-order regarding custody. The father is on the birth certificate, but they have never been married, and my mother is of the understanding that in the absence of a court order, the custodial parent will always default to the mother. She is even further convinced that the fact that we're talking about a breastfeeding pair here would be even more to support that the mother (in this situation) would retain the legal custody rights.
She has been through her criminal statutes book, but has been unable to locate any information specifically supporting (or denying) her position. She would like to be able to find something to legally support her position so that she can share it with other officers.
I know this may be only partially related to breastfeeding and lactivism, but I think my primary concern is that the male officer was willing to force a breastfeeding mom to separate from her nursling in order for her to not feel afraid for her life, and that is why I'm hoping some of you who are more versed in the lactivist-side of things might be able to help me.
Any ideas where to look?
: Can she not even go to a protective woman's shelter?
