by Health Impact News/MedicalKidnap.com Staff

Child Protective Services doesn’t believe that Kaya Jackson is smart enough to take care of her youngest child Egypt. Though a judge ruled months ago that Kaya didn’t need to have a neuropsychological evaluation, another judge since then approved the South Carolina Department of Social Services (DSS) request for the test.

Now a doctor says that her IQ is too low to care for a special needs child, even though she has taken many classes and learned what she needs to know to care for her daughter.

All this comes at a time when it looked like their family’s nightmare was finally coming to an end and they would be reunited. Unsupervised visits had begun in October, and Egypt was supposed to be returned home by February at the latest.

This new development unravels the progress that has happened over the last 4 years as Kaya has fought to bring her family back together again. She has jumped through every hoop that DSS has placed before her. Every time that she meets another demand, social workers have managed to get a judge to approve yet another demand.

Mother Never Abused Children

Kaya Jackson never abused or neglected her children. It all boils down to the fact that the government agency known as Child Protective Services has decided that she doesn’t have enough intelligence to care for one of her children.

Egypt was abused, but her mother had nothing to do with it. Her non-custodial father Joseph Morales is currently serving an 18-year prison sentence for beating her during one of his weekend visits. He confessed to throwing her on the couch and punching her in the head, actions which put his daughter into a coma and left her permanently brain damaged. (Source.)

Kaya was not involved in any way with the abuse. She had not seen any reason to suspect that her child’s father was capable of violence, but DSS seized custody from her anyway.

When Egypt was released from the hospital, she left with multiple medical problems. She is wheelchair bound, requires a feeding tube, is partially blind, and suffers from daily seizures.

The foster family was provided with a home health nurse to help with her medical care, but the nurse hired by the state sexually abused the child while she was in the foster home. (Source.)

It took almost a year for DSS to move Egypt to a different foster home.

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Peggy Louise Atkins was offered a plea deal to reduce her charge from sexual misconduct on a minor to unlawful child neglect. She received a 6 year suspended sentence with 30 months of probation.

When DSS seized custody of Egypt, they also took her 4-year-old sister Sha’kyah and placed her in foster care. Her older brother and sister went to live with their grandmother.

Other Children Returned Home, Reunification Ordered for Egypt

Sha’kyah did not spend long in foster care and was returned to her mother, who has since remarried. The older kids came home in the summer of 2018. The children are thriving and happy with their mother and step-father. They are all doing well in school, but they miss their little sister terribly.

A judge ruled in the fall that Egypt would be reunified with her family, with unsupervised visits beginning in October, transitioning to her being home for good by February 2019 at the latest. Finally, they thought, Egypt was coming home and they would all be together again.

Mother Jumped through Every DSS Hoop

At the time when Egypt was first medically kidnapped in 2015, Greenville Memorial Hospital Child Abuse Pediatrician Dr. Nancy Henderson told DSS that Kaya was incapable of caring for her child.

In the time since then, Kaya Jackson has attended many doctors appointment and has worked hard to learn how to care for Egypt’s medical needs and to meet every new requirement placed on her by DSS.

When they said that her home was too small, they moved into a 4-bedroom home. When they said that she could not rely on public transportation but needed a driver’s license, she got it. Then she needed a car. It wasn’t big enough for DSS, so they got a van.

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Kaya took every class that DSS requested and then some, including classes on CPR, first aid, seizures and epilepsy, G-tubes, special needs children, and medications. She passed every class.

DSS reportedly never worked with her to get the classes, but she found ways to learn what she needed to without their help.

Her social worker told her that she had to get certified in car seats. She sought classes and watched YouTube videos, only to find out that there is no certification for parents in car seats. Certification is for EMTs and other specialists who work with parents.

She now knows more about car seat safety than many social workers who snatch children only to place them in the wrong car seat for the child’s size. (Many parents report their children being taken by social workers or transported by foster parents using incorrect car seats. Some have reported that their children are not properly buckled, or even placed into car seats that are not even buckled into the vehicle at all!)

For more than 2 years they told her that she needed training in how to care for Egypt, but they refused to give her the referrals that she needed to get the training.

She and her husband were finally able to complete a 3 day intensive training at Greenville Memorial Hospital. She learned how to change out the connectors on the feeding tube, how to give rescue medications for Egypt’s seizures, and how to recognize when to take her to the emergency room.

She knows, and described to Health Impact News, what to do if problems arise.

The hospital where she took classes reportedly agreed that she was capable of caring for Egypt.

It was one hoop after another, and Kaya met everything that was asked of her. She has “lots of certificates.”

DSS Chooses Own Judge to Reverse Reunification?

DSS was not happy with the judge who ruled for Egypt to be reunified with her family. South Carolina has an odd quirk with family court that may be unique to that state – cases rotate through different judges instead of staying with the same judge. One advocate said that a clerk told her:

DSS makes their own court docket.

DSS is able to look at which judge will be present at what time so they can set up cases the way they want them.

This is how, presumably, at the next court hearing after reunification was ruled, DSS was able to get a new judge to back everything they wanted, including the demand that Kaya get a neuropsychological evaluation. The previous judge had stated that this was not necessary. DSS said that Kaya:

…has the diagnosable condition of Bi-polar Disorder, which renders her unable or unlikely to provide minimally acceptable care of Egypt Morales due to Egypt’s medically fragile condition.

However, Kaya already has 3 psychological evaluations that say that she is not bi-polar. Nor does she have any other mental illness.

The neuropsych evaluation included an IQ test. Before the test, Kaya says that the psychologist Dr. Laura Stone Anthony said to her:

I already know what DSS is looking for. I have to give it to them.

Several advocates have told Health Impact News that the providers of services for DSS/CPS are usually contracted with them, and if they don’t “find” the way the agency wants them to, they won’t continue to get the lucrative contracts with CPS.

Alabama attorney Lisa Chasteen has reported that an attorney for CPS complained in a court hearing that a particular provider did not “find the way we want them to,” and thus they rejected the services of that provider.

The doctor contracted by DSS to do Kaya’s evaluation found that she was “borderline learning disabled,” with an IQ of 70.

Eric Ziegler and Amy Fabbrini are another couple who lost their children to “low IQ,” but they eventually got them back after their story went viral and was picked up by the Glenn Beck Show and many other media outlets. Eric’s IQ was tested to be at 66 and Amy’s, 72.

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There were concerns expressed because Kaya didn’t “know the medications off the top of her head.” Kaya’s response is this:

Like I told her nurse, I have a list of her medications. All I have to do is read the bottle and pull her medications. What’s so hard about that? I know all her basic care.

When we first covered Egypt’s story, Kaya’s advocate Adrienne Lomax explained that she is a good mom who is capable of learning anything that she needs to; she simply learns a little slower. Things may need to be explained twice. Her experience has been that Kaya is quite competent in figuring things out and looking up information that she needs.

“Low IQ” Finding Destroys Hope of Being Together Again at Christmas

Nonetheless, Dr. Anthony’s findings have had a devastating effect on Egypt’s case.

Egypt’s pediatrician, who recently said that Kaya was capable of taking care of her daughter, has since changed her recommendation, telling the court that she no longer recommends that Egypt be returned home due to her mother’s low IQ and learning disability.

Visitation, which has been unsupervised since early October, has now stopped completely.

There will be no family visit at all for Christmas. The next court hearing is scheduled for January 30, 2019, and DSS is again recommending that all parental rights be terminated.

Kaya and her family are heartbroken.

Egypt’s older siblings are “always asking when their sister is coming home.”

Sha’kyah, who is now 7, sleeps with her little sister’s picture. They were so happy about Egypt coming home, and now they cannot see her at all.

Kaya Jackson asks how that can possibly be good for Egypt. She has been told that the current fosters do not want to adopt her and that Egypt may be “unadoptable,” which could mean that:

now my child will be passed around in the system till she dies.

She has a family that loves her and wants her home.

Caring for special needs children is certainly a challenge, but Kaya would not be alone in taking care of Egypt. She has plenty of support available to her, and she has trained to be able to care for Egypt.

DSS provides home-health nurses to help the foster parents with her care. At one time, there were nurses in the foster home for 20 hours per day (including the nurse who was arrested for sexually assaulting the child).

Medicaid would still cover a home-health nurse for 56 hours per week if Egypt goes home, (and they would be supervised by the family to ensure Egypt’s safety in their care). That works out to 8 hours per day.

Kaya has already talked with a special school for her daughter. The school is year-round, and there would be a nurse on the school bus.

Some of the time at home are hours when Egypt will be sleeping. Kaya’s husband will be home in the evenings to help. The other children are old enough to help with their sister’s care as well, and the family has backup support already lined up.

Wouldn’t it be better for Egypt to be surrounded by those who love her most?

ADA Violation by DSS

Kaya apologized on Facebook to her daughter “for having a learning disability.” She wrote on the Family Forward Project page and the Prayers for Egypt page:

Im so sorry i don’t have a genius iq!!!

People were shocked. Comments were very supportive and included statements like these:

Never apologize for who you are! It is not your fault the system failed you and your daughter. A learning disability does not make you a bad or unfit mom. You are a strong woman to go thru 4 years of fighting for your baby, that’s exactly what a good mother would do. I’m so sorry, my heart breaks for you. Stay strong mama and never give up.

Girl what I saw you do in the court room blew my mind!!! I don’t even think I could have done that! They way you showed that judge how you knew how to take care of your daughter!! DONT YOU GIVE UP!!!

This can’t be real life. Idk you at all but I’ve followed your tragedy. My heart breaks for you. My prayers are with you both.

Many reminded her that, if she is learning disabled, then DSS must make reasonable accommodations for her in order for them to be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). They have not.

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Because this is a violation of Kaya Jackson’s civil rights under the ADA, she has already taken action and filed a complaint with the Department of Justice. She received notice on December 15 that the DOJ has received her complaint.

The family is now in contact with a civil rights attorney whom they hope will take the case.

How You Can Help

There is a Facebook page set up for the family called Prayers for EGYPT.

The governor of South Carolina is Henry McMaster. He may be reached at (803) 734-2100 or contacted here.

The Senator for Kaya Jackson’s district is Karl B. Allen. He may be reached at (803) 212-6008 or contacted here.

Representative Chandra E. Dillard represents the district. She may be reached at (803) 212-6791 or contacted here.