IQ costs Oregon parents their kids, but is that fair?

The Oregonian ^ | July 18, 2017 | Samantha Swindler

[TBP]

The nursery in Amy Fabbrini and Eric Ziegler's home is filled with unread children's books and unworn baby clothes. A Winnie the Pooh blanket lies untouched inside a crib where a child has never slept.

For nearly four years, the Redmond couple has been fighting to prove to the state of Oregon that they are intellectually capable of raising their children. The Department of Human Services has removed both of their boys, saying the parents are too mentally limited to be good parents.

Fabbrini, 31, and Ziegler, 38, lost custody of their older son, Christopher, shortly after he was born. Five months ago, the state took their second child, newborn Hunter, directly from the hospital. Both are now in foster care.

[SanchoP]

IQ average for Somalia is 68 and we’re bringing them in by the thousands.

[metmom]

I lived in a welfare town next door to someone who rented the slumlord property next door.

The mother could not have had an IQ about 70 and if that weren’t bad enough, her boyfriend and his buddies were molesting her 5 yr old daughter and there was incest in the home as well.

Disgusting beyond belief.

But it was the proof of incest that finally caused DSS to step in. It wasn’t *mental capability*.

[Mr. Blond]

The average caucasian IQ is 100. 70 is considered borderline retarded, at least in our society.

[Gene Eric]

Compared to Progressive parents that gender-mutilate their offspring?

[greatvikingone]

We might have a better picture of this story if we knew why the mother does not have custody of, and is not fighting for custody of, her older twin daughters.

As the parent of a mentally handicapped child I am very interested in how this plays out. My daughter should never have or raise children, not because of her low IQ, but because her specific mental deficits (limited short term memory and total intellectual and emotional collapse in stressful situations) endangers her own life without constant supervision.

I’m also curious about the parents’ assigned IQs. My daughter was found to have an IQ of 77, but even with 18 years of private education could not get beyond 3rd-6th grade equivalents (depending on the subject).

[jimfree]

This was a television script decades ago. The parents prevailed. Progress.

[dasboot]

Ewwwwwww.

[MacMattico]

And on the other hand, I know parents that have tried and spent several thousand dollars on attorney fees because they have an adult child who has severe autism and isn't able to take care of themselves but the State of NY insists, due to a few “tests” that the court chosen Psychologist says they have conducted, that the individual is not incompetent and able to take care of themselves. The court will not grant guardianship. The child—I say child but they are 20— routinely comes home having given all of their money away, not understanding simple things, cannot cook for fear of catching the house on fire,and has to be reminded to do things like brush their teeth. The judge seemed to think HS graduation meant they were ready for the world. Truth is they were passed through as special needs. The parents are scared to death every time a car pulls up with men in it they don't know and the daughter leaves.And there's nothing they can do.

[Pearls Before Swine]

What was the kid’s IQ?

Often, it is close to that of the parents. Maybe he would have been happiest with them.

[nclaurel]

Sad attitude you have. I have nephew with an IQ about 70. He is 30, works full time and is one of the best fathers I know. Because of his limitations, he does all he can to see that his 2 children are loved and given learning opportunities. Eugenics comes to mind when we decide based on IQ who will be a loving, nurturing parent and who won’t. Margaret Sanger seal of approval.

[logi_cal869]

You write opinion of a contentious topic about which you have no knowledge whatsoever.

Bluntly-stated, you have no effing clue when it comes to children and Oregon DHS and no business espousing defense of a broken bureaucracy.

[TBP]

We have a niece who is, to be polite, slow. Her husband is probably more normal, but he's not the brightest bulb either. Yet their son is a bight young man who was majoring in engineering. He will do well in life.

Things like that drive these progressive fascists at agencies like CPS crazy. Progressives just know that that can't happen. So when it does, it's obviously dangerous and immoral.

[Teacher317]

I dislike Sean Penn quite a bit.... but the movie “I am Sam” is very good, and is directly on point for this issue. Watch it if you get a chance.

[TBP]

Both parents graduated in the middle of their class, yet the state insists they’re too stupid to raise a child. I wonder if the state took the children away from those who finished below these parents in their graduating class(es).

Or is the point to exploit the parents’ low IQ to fulfill their desire to take control of these children for their own (probably nefarious) purposes?

[Teacher317]

Putting these children in a safe environment where they can grow and flourish, and stretch intellectually is not totalitarian or fascist.

The state deciding who is "likely" to be good parents or not, and tearing families apart based on those decisions of bureaucrats, based essentially on test scores... and you want to pretend that this isn't Statist?

Your IQ is quickly coming into doubt.

[TBP]

There is personal experience in our family that says you’re wrong.

[TBP]

That argument was also used for Charlie Gard

Precisely -- and that case, like this one, was never about the child's welfare (which progressives, by definition, don't care about), but about the power of the state and about controlling the peons.