When Florida resident Alyssa Princess Cesaire got pregnant in 2017, she did everything she was supposed to do, even by the standards of hardcore pro-lifers like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. She still got screwed over by the state—but this year her case has given other disabled mothers glimmers of hope.
Cesaire didn’t want to get an abortion. She carried the baby to term and gave birth to her son, Elijah, on February 1, 2018.
But shortly after the birth, when she was still in the hospital, the baby was taken from her by state child welfare authorities, for fear she would be an unfit mother.
This assumption of her incompetence seemed to be based on the fact that she is disabled. The disability she’s had since childhood causes her to walk awkwardly and have difficulty speaking.
When Cesaire was ready to go home from the hospital, she was not allowed to take Elijah with her. But a judge in child welfare court said that the federal Americans with Disabilities Act required the authorities to take into account that Cesaire had family members who were willing and able to assist with Elijah’s care.
So Elijah was returned to his mother. and here we are more than four years later and he seems to be doing fine. He lives with Cesaire and her mother in Florida.
Now, lawyers acting on Cesaire’s behalf took action to bring about policy changes to make sure nothing like this happens to other women with disabilities who give birth in Florida. In 2020, they filed a complaint in federal court against the Secretary of the Florida Department of Children and Families. The complaint alleged that the way Cesaire was treated violated her rights under the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities by recipients of federal funds.
Earlier this year, that case was finally resolved with a settlement agreement. Of course, it says that the Department admits to no wrongdoing in the way Cesaire was treated. That’s a common caveat in settlement agreements. But it also manages to take brand-new, and necessary, steps to address such situations.
In the agreement, the Department says its investigators “will not base decisions about child safety actions on stereotypes or generalizations about parents with disabilities, or on a parent’s disability, diagnosis, or intelligence measures alone. These decisions are made through an individualized assessment of the parent with a disability and objective facts relating to the danger threats impacting the child. If necessary and reasonable, accommodations must be provided…”
The agency also agreed to develop and implement staff training modules “to dispel stereotypes about parents with disabilities…and how to develop and implement reasonable accommodations…”
And finally, the Department will conduct annual trainings for relevant employees about how the ADA and Section 504 pertain to their jobs.
Let’s hope this means that nobody else will be treated like Cesaire was treated.