Check this one out! Someone actually has a bill in the CA legislature for this...may you live in interesting times.

"Hold that Baby! Have You Taken Your Parenting Class Yet?"

Congratulations! You are a proud new parent, having just given birth to a healthy infant. However, when the doctor comes in to see if you're ready to go home, he starts quizzing you about whether you have taken any training classes on child rearing. Finding that you have not, he solemnly tells you that he will not release you and your child from the hospital until he is satisfied that you have the ability and knowledge to care for your child. Not only that, he will be sending a nurse to your home within two days after you get home, who will assess your environment to ensure that it is adequate for an infant, including making sure that there are no handguns in the home.

Not possible? Sound too Orwellian for 21st Century America? Guess again.

California Senate Bill 765, sponsored by Senator Wes Chesbro (D-02), would require all community child health program standards to be based on the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

While this sounds harmless, this group of doctors advocates a radical agenda:

1.They insist on "postnatal home visitation."

2.They are working toward the "elimination of corporal punishment as a recommended form of child discipline in all settings."

3.They want "reduced availability or elimination of handguns in all communities."

4.They argue for elimination of religious exemption laws guaranteeing parents' right to choose what medical care their children will receive.

***taken from*** Home School Legal Defense Association, Family Protection Ministries, and the Christian Home Educators Association of California are strongly opposed to S.B. 765, which would give the American Academy of Pediatrics' policies the force of law. In the near future, we will all be urging our members to call their senators to oppose this bill.

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@yahoo.com), June 05, 2001

Answers

Looks like soon there will be no choice but home births.

-- Green (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), June 05, 2001.

This does not surprise me in the least. I'm thoroughly convinced that the government is using our children to make this country more socialist/communist. Everything is supposedly for "the good of the people". Our government was never meant to have as much power as they have. It is certainly scarey. They are using the schools to sensatize the innocent children. I heard the other day on James Dobson that they are pushing the homosexual agenda in schools now. Actually encouraging teachers who are gay to come out and tell it so the kids can see that being gay makes them a good teacher! Sorry if I stepped on some toes but my Bible tells me homosexuality is an abomination. If I had small children still, I'd home birth and home school but I'm sure that soon that will be illegal. Folks, we need to do some hard praying for this country. It's in a sad state of affairs. Makes me wonder why this country is not mentioned in Revelation.

-- Barb (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), June 05, 2001.

In my happy perfect little fantasy world, postnatal home visitations would be done to make sure that new mom and baby are setting in OK and don't have any questions or problems. The sort of thing that grandma, auntie, and the other female relatives used to do before our families got so spread out and disjointed. The unfortunate reality is that the visit probably would be carried out by a child "protection" worker with a strict criteria for what constitutes an adequate home.

There was an interesting editorial in our local newspaper yesterday. The jist of it was, if the liberals keep claiming that safe sex education in the schools prevents unwanted pregnancies, then why won't they allow gun safety education in the schools to prevent shootings?

-- Sherri C (CeltiaSkye@aol.com), June 05, 2001.

After my fourth child was born, my new pediatrician wanted to do an extra test on him because he was big.(Most of my babies were). I can't remember exactly what it was, but it seemed to me at the time unneccesary and traumatizing. When I refused it, he informed me that it would be negligent on my part to not follow his advice. His tone sounded threatening to me, and you may be sure I informed him then and there that it would not be possible for us to work together and that I would find another pedi, which I did. There will never be a day when I need the government's advice on how to take care of my own children. Part of the reason I homeschool is that I believe I have the God-given stewardship to teach and disciple my own children. No thanks to the public schools or their "peers" teaching them what their morals and attitudes should be. And certainly no thanks to anyone following me home to tell me how to nurture my own.

-- mary, in colorado (marylgarcia@aol.com), June 05, 2001.

Been there, Done that. Want to see the T-shirt?

Fom birth to 4 weeks, my son was in intensive care in a LARGE N.C. hospital. Before we could take him home, we were required to watch a parenting video and sign a waiver noting we had seen and understood the tape. A 'social worker' was then assigned our 'case' (including periodic home 'reviews') under the guise of monitoring his development, because of his POTENTIAL development problems. Not that he SHOWED any problems up to this point, he MIGHT develop some problems, and we wouldn't know it.

Sign, or no baby.

After what we had been through, there was no arguing the point. Long story short: Everything came out OK. The boy always tested so far above their expectations, it actually embaressed one worker. They dropped and closed his 'case' (what was supposed to be an ongoing ordeal for at least 6 yrs.) after only about a year.

-- StevenB (thicketyrowfarm@aol.com), June 05, 2001.

Wow, Steven, what an ordeal! Will they not let you sign your own child out AMA there? We were about to do that with one of ours at one point, but the doctor gave in and signed him out for us.

-- mary, in colorado (marylgarcia@aol.com), June 05, 2001.

Been there Done that, Part II

Our 4th child decide to work on her somersaults at the last minute, so when my water broke, she was presenting Frank brech (bottom first). My midwife's insurance wouldn't allow her to do the delivery.

So off we go to the hospital to work with the only OB in the region who will do a Frank breech without giving me a C-Section. The Doc is sympathetic, knows my midwife, handles it beautifully, agrees to no meds, very little intervention, mostly just makes sure we're doing okay.

When I'm ready to be released, I go to get my daughter from the nurse, who is bathing her, and she tells me that she'll release as soon as the do the PKU stick. I say, no, it's on our record that my midwife will do it at the 2-3 day in home checkup, which is the EARLIEST time the test is valid. She disagrees, says she's not releasing my baby, then calls a worker from CPS and forces me out of the nursery, without my daughter. Now this social worker wants us to be investigated for negligence, and is asking me if I have a drug problem, and why don't I want the nurse to stick my baby for an unnecessary test which will produce invalid results at this time. It took me almost 3 hours to get the OB up there to remove my daughter from the nurse's custody, with the Head Pedi backing him up, and the nurse still argued, even with them. Luckily, the docs and my midwife straightened it all out with CPS, and smoothed the ruffled feathers over there.

The long and the short of it is: The above story doesn't surprise me one bit. This isn't a free country anymore, and I don't think it's going to get one bit better as far as the government goes.

-- Kristin, In LA. (positivekharma@aol.com), June 06, 2001.

It is common knowledge that all people, especially children; are the property of the state. So why should anyone be surprised that the state would send a manager (the nurse) to be sure that you are following the directions, in the state owned "feedlot" for humans.

No guns please, we will send directions later for drugs and diet that must be used in the future.

S.S. number required.

This whole thing makes a pretty good case for "home birth".

-- Ed Copp (OH) (edcopp@yahoo.com), June 08, 2001.

I had twins through a c-section and when, after 7 days in the hospital, during which time I and one child were doing great, I was told child no. 2 could not come home as she was too small (3.4 pounds), and that a social worker was assigned to my case as this was my first birth and that "something" might go wrong at home. I had to pack child no. 1 up several times each day and travel to the hospital to feed child no. 2, exposing child no. 1 to all kinds of disease, just because the state said she was too small to go home. There was no disease, no problem nursing, no medical anything. After 2 months of this, child no. 2 came home, where social workers were there the very next day to find out if everything was ok. One of the ladies told me that she just wasn't coming back after the second visit as it seemed that I had everything under control and she apologized that I had to go through all that. No one took into consideration that I was very small and their father was small - just more state interference. I think the social workers were embarrassed as they never found anything wrong, both babies are now grown and have very small babies of their own. Sometimes I think that in order to justify their jobs, people "invent a need, then fill it". My third child was a whopping 6 lbs, and he got to come home the next day after my c-section. I was told the hospital needed the bed, so I had to get out. How's that for finance over recovery?

-- Cindy (colawson@mindspring.com), June 08, 2001.

Barb, it may be that the reason this country isnt mentioned in the book of Revelation, is because we just may be wiped off the map before then, by our dear (white house) bedfellows from china.

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), July 04, 2001.

I understand how this is annoying to good parents but the fact remains, there are some pretty horrible parents out there, my mom being one of them. I almost wish someone had checked us out. They would have seen generations of abuse in her family and would have saved me and my sister much heartache. But you’re right, sometimes the government absolutely overdoes it but isn’t it better to be safe than sorry? What about the kids who come from really bad situations? I think they’d appreciate the visit.

-- daria (fake@aol.com), April 28, 2003.