Further Reading

Wednesday, 20 July 2011

'From The Ridiculous To The Sublime': Mother Loses Custody of her Baby Over Poppy Seeds

A mother in Pennsylvania had her newborn baby boy taken away from her after she failed a drugs test - because she had eaten a poppy seed salad dressing, her lawyer claims. Child protection workers took custody of Eileen Bower's two-day-old son, Brandon, after hospital staff found trace amounts of opium in her blood on the day she gave birth. Now she is suing Jameson Hospital and the Lawrence County Department of Children and Youth Services, saying she doesn't want any more women to face the same ordeal. Under Pennsylvania law, all new mothers are routinely tested for drugs. Her results came back showing trace amounts of opiates. Miss Bower said: 'They told me they would be taking my son. For someone to tell me I'm an unfit mother, I take drugs, was really kind of damaging.' It took 75 days for Miss Bower to get her son back, during which time he stayed with three different foster families...read more>>>....