Almost a Travesty

We had a dilemma come up this week. Mom has chosen not to immunize the boys. When we took custody of them in January we were aware of this, and were told that the court would respect her wish. Not a problem. Until now.

Our community is experiencing an epidemic of pertussis, or whooping cough. We have been hearing about it on the news and certainly became concerned for the boys. Especially J, who has breathing trouble whenever he gets a cold. The whooping cough is brutal and can last for months.

But the bigger dilemma is this: Our son has asthma and shares a room with the boys. I did some research and learned that the vaccine is not 100% effective. I also learned that children who get whooping cough are contagious before they ever show symptoms. People with asthma who get whooping cough are at risk of much more serious complications than others. We called our pediatrician who advised us not to have our son sleeping in a room with children who are not immunized.

We explained all of this to mom, who quickly informed us that she would not be immunizing the boys and that she would have them removed from our home before she got them immunized. Period, end of discussion.

Now I would hate to see those boys traumatized again by being pulled from our home and placed in foster care with people they do not know. That would be a travesty. But my first obligation is to protect my child in every way possible, which means the boys get immunized or they cannot live here any longer. The decision is, unfortunately, out of my hands.

Since mom was clear that she would not immunize, I had to contact the social worker and share my dilemma. He completely understood, but told me that ultimately the court must respect her decision as she retains her parental rights, including medical decisions. He said he would contact mom and try to talk to her about it and asked that we give her a "heads up" that he would be calling.

When my husband called mom and told her, she was very angry. But I guess the reality that her boys could be uprooted once again hit her and she agreed to get them immunized for pertussis. She is not happy at all, but at least she is doing the right thing for her kids.

Thank God for answering prayers. This could have been horrible for those kids.