American Idol star Syesha Mercado‘s two children, previously removed from Mercado and her partner Tyron Deener’s home over health concerns, are with an “estranged relative” amid her custody battle, lead attorney Derrick McBurrows reveals to USA Today. Mercado and Deener can visit 15-month-old Amen’Ra and 16-day-old Asset Sba once a week. “We don’t want to say where for their safety, but they are not with their parents,” attorney Louis Baptiste said. “And not with the person they would choose.”
The couple’s newborn was removed from their custody on Aug. 11 after Manatee County officers surrounded their car. Deener’s three other children under the age of 8 were also in the car. Since February, Mercado and Deener have been trying to regain custody of their son after their trip to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, which led to him being placed in foster care. Mercado went to the hospital concerned that her breast milk supply was drying up and the baby wouldn’t accept any other fluids. “The only thing we’ve done as parents is going to get assistance for our son,” Deener said, telling people he believes the family has been targeted partially because they adhere to a vegan diet. “We’ve been judged on the way we look, the way we present ourselves. We’ve been criminalized. We had our son and daughter removed from us for lack of understanding.”
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“This is my first time being a mom, and I’ve been deprived of holding my babies and feeding my babies. I didn’t get to see Ra say ‘mama’ for the first time, and I didn’t get to see my babies meet for the first time, and I can’t go back and redo that moment.” Mercado added. “I feel my daughter. I feel her when she’s hungry. I know when she’s crying, and I can’t do anything.”
The couple’s case has been heard on social media and has prompted a response from several celebrities, including Kim Kardashian and fellow American Idol alum David Archuleta. “This case is based on animus that has been built on this family, against their beliefs, against their practices, what they choose to eat and what they choose not to eat,” Baptiste said. “If this family can be attacked because of what they believe, they practice a vegan lifestyle; then it shows that no family is safe, no child is safe.”
The attorney said police had no reason to take the couple’s newborn away from them, adding that “every second she existed, she was with her mother,” he said. He went on to say that when the boy was taken for medical attention “he was brought by this family. Every single instance, they sought help, they sought guidance.” He said the family has the right “to seek their choice of medical treatment. They have the right to practice their beliefs. The record is clear. At every single instance, these parents have done that. They always have made the best medical decisions for their children.”
