Syesha Mercado: What to Know About the ‘American Idol’ Star’s Child Custody Battle

Beloved American Idol runner-up Syesha Mercado is asking fans for help in a legal battle for custody of her children, and there’s a lot to catch up on if you’re hearing her story for the first time. Mercado was the third-place runner-up on American Idol Season 7 in 2008. In posts on social media, the 34-year-old mom-of-two says her 15-month-old son Amen’Ra has been “legally kidnapped.”

Mercado began posting about her custody battle on Instagram back in May, and has continued since then with public pleas and petitions as she follows the designated legal process. Amen’Ra was taken by Child Protective Services on March 11 in a series of bizarre acts by law enforcement which Mercado calls “legalized kidnapping.” Along the way, police and CPS agents repeatedly lied to Mercado, she says. Now she is not sure of who to trust and how to go about getting custody of her son back.

Mercado has shared her story in excruciating detail on social media in the hopes of showing fans just how nonsensical it has been. She also believes that the whole thing has been motivated by racism — both systemic and personal.

Mercado is still accepting money on her GoFundMe page to help cover all the legal fees required to get her child back. She is also simply raising awareness of this flaw in the system which she believes many other families are suffering from. Here’s what you need to know about Mercado’s story.

Syesha Mercado

Many American Idol fans likely remember Mercado from her stellar performances in Season 7 back in 2008. She finished third behind runner-up David Archuleta and winner David Cook. Mercado might be best remembered for performances like “Yesterday” by The Beatles or “Saving All My Love For You” by Whitney Houston. She would go on to have a starring role in a touring production of Dreamgirls, then continued to work in theater, film and other forms of entertainment, including Broadway.

In her GoFundMe post, Mercado describes herself as a creative entrepreneur but notes: “my proudest accomplishment in life is being a Mommy to my beautiful baby boy, Amen’Ra.” Meanwhile, she describes her partner, Tyron Deener as “an educator and youth service professional working in the Foster system.”

Amen’Ra Custody Issues

According to Mercado’s posts, her 15-month-old son Amen’Ra was taken from her on March 11 under false claims by the police and Child Protective Services. They were at the hospital in Florida seeking supplemental fluids for Amen’Ra during his transition from extended breastfeeding to bottle feeding, as Mercado was pregnant at the time. She wrote: “My son was placed in a White foster home bypassing our qualified relatives for placement. THIS IS LEGALIZED KIDNAPPING!”

Mercado added that a police officer specifically told her it would be for “just one night,” but that it had been 53 days since her son was taken at the time of her first post. “There are literally NO words that can express how I have to relive that day, every day,” she wrote.

Why?

Mercado claims that CPS took her child on the basis of an outright lie. She wrote that the agency “claim we refused a B12 shot that was a matter of life and death, which is an absolute lie. We never refused a B12 shot, and at no point was he on the verge of death.”

Since then, Mercado explains that CPS and other authorities are conducting a protracted investigation process while leaving her son in a foster home. She said that and her family were not given a chance to help select the foster parents and that they had “qualified relatives or friends” who were not interviewed despite their familiarity with the system.

“We are given limited information and presently only have weekly zoom visitation for an hour with our sun, with no court order stating these visitation limitations,” she wrote. 

Daughter

This week, Mercado’s family suffered even more tragedy when authorities took her newborn daughter away from her and Deener during a traffic stop captured on Instagram Live. The baby is just days old, and police only reluctantly allowed Mercado to hurriedly pump breast milk for her in the back of the car before taking her away. The heartwrenching video shows Mercado weeping, and it has fans — and fellow American Idol alumni — in a rage.

Dr. Sally Smith

Mercado and Deener have been misled by various agencies and individuals, but according to a report by NBC News much of their hardship boils down to the word of the controversial Dr. Sally Smith at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida. Smith is one of the subjects of a massive investigative report by the USA Today Network report about cases like Mercado’s, where parents are judged incapable of caring for their children too quickly.

Reporters found that in many cases where Smith had taken children away from their parents, the charges were eventually dropped and the parents were acquitted. In the meantime, those families suffered unthinkable separation like the ones that Mercado is experiencing right now. 

How to Help

Mercado is using her platform not just to ask for help in her case, but to help shine a light on the entire system that she has fallen into. She and Denner are still accepting donations on their GoFundMe page for help with legal fees, as the process for getting their children back is a long one. They also have a Change.org petition here, where users can formally ask the court to expedite Amen’Ra and his sister’s return home.

Updates

Finally, Mercado and her fans are using the hashtag “Bring Ra Home” on all social media platforms, and sharing the videos of her encounters with law enforcement where relevant. The family has a website here and a “Call to Action” here to explain their situation. Mercado posts most of her breaking updates on Instagram.