A couple from the US are fighting to have custody of their two young children returned to them after they were sent to a foster home due to their parent’s low IQ scores.
Amy Fabbrini and Eric Ziegler, who live in Oregon, lost custody of their four-year-old son Christopher shortly after he was born.
Their son Hunter, who was born five months ago, has also been removed from their care, The Independent reports.
Though there’s no record of abuse or neglect, the Department of Human Services claims the couple are too “intellectually incapable” to raise their children.
“I love kids, I was raised around kids, my mum was a preschool teacher for 20-plus years, and so I’ve always been around kids,” heartbroken mum Amy told Oregon Live.
“That’s my passion. I love to do things with kids, and that’s what I want to do in the future, something that has to do with kids.”
According to court documents, psychological evaluations tested Amy’s IQ at about 72, placing her in the “extremely low to borderline range of intelligence,” and Eric’s around 66, placing him in the “mild range of intellectual disability.”
The average IQ is between 90 and 110.
Amy’s father says his daughter “doesn’t have the instincts to be a mother,” revealing he and his wife provided most of the care for Amy’s twins to her previous relationship. He says he urged her to put Christopher up for adoption.
According to a court appeal, the state put Christopher in foster care because both parents had “limited cognitive abilities that interfere with (their) ability to safely parent the child.”
Since then, Oregon Live reports that the couple has taken classes on parenting, first aid, CPR and nutrition in a bid to regain custody of their children.
Sherrene Hagenbach, an advocate for the couple, started a petition to return Christopher and Hunter to Amy and Eric’s care.
“I quickly discovered that this family had no problem at all taking care of their son. They showed loving attention, were attentive to his needs, and at this point had been fighting faithfully in court for almost three years to prove to CPS that they were capable and loving parents,” Ms Hagenbach, board member of Healthy Families of the High Desert wrote.
“In my professional opinion, after multiple sessions observing Amy and Eric interact with their son for hours on end, I found no reason they should have had their child taken from them and placed in the State’s care.”
“The couple demonstrated competent parenting skills with Christopher, had no history of abuse or neglect, and expressed a deep desire to have Christopher returned to them to raise him along with the mother’s twin boys.”
A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help the couple with their ongoing legal costs.
