Couple Have Their Children Taken from Them After State Deems Them “Not Intelligent Enough” to Raise Kids

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Couple Have Their Children Taken from Them After State Deems Them “Not Intelligent Enough” to Raise Kids

Amy Fabbrini, 31, and Eric Ziegler, 38, a couple from Redmond, Oregon, have had both of their children placed in foster care, the youngest, Hunter, while still in hospital following his birth, after the state deemed the pair “not intelligent enough” to care for them. Neither Domestic abuse nor neglect were factors in the custody case.

The pair were required to take an IQ test, on which Ziegler scored a 66 and Fabbrini a 72, results far from the IQ of the average person, which is generally in the 90-110 range. In fact, Ziegler’s IQ score put him in the range of those with mild ‘intellectual disability,’ whereas Fabbrini was categorized as having an ‘extremely low to borderline range of intelligence.’

Fabbrini had been unaware about her pregnancy far into her third trimester with the pair’s now eldest son, Christopher, and didn’t receive any formal examination or treatment within the ninth month term, going into advanced labor at the family’s home, where she gave birth to Christopher on September 9, 2013. However, that wasn’t enough to raise any questions about the couple’s parenting abilities.

Authorities were first alerted by a concerned family member regarding the wellbeing of Christopher under Fabbrini and Ziegler’s care, with a child welfare report alleging that Ziegler had been “sleeping with the baby on the floor and almost rolled over on him.” Fabbrini’s parents had been acting as the main caregivers at the time, as her father claimed that Amy didn’t have “the instincts to be a mother.” Christopher’s brother, Hunter, was fostered out while still in hospital following his birth earlier this year as a result of these allegations.

This isn’t the first time Ziegler’s mental health has been brought into question; he is unemployed and has been receiving financial assistance through the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income program due a mental disability he had been previously diagnosed with. Fabbrini has been working in a supermarket as the main breadwinner to provide for their family.

The couple continue to have visitation rights to their children, but both kids will stay in foster care under Oregon’s parental rights laws. Fabbrini, however, believes that both her and her partner have complied to all of the state’s requirements over the years. “We’ve just done everything and more than what they’ve asked us to,” she said.