Steffen Rivenburg Jr. is a baby who was born with serious health issues who has become much sicker since he was taken into the custody of child protective services. This child needs his family’s love and care more than ever, and instead he is being kept prisoner in a hospital, with only his foster mother and his case worker allowed to visit him for more than very short periods. Imagine having a critically ill baby and the state refusing to let you be by his side as he lay dying? This nightmare has become reality for one Tennessee family, and we, Kathleen Raskin and Robert Raskin, are heartbroken and outraged.
Baby Steffen was born with Down Syndrome and heart defects, however, the infant was not sick until after he was removed from the care of his parents and placed in DCS’s care. While in foster care the baby contracted a serious viral infection, and this did further damage to his already strained heart. Doctors at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital originally told the family the child would not need heart surgery until he was six months old. Instead, the seven-month-old has already undergone four heart surgeries and other procedures.
The problems for the Rivenburg family began when the couple missed three scheduled doctor appointments, one of which was a voluntary appointment for Down Syndrome. The other two appointments had to be rescheduled because the family had difficulty finding transportation. Rather than trying to help families in need to receive necessary transportation to their appointments, DCS has chosen instead to focus on removing children who needed a simple ride rather than placement in foster care, but this is typical of the abuses that are within these broken and corrupt systems.
There Is Still Hope
The critically ill infant is currently on life support, and the hospital obtained a court order to remove him despite the family’s strong objections, essentially handing down a death sentence to a helpless infant. With their attorney’s help, the Rivenburg family was able to get the baby’s removal from life support delayed until June 6th, and they are pushing for an extension while hoping the baby’s health will turn around. What would you do if you knew the exact date your baby would die and an agency wouldn’t let you be with him? We, Robert Raskin and Kathleen Raskin, are heartbroken for this family, and that is why we will continue to fight these injustices.