Expert testimony supported the mother’s behavior, stating that infants learn to hold still during long diapering sessions when parents support their patience.Įventually, battling with the child welfare system wore her down. This argument ignored Tiffany’s adaptive care for her baby, encouraging him to be patient. The county asserted that the tape demonstrated Tiffany’s inability to care for her child because it documented her slow movements as she changed David’s diaper.

As evidence, the county presented a videotape of Tiffany slowly diapering David during a supervised home visit. Realizing that she would need some assistance to care for her sons, Tiffany requested attendant care to help her with parenting activities, which the county denied. Tiffany was granted limited supervised visits with David and Jesse while she fought with the county for custody of her children. Her second son, Jesse, was immediately removed to foster care by child welfare workers. Meanwhile, Tiffany learned that she was again pregnant. David was immediately removed to foster care by child welfare workers. Unable to deal with the domestic turmoil, David’s live-in caregiver moved out. Shortly after David’s birth, Tiffany’s relationship with her boyfriend began to deteriorate, and domestic violence ensued. Immediately following David’s delivery, the county’s child welfare agency asserted that Tiffany and her boyfriend, who also had a physical disability, could only take their son home from the hospital if they had a nondisabled caregiver with him at all times. In 1987, Tiffany’s dream came true when she gave birth to her son David. Tiffany Callo, a wheelchair user with cerebral palsy, dreamed of being a mother.

One system care removal