‘It's been over 60 days without my son' Mother fights to get son back from CPS following trip to hospital

A North Texas mother claims a trip to Children's Health Medical Center in Dallas spiraled into a Child Protective Services investigation.

Joslyn Sanders says she is overcoming a spinal cord injury that threatened her dream of becoming a mother and 'temporarily' confining her to a wheelchair, only to suffer the greatest loss of her life: Custody of her 'joyful, observant, character' of a son, Josiah.

Sanders and her father are going head-to-head with CPS in a Denton County courtroom Wednesday morning.

"Just to be able to give birth to my son naturally is a blessing in itself and for somebody to come to rip him from my arms unwarranted is very disheartening and it's been over 60 days without my son," she said during a press conference Tuesday morning. "I don't know what else to do but cry out for help."

Sanders has been without her two-year-old son since before Christmas after an encounter with a doctor at Children's Dallas.

Sanders says her son's primary care provider directed her to Children's specifically for blood work related to a contact dermatitis rash the child had recently developed.

The bloodwork was to determine whether sepsis had set in, according to the mom.

Sanders claims she is being "punished" for objecting to her son receiving the antibiotic clindamycin and leaving the hospital against medical advice.

Mom says, as someone who graduated from UNT in the top 10% of her class, she was able to thoroughly research the medication for over seven hours and concluded she did not want her son to receive clindamycin.

"I believe the physician at the time was maybe a little bit offended of me pushing back and I guess questioning her authority of her knowledge," said Sanders. "That wasn't the case at all, I just want the best for my son and I believe that particular antibiotic was not the best for my son."

She says the doctor verbalized concerns over the toddler's size and whether he was malnourished, which mom says is not true.

According to Sanders, she breastfed her son for two years and had recently weened him off, leading to common challenges with food but also something a 'feeding therapist' was about to help with.

Her father, Jason Sanders says claims of the boy being malnourished are shortsighted and do not take into account his daughter is petit, he's slim and therefore his grandson is likely on the "smaller" end of his age group.

Sanders says once they left the hospital, she returned to the primary care doctor who prescribed an 'alternative' medication for the boy's rash.

A CPS investigator and Corinth police officers, there at the request of CPS, later showed up at her home.

"She advised us that we could voluntarily take my son back to the hospital," said Sanders. "I said: Yes, ma'am. I have no problem. We can take him to Children's Plano, however I will not take him back to Children's Dallas just given we did not have a good experience there."

Sanders says she then asked the investigator, who she describes as a trainee if she had any court order to be at her home.

The woman, she says, called someone and returned informing the family, "We no longer have the opportunity to take my son to the hospital and that she'll be taking my son."

Coring Chief of Police Jerry Garner confirms the exchange took place, after speaking with responding officers and reading their report.

The department is often asked to accompany CPS workers when they "seize" the child, claiming he is in danger given concern over his medical care.

In these "often emotionally charged" situations, Garner says his officers are there to enforce the law and ensure no one's rights are violated.

"What the officers observed was the child who was with his caretakers did not appear malnourished," said Garner. "He was eating. He was drinking. He had a rash, but there's nothing they saw that caused them to think: we need to put an emergency protective order on this child."

Police do not need CPS permission to issue the order, he says.

The family takes issue with CPS reportedly removing Josiah despite not having a signed court order to do so, an order Garner confirms CPS informed officers the state had only "applied" for the order.

"A CPS worker then instructed the officer to seize the child and the officer said: 'We're not going to do that,'" said Garner. "Again, there's no reason to believe this child is in danger. We're here to keep the peace, but we're not going to assist in taking this child."

NBC 5 asked the police chief why, if the CPS worker removed the child without a court order and his officers indicated any concern over his welfare, his removal would not essentially rise to the level of a kidnapping.

"I don't think it's a kidnapping," he replied. "I think you're talking more about a civil situation than you are a kidnapping. Had officers observed that CPS was going to do something dangerous with the child, obviously, they would have been obliged to act and prevent that from happening. But taking a child to a doctor doesn't qualify as something dangerous for the child."

Garner would not say whether he believes the mother's rights were violated by CPS, saying it will be up to a judge to determine that.

The boy's mother says she's also outraged because he was not only returned to Children's Dallas, but Josiah's online 'MyChart' records showed the hospital's staff administered the medication she had objected to.

"After [CPS] became aware that I saw that information, they blocked my access to his medical records," she said.

The family was able to go to the hospital but was then told to leave, according to Sanders and her father.

Her son remained in the hospital for three weeks without visitations, she said.

Federal privacy laws prevent both Children's Dallas and CPS from sharing their side of the story with journalists.

A spokesperson for Children's Health provided NBC 5 with a statement that read in part: "The safety and well-being of all our patients is our top priority."

A spokesperson for CPS tells NBC 5: "I can confirm that Josiah is in our care, but he has been placed with a relative."

The family argues that's not exactly true.

Josiah has been placed with a woman who was a relative by marriage but is no longer part of the family, according to Sanders.

What's more, she claims CPS allowed her to list seven people she would like the child to be placed with, and CPS chose a woman who was not even on the list.

Sanders has been allowed one-hour weekly visits with her son, although the first visits were not made with her wheelchair accessibility in mind.

Her son was on the top bunk bed making it impossible for her to reach him, she said.

She says she leaves visitations hearing her son cry out for her.

"I haven't been without my son for more than a few hours," she said. "That's my best friend. I birthed him. It's just really heartbreaking."

Sanders and her family are receiving help and guidance from the social justice group Next Generation Action Network and State Representative Carl Sherman.

"On behalf of the state of Texas, I apologize," said Sherman during the press conference. "No parent should have to go through what you and your father have experienced."

Sherman points to studies that show asking for a second opinion has often initial medical treatment advice that should be altered.

His office is making calls to CPS in hopes of having the child returned to his mother.

"When I think about the mission statement of CPS it starts with to partner with families and the community," he said. "This is not partnering."

Next Gen's leaders are asking the public to call CPS to plead for Josiah to be returned to his mother.

It is a call-to-action Dominique Alexander says worked in a previous custody battle they deemed unwarranted.

Next Gen's executive director Lelani Russell was brought to tears during the press conference.

She says she was confronted with a similar situation at Dallas Children's almost two years ago with her baby boy.

Fortunately, she says, her doctor listened to her concerns.

Russell points to long-held beliefs within the Black community over the medical care provided in the U.S. where, for example, pregnant Black women in pain are sometimes not believed or thought of as being 'overly dramatic.'

"This mother is no fool. She didn't come from a fool and she's not raising one," said Russell. "They practice medicine. They don't know everything. Don't give your all to people because they have a certain degree."

Sanders will appear in a Denton County courtroom Wednesday morning to try and regain custody of her baby.