Post by Milisha on Dec 11, 2008 2:10:53 GMT -5
Amarion McDaniel, 2, died peacefully after being held and cuddled by his mother, who fought the court system last year for the right to remain the parent of her terminally ill child.
Hours before he died at a Wauwatosa hospice, Amarion's mother, Anastasia Schoenfield, 28, took him outside so he could feel the sun and wind on his face once last time, Barb Tanis, the boy's grandmother, said Monday.
"He was very peaceful and calm," Tanis said. "It was a beautiful day."
Schoenfield's plight was the subject of several stories in the Journal Sentinel last year, after the Milwaukee County district attorney's office petitioned to terminate her parental rights because of her limited mental abilities and complicated decisions that would have to be made on her son's behalf.
The boy was in foster care since birth. He died of a rare genetic disease.
"This was not an everyday situation," Tanis said. "My daughter is a person that did 100% of her best job, and it wasn't enough to have the child in her care. But she could give 100% to love her child, and the system isn't set up to accommodate that."
Schoenfield, who is known as "Annie," acknowledged she could not care for her son's physical needs. She told judges at Milwaukee County Children's Court last year that she just wanted to be Amarion's mother until he died and to love him to the best of her ability.
"In five volumes of Wisconsin statutes, there has to be a way to continue to let her be a mother to this child and prepare for what ultimately is going to happen," Judge Dennis Cimpl said at a hearing last June.
Last September, the petition to terminate Schoenfield's parental rights was dismissed. Since then, she had regular visits with her son and participated in decisions about his care, said Suzette Schigur, the boy's foster mother since birth.
On April 17, Amarion was moved to a hospice, where Schoenfield could stay overnight and care for him as much as possible, Tanis said. She added that all five of the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare case managers who had been involved with the case visited the hospice before Amarion died.
"He had the biggest, brightest blue eyes - just like the ocean - and a smile that lit up the entire room," Schigur said. "His whole face smiled."
Hours before he died at a Wauwatosa hospice, Amarion's mother, Anastasia Schoenfield, 28, took him outside so he could feel the sun and wind on his face once last time, Barb Tanis, the boy's grandmother, said Monday.
"He was very peaceful and calm," Tanis said. "It was a beautiful day."
Schoenfield's plight was the subject of several stories in the Journal Sentinel last year, after the Milwaukee County district attorney's office petitioned to terminate her parental rights because of her limited mental abilities and complicated decisions that would have to be made on her son's behalf.
The boy was in foster care since birth. He died of a rare genetic disease.
"This was not an everyday situation," Tanis said. "My daughter is a person that did 100% of her best job, and it wasn't enough to have the child in her care. But she could give 100% to love her child, and the system isn't set up to accommodate that."
Schoenfield, who is known as "Annie," acknowledged she could not care for her son's physical needs. She told judges at Milwaukee County Children's Court last year that she just wanted to be Amarion's mother until he died and to love him to the best of her ability.
"In five volumes of Wisconsin statutes, there has to be a way to continue to let her be a mother to this child and prepare for what ultimately is going to happen," Judge Dennis Cimpl said at a hearing last June.
Last September, the petition to terminate Schoenfield's parental rights was dismissed. Since then, she had regular visits with her son and participated in decisions about his care, said Suzette Schigur, the boy's foster mother since birth.
On April 17, Amarion was moved to a hospice, where Schoenfield could stay overnight and care for him as much as possible, Tanis said. She added that all five of the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare case managers who had been involved with the case visited the hospice before Amarion died.
"He had the biggest, brightest blue eyes - just like the ocean - and a smile that lit up the entire room," Schigur said. "His whole face smiled."