A family judge was to hear final arguments Monday at court proceedings in which an Illinois woman is accused of child abuse for breastfeeding her six-year-old son.
Child protection authorities have removed the youngster from his mother's custody, the Chicago Tribune newspaper reported Sunday.
The woman, from Champaign county, near Chicago, is fighting for the return of the boy, who is her only child.
State child welfare authorities took the boy from the 32-year-old woman's home after a babysitter called an abuse hot line expressing concern about his well-being. The child subsequently told investigators that he no longer wanted to breastfeed, they said.
"Breastfeeding a child is not the issue," says Deborah Kennedy, an official with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS).
"It's after he has stated that it is unwanted and she had that information and didn't indicate she would halt that activity ... then you have unwanted behavior on his part and that constitutes abuse," Kennedy told the newspaper.
"In general, any contact between a sexual organ against the will of the child constitutes abuse," she added, acknowledging however that "because it's breastfeeding, it's a sensitive issue."
In a society where many mothers choose not to breastfeed, and those who do often stop nursing before their infants have their first birthday, the controversy pits American parenting norms against a parent's right to raise her son as she chooses.
Authorities also reportedly were concerned that the mother engaged in "co-sleeping" with the child, a practice which is gaining in acceptance in the United States, but is still considered out of the ordinary. Officials alleged that the mother sometimes was naked while sleeping with the child, which she denied.
The woman, who has said her son never indicated he didn't want to nurse, vowed to continue to breastfeed him if and when he is returned to her.
"They are saying because you're not practicing Dr. Spock American-style parenting, you're a bad mom," she told the Tribune in an interview.
"It's cultural bias. My son would come to me and ask to nurse," the woman said, denying that her child sought to stop breastfeeding."
"It's not sexual. It was a closeness thing," she continued. "When he's ready for it, he will ask to end breastfeeding."
The woman's attorney, David DeThorne blasted local authorities for pursuing the case.
"Parents should be allowed to make decisions that might be out of the norm. Most parents don't breastfeed at age of six, but it doesn't mean it's wrong for the child," he said.
Local officials counter that the boy's emotional well-being is threatened by his mother's idiosyncratic parenting.
"There is risk of actual and emotional abuse. We are in the realm of sexual abuse; that is the reason that we took the child out of the mother's care," DCFS spokeswoman Martha Allen told the Chicago Tribune.
If the judge determines after Monday's hearing that the boy has been abused, another court date will be set to determine whether if and when the youngster will be allowed to return home -- CHICAGO (AFP)
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