Reunite Severine Gerard and her son, separated by French police

The take a child from its mother because she is raising that child according to a healthy and ethical diet?

How about we start taking kids from families whos parents stuff them full of shit like mcdonalds and pizza hut.

Thats where the real danger lies in regards to childrens dietry health.

Dear Judge Jacqueimin,

The scientific evidence is clear that a well-planned vegan diet is suitable for infants, as well as pregnant and breast-feeding women, and at all stages of life.

The scientific evidence has been collected by The Vegan Society and presented in their publications such as 'Plant-Based Nutrition and Health' by Stephen Walsh Ph.D. [1] and 'Feeding your Vegan Infant with Confidence' by Sandra Hood, UK registered dietician.

The Vegan Society of the UK was founded in 1944, and was the first vegan society in the world.

The American Dietetic Association concurs, as set out in the July 2009 ADA Position Paper on Vegetarian Diets [3]

"It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes. ...

"In this article, the term vegetarian will be used to refer to people choosing a lacto-ovo-, lacto-, or vegan vegetarian diet unless otherwise specified."

Please contact The Vegan Society on +44 121 523 1741 if you need any further clarification to rely upon this information in court.

References

1.  http://www.vegansociety.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=153
2.  http://www.vegansociety.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=242
3  http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/advocacy_933_ENU_HTML.htm

Hi Noemie,

As you speak English and I am American, it is easier for me to write you in English. Hope you don't mind. I'm also copying Philip, who has done so much for Severine, also.

Noemie, the Judge refused to give Severine back her child. He has ordered him to remain in the foster family for another 6 months. It was hard to get the whole story coherently from Severine, who is at a total loss, but she has told me she will give me a copy of the decision from the hearing, a 20 page document (at least 20), which was obviously typed in advance, so the decision was not taken at the hearing.

The new blood test came back fine except a slight deficiency of Vit D. The Judge claims this 'good' result is due to the fact that the blood was drawn 2 weeks after Elie went to live with the foster family.

He also informed Severine that the foster family has made an application to adopt her son!

The Judge confirmed that he had received the emails and reports we printed for him. He did not seem to be influenced by any of this.

He still claims that the vegan diet is not suitable, and neither is Severine's travelling around with an infant of that age. He seems, to Severine, to be personally against her and trying to break her. She can petition the court to have the Judge changed, but this will also take time, and she just wants her son back.

In one passage I saw in the judgment when Severine showed it to me, the Judge wrote that he was afraid she would run away with Elie (!) if she were allowed to visit with him, so still no visiting rights.

He said that the results of psychiatric assessment of Severine came back 'normal', but he claims that the doctors say that there is nevertheless something not right. What he probably means is that she refuses to live like everyone else, and he doesn't appreciate her independence.

This Judge, we know, is famous for his severity.

Severine's lawyer advises her to appeal this decision, but with the summer break coming up, the one month period to get a decision on appeal, will stretch to two. Severine feels that the Judge is trying to push her into a dramatic reaction so that he can send her back to the psychiatric hospital.

Severine tells me that usually there are not enough foster families to fill the need. But the Judge had no problem finding a foster family in her case. And now they have made an application to adopt Elie. Severine wonders, Could it be that, thinking that she is a single mother, a foreigner alone in France, that they might be able to easily get her child away from her? Now she is worried that they have never intended to return Elie. She told me last night that he is a particularly beautiful chlld and almost never cries. Could it be that there is something behind all this that we are not aware of?

All this is very upsetting for Severine, as you can imagine.

For the moment, she is getting a lot of advice, so she doesn't need any more, except legal advice... She will probably consult with another lawyer, outside of Nice.

One thing we all agree on, the best way to put pressure on the Judge now is to get this story into the media, the more the better, and particularly outside of France, so that international public opinion can react.

The story is hardly believable, but all true!

Hard as it is, we have to wait for her to make a decision about what to do next, and she is discouraged and confused, as anyone else would be in the same situation.

Just a personal note, I have suffered a death of someone every close to me and I am not going to be able to do a lot for Severine between now and Sunday because of this.

It would be wonderful if a major vegetarian association could pick this up and make it a 'cause celebre'. It certainly deserves to be! Or else, a major news magazine. The best way that we can help Severine is to think up ways to get this story into the mass media and talked about far and wide.

Severine will write a word to all those who send emails as soon as she is able. For the moment, she is really down, as you can all imagine.


Guenady

Hi, first let me tell you a little bit about my background. I'm 23 years old now and live in Munich, Germany. I had a vegan diet since age 0. The problems started when I was 4 years old. I got a tumor in my throat. Luckily it was discovered early and was very small. My parents didn't notice anything unusual the following 2 years. Until I got to school. I was a very weak little boy. The vegan diet had done such a bad job at building muscles that the first time we played soccer in the sports class I was severely injured. Scars on my head had to be repaired with 5 stitches. My story of illnesses continued. At age 18, when I was inspected for being able to serve in forced labour with our troops or not, they discovered that I had cancer in the hip area. I was in hospital for 5 months. Now I'm 23 and not able to do hard work. I'm unemployed. Therefore I think it is better for your child not to have a vegan diet but rather a vegetarian or a diet with meat.