Jonathan Benson, staff writer
Aug. 19, 2013
(NaturalNews) The federal government is once
again illicitly assuming the role of Big Brother dictator in matters relating
to parenting and food freedom, this time in a small Maine town. As reported by The
Weekly Packet, 17-year-old Alorah Gellerson has become the latest target of
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), which is right now
trying to take Alorah's baby away from her for feeding him fresh goat milk
fortified with healthy oils like flax and coconut, and liquid infant
multivitamins.
It all began when Alorah, who receives aid from
the Food and Nutrition Service's Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program,
was having trouble naturally breastfeeding her baby boy, Carson. Born
prematurely and underweight, young Carson would only feed from a bottle, and
Alorah was unable to produce enough milk naturally to keep him nourished.
Carson also had trouble with every store-bought formula his mother tried to put
him on, which made matters worse.
Desperate for a solution, Alorah eventually
found a recipe from the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF) with the help of her
mother that combines fresh goat milk with a handful of others
"superfoods" shown to help support the growth and development of
young babies. Alorah put Carson on this homemade formula and, sure enough, the
little guy flourished. Not only was he healthy and strong, but Alorah says he
"grew like a weed."
"We put celery juice in it and he just
loves that, and it worked really well with his body," said Alorah to WABI
TV5 News about the formula, which also contains flax seed oil, coconut oil,
brown rice syrup, and probiotic powder.
But when Alorah's WIC doctor found out that she was
giving this homemade formula to Carson, she reported it to DHHS, which sent
staff member Christie Leighton to Alorah's house. Leighton rudely asked to
enter Alorah's house, and demanded that Alorah come with her to the hospital to
have the baby evaluated. Leighton also threatened that if Alorah refused, she
would take baby Carson away from her and put him in foster care.
"She didn't say where she was from, and
asked to come in," said Alorah to The Weekly Packet about her
experience with Leighton. "[She] started being very rude and demanded that
I go to the hospital with her, and that if I didn't, she would take Carson
herself."
Alorah's refusal to vaccinate her child also made her a target of
the federal government
As it turns out, Alorah's use of fresh goat milk
in her son's infant formula is not the only beef DHHS has with the 17-year-old
mother. According to reports, Alorah's MaineCare doctor, Tasha Hoffman, had
also repeatedly pressured Alorah to have Carson vaccinated, to no avail.
"We don't do that in our family," said
Alorah's mother, Tania Allen, to The Weekly Standard concerning
vaccinations and the state's insistence that Carson be brought in for regular
checkups, even though he is perfectly healthy. "We only believe in taking babies, people [to the
doctor] when you have concerns, are injured or sick."
Even after having Carson examined by the family
doctor and given a letter of good health, WIC and DHHS have continued their
harassment of Alorah and her family, going so far as to demand that he be
brought to a different hospital in Bangor. Alorah has complied with every
demand except for having Carson vaccinated, and yet she continues to face undue
persecution from the state.
Nearby residents are encouraged to attend a
planned protest before Carson's upcoming appointment with Dr. Lawrence Ricci,
whom DHHS uses in cases of alleged child abuse and neglect cases. This protest
will take place on September 5, 2013, at 12 p.m. in front of the Weber Medical
Building at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.
Sources for this article include:
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