Quad Mom Can't Be Alone with Son
Geri Glass, 27, is not allowed to be alone with her newborn son, Gage, until Montana's Department of Public Health and Human Services says she can. The Livingston woman says the reason for DPHHS' rule is because she's a quadriplegic.

Glass has had to temporarily move into her aunt's inaccessible house to meet DPHHS' requirement. Friends or personal assistants fill in when her aunt can't be there--if Glass is alone with her son for one minute, the state says it will take him away.

Ironically, it is harder for Glass to care for her son at her aunt's. "Once she's in her own home where everything is built at her level, it would be so much easier," said Tyran Kovac, a social worker at the Human Resources Development Council in Bozeman, to the Billings Gazette. [link to http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?display=rednews/2005/02/20/build/local/30-determined-to-parent.inc] "In her [completely accessible] home, she can reach everything. It's really doable." DPHHS representative Gayle Shirley says Montana does not discriminate against parents with physical disabilities, but she declines to answer whether Glass' quadriplegia is the over-riding factor in DPHHS' decision. "In every case we look at the circumstances and make a determination whether the child's health or safety may be in danger," says Shirley when asked if Glass would be allowed to be alone with her son if she were not a quadriplegic.

"All I want to do is raise my son, and they're making it impossible for me to do that at my home," says Glass. "I have to prove to them I can take care of my son, do therapy, get permission from my doctor and pediatrician." It is unclear whether the doctors will write those letters of support.