Detroit — A group of parental rights supporters and activists gathered at a northwest-side church this morning to raise awareness and money for a mother jailed after a 10-hour standoff with police over her daughter's medications. Maryanne Godboldo, 56, told the audience at the rally held at Hartford Memorial Baptist Church on James Couzens Freeway that the state had no right to take her 13-year-old daughter.
Advertisement "I want my daughter back and I want her back today," Godboldo said.
Godboldo had been in custody for five days since surrendering to police March 25 after barricading the girl inside their west-side home where she is alleged to have fired a shot with a .38-caliber revolver at three police officers who broke open the door of her home and entered. The shot hit a wall, according to a police report.
Godboldo has said she was protecting the child from unnecessary medication and Wayne County Child Protective Services workers who arrived March 24 with a warrant to remove her daughter. The warrant was apparently issued without a hearing by a Wayne County Circuit Court judge, because the mother had stopped medicating the girl.
Community leaders, including ministers, civil rights activists and a judge, helped negotiate Godboldo's March 25 surrender.
Godboldo's resistance of authorities has drawn nationwide attention from conservative and liberal groups advocating for parents' rights and concerned about the safety of childhood immunizations, the use of psychotropic drugs on juveniles and government intrusion.
"Our parental rights are being undermined. Maryanne Godboldo sought to provide the best health care for her child," said a statement from the Justice for Maryanne Godboldo Action Committee, rally organizers. "Providing health care for one's children is not something that should be surrendered to any state authority."
The teen's physical and mental problems stem from a bad reaction to a cocktail of immunizations she took so she could enroll last year in a traditional middle school after being home-schooled, Godboldo has said. The medical treatment plan was developed by Godboldo and specialists at The Children's Center, a family service organization for troubled children, according to its website. The court had no prior involvement with the family, defense attorney Wanda Evans said.
Godboldo has not seen her daughter since her arrest, but expects to arrange supervised visits at the Northville psychiatric services agency where her daughter is being held, Evans said.
Barbara Ann Polizzi, a 44-year-old mother, drove 13 hours from New York with her 15-year-old son, Michael Polizzi, to attend the rally and support Godboldo's cause. Michael was once given Risperdal by doctors to treat behavioral problems. The drug, which had also been prescribed for Godboldo's daughter and is commonly used to treat schizophrenia, left the boy debilitated by visual and auditory hallucinations, severe anxiety and rapid heartbeat, Polizzi said. She fought for six years to get her son back after he was taken by authorities and placed in state-run residential schools.
"I know what it's like to put my head down on a pillow every night and worry about what might happen to my son," she said.
The mother and son both cried when they learned about Godboldo's plight, she added.
"The hospitals never really tell moms what goes on behind those locked-up, closed doors," Michael told the audience.
A $500,000 cash surety bond was set at Godboldo's March 27 arraignment on felony charges, including three counts of felonious assault, three counts of resisting and obstructing an officer, one count of firing a weapon in a dwelling and one felony firearm count. But the bond was later reduced to $200,000 personal recognizance by 36th District Court Judge Paula Humphries, who said she didn't consider the mother a risk to the public.
Godboldo didn't purposely fire at police, defense attorney Allison Folmar told Humphries. "My client … had to endure the onslaught of police unlawfully taking her child," Folmar said.
A custody hearing is set for April 6, followed by an April 8 preliminary exam
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110402/METRO/104020373/Parents--civil-rights-groups-support-Detroit-mom-jailed-over-daughter’s-meds#ixzz1IPcqGOga