‘I didn’t abuse my babies’: South Florida mother who lost custody of infant twins claims they have genetic condition

A South Florida mother’s children were taken away by the Florida Department of Children and Families. She says a medical condition resulted in her babies’ broken bones, but DCF officials believe they were abused. 7’s Heather Walker investigates.

Tasha Patterson gets emotional every time she looks into her twin sons’ cribs.

Tasha lost custody of her babies just months after they were born. She was accused of abusing them.

Tasha Patterson: “No, I didn’t abuse my babies.”

Tasha is a nurse practitioner. She says early on, she knew something was wrong with her sons.

Tasha Patterson: “They would have these spurts of increased fussiness that we didn’t understand why.”

She took the twins to doctors, even visited the emergency room more than a dozen times.

Every doctor dismissed her concerns.

Tasha Patterson: “I kid you not. Actually, it’s documented in the medical record that I was ‘just a concerned mom,’ something along those lines.”

But it was her last trip to the ER, because of a strange bruise that changed her life.

Tasha Patterson: “Then the medical team comes in, they start telling me, ‘Your baby has rib fractures.’ That’s when I found out he has rib fractures. ‘And he has a small grade 1 liver laceration.’ They had my second twin brought in. He had fractures everywhere.”

Tasha and her husband were accused of child abuse. Their parental rights were terminated, and DCF took custody of the babies.

Tasha Patterson: “My babies are a statistic when they shouldn’t be. Because they were never abused. They were never maltreated. It never happened.”

Shortly after the boys were taken, Tasha had health issues of her own. She was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, or EDS, a disorder that causes easy bruising and fragile bones.

She found it can be passed on from parent to child.

Tasha Patterson: “The controversy that surrounds this type of EDS is that you can diagnose children, but not under the age of 4.”

Tasha had the twins’ medical records reviewed by top EDS specialists. They agreed she likely passed EDS onto her twins.

But despite these expert opinions, Tasha’s attorney says DCF won’t return the children.

Octavia Brown, Tasha’s Attorney: “It’s DCF’s job to say, ‘This is the evidence, and we know, clearly and convincingly, that these children have been abused.’ In our opinion, they didn’t meet that standard.”

Parents who pass EDS onto their infants have faced abuse allegations across the country.

A young father in Arkansas was arrested after his son’s X-rays showed bone fractures. Rana Tyson and her husband in Texas fought abuse charges for two years.

Rana Tyson: “And so, then they ended up coming to us and trying to terminate our parental rights.”

It prompted her to start the Fractured Families Foundation, which helps parents fight the battle, and gives advice on what to do when they are accused of abuse.

Rana Tyson: “I want to shorten that journey for them. I want to just offer the advice that I can offer.”

Tasha is hoping someone at DCF will listen to her story.

Tasha Patterson: “We’re going on two years, and I am not going away until my children are able to be back in this house. I’m not going away.”

Tasha and her husband lost their first appeal to regain custody of their sons. They’re heading back to court soon, and they hope it’s enough to finally reunite their family.

Heather Walker, 7News.

7 Investigates did reach out to DCF about the Patterson babies, but no one from the agency has responded.

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