In my work as an attorney, I have already seen the tragedies of many families torn apart by callous decisions made by officials. I have seen parents\u2019 tears and the cries of children who longed for their family home. Many of these cases stirred in me both anger and compassion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have seen a great deal. But what has happened to Magdalena is shocking even to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before I describe what happened to her, I must begin by recalling what took place a year ago, when police officers entered Magdalena\u2019s home and led her away in front of her children. Her son was, at the time, only four months old!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The woman was detained for failing to serve a sentence of restricted liberty \u2014 consisting of community service \u2014 imposed for a minor fraud offense. The officers were not interested in the fact that Magdalena could not have performed that service at the time, because she was pregnant and then in the postpartum period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although the justice system should have deferred enforcement of the sentence under such exceptional circumstances, Magdalena was taken into custody because she had failed to complete the necessary formalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Four days later, her 4-month-old son\u2026 died in foster care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Journalists took an interest in the case when shocking photographs from Oskarek\u2019s funeral spread across Poland \u2014 photographs showing Magdalena attending under the guard of prison officers. The grief-stricken mother stood over her son\u2019s grave in a prison uniform, her hands and feet shackled together in handcuffs, as though she were a serial killer. The woman could not even wipe away her tears of despair as she stood over her own child\u2019s grave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Magdalena was not even allowed to say goodbye to her son, since she was brought to the burial site only after the coffin had already been closed\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As soon as I saw those shocking images, I immediately contacted Magdalena\u2019s family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thanks to our intervention, the penitentiary commission agreed to let the woman serve her sentence at home, under electronic monitoring. Soon afterward, her older daughter \u2014 Lenka, then three years old \u2014 returned home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following Ordo Iuris\u2019s intervention, the court restored the mother\u2019s custody of her older daughter, and the probation officer\u2019s reports confirm good maternal care, a close emotional bond, and adequate living conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nothing can bring Oskarek back. But we did everything in our power to ease Magdalena\u2019s suffering. It seemed that the worst was already behind her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately, last week we had to intervene again\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Magdalena\u2019s joy at giving birth to another healthy, beautiful daughter was brutally interrupted by doctors at a hospital in Warsaw\u2019s Mi\u0119dzylesie district, who refused to let the newborn, Iga, leave with her. Although the doctors raised no concerns about Magdalena\u2019s care for the child, hospital staff tried to force the mother to leave the baby at the hospital and go home alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Magdalena remembered perfectly well what had happened a year earlier, when her 4-month-old son, Oskarek, died in foster care. She firmly refused to leave the baby on the ward and called Ordo Iuris for help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next day, first thing in the morning, attorney Magdalena Leszczy\u0144ska went to the hospital to demand that the doctors explain why they refused to discharge the mother together with her daughter. The hospital presented no specific circumstances justifying the child\u2019s continued hospitalization. The doctors raised no concerns about the mother\u2019s care for the child, nor were there any medical indications for keeping the child at the facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only reason for the hospital\u2019s actions was that a year earlier Magdalena\u2019s children had been taken from her, and her son had died four months after birth. Yet Oskarek did not die in his mother\u2019s care \u2014 he died only after he had been placed in foster care!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The hospital filed a notification with the family court and declared that it would not discharge the newborn without the guardianship court\u2019s consent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we arrived on site, we made the hospital staff aware that their conduct was unlawful. No decision restricting Magdalena\u2019s parental rights over baby Iga had been issued. Nor did the doctors indicate that anything about the way the child was being cared for concerned them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is true that hospitals sometimes notify family courts to report a situation posing a real danger to a child \u2014 for instance, when the mother is addicted to drugs \u2014 but not in a situation where the doctors themselves state outright that they see no neglect and that the child lacks nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I therefore handed the hospital\u2019s management a written demand for the newborn\u2019s immediate discharge at the mother\u2019s request. Magdalena left the hospital with her daughter that same day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The following day \u2014 a Saturday \u2014 the probation officer supervising the situation of her older daughter, four-year-old Lena, visited her home unannounced. The probation officer found no irregularities. On Monday morning \u2014 also unannounced \u2014 a family assistant visited Magdalena\u2019s home and confirmed the same, positive assessment of the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Wednesday, a community midwife visited and likewise had no concerns about the care of the child. Later that same day, at the request of the court that had been alerted by the hospital, a new probation officer appeared to verify the situation of the newborn, Iga. The mother of three children was asked whether she was able to change her daughter\u2019s diaper\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The last time I visited Magdalena\u2019s family, to help her with the formalities of registering the child at the Civil Registry Office, Lenka greeted me at the door and threw herself into my arms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want her to always be a cheerful child with a carefree childhood, which is why we will stand by Magdalena to the very end. The family court proceedings concerning last year’s restriction of her parental rights over the older daughter are still ongoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Attorney Magdalena Majkowska \u2014 Director of the Ordo Iuris Procedural Intervention Center<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Translated using Claude.ai<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n See also:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Source of cover photo:<\/em> Ordo Iuris<\/em><\/em>\n
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