November 25th, 2009
Army tears child from mother; prison for mom
Army cook specialist Alexis Hutchinson, 21, is a single mother of 10-month-old son, Kamani. She is stationed, and now imprisoned, at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, GA. She was scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan for her first tour. She asked for, and was granted, a time extension for her deployment in order to find a caregiver for her son.
Alexis & Karmani Hutchinson, Credit: AP
She sent the son to her mother back home in Oakland, CA. However, the grandmother, could not provide the needed care and returned the child because she cares for her ailing mother and sister, as well as a daughter with special needs, and also runs a day-care center at her home, keeping about 14 children during the day. Hutchinson then scrambled to find another relative or acquaintance to care for the child. She skipped the Nov. 15 plane sending her unit to Afghanistan after that extension was rescinded.
Major Gallagher of her unit (3rd Combat Aviation Brigade of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division) imprisoned Hutchinson instead. The unenlightened Gallagher and First Sergeant Gephart of her unit both believe that Hutchinson’s plight was not a real family crisis. They accuse her of using her son as an excuse to avoid deployment. Her son was taken from her by state child protective services. The mom faces a court martial in Afghanistan. There was also some coverage by the Associated Press.
10.7% of Army members are single parents. Family Care Plans were formally required effective July 1992. Read the regulation.
The Army was an employer that reneged on the promise of a time extension. Next time you hear about the Army being family friendly, think again. And remember, these are the “Hooah” gang that deliberately blames PTSD victims for their psychological injury from waging war on behalf of the officers and desk jockeys in the Pentagon, Congress and White House.
Tags: Army, caregiver plan, Family Care Plan, family dissolution, mother, protective services
This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 at 3:17 pm and is filed under Employer Action/Inaction, Social Justice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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Sorry, I’m not sure I believe this Mom’s story. There’s something fishy about Gramma not being able to care for the tot when her daughter was supposed to be deployed, yet after the arrest, she steps up. (At least that’s what the news coverage in Chicago area claims.) What changed in the Gramma’s situation?
I’m not saying the Army is the most compassionate employer, but people need to realize the Army isn’t just a job. Joining the Army means becoming Government property. And don’t the armed services give mothers the option of resigning when they become mothers?
Wow, you are really ignorant! This happens all the time in the military. The “Family Care Plan” may be a good concept, but it only works if the people who “voluntarily” sign it hold up their end of the promise to watch your kids when sh!t hits the fan. Any mother in her right mind wouldn’t just abandon their child to just anyone.
Funny how they imprison her yet there IS a rear detachment unit she could have stayed with. How is it always made out to be a big deal for mothers but we have 1SGs and above walking around with no deployment patch. LAY OFF THE SINGLE PARENTS ARMY! Its bad enough you take us away from our children for 12 hours a day every day!
-active duty single mother
Sounds like the Specialist and her mom are lying to avoid deployment. As a veteran and military wife my husband routinely worked the midnight shift so single MOMS didn’t have to do so. Also, single parents are required to have child care plans in case they are deployed tomorrow. One single mom that I knew of didn’t have one so she wouldn’t get deployed so some one else had to take her place. Finally there are more single DADs in the service than moms. I don’t know of any who behave like the single mom’s I’ve just described. Why can’t the child’s father care for him? If grandma can care for 14 children (which sounds illegal) how could she send her own grandson back to possible foster care? The Specialist knew she was pregant 19 months ago, she couldn’t come up with deployment care plans in that time frame?
Some people don’t have “family” like everyone else to rely on. I know that I joined the military because I didn’t have a family and I wanted to belong to something. Unfortunately now that I have a family (which God issued to me by the way) I have to “abandon” them to strangers. I work usually 14 hour shift, weekends, and holidays, which by the way not many providers are willing to handle. Since I move every 2-3 years, it is pretty hard to make friends who are willing to “sacrifice” their time to watch my kids months or even years at a time. I don’t see the military offering childcare 24/7 which is pretty much when most of the military are on shift. Maybe the “military community” or even spouses need to step up and help out instead of waging their fingers in a disapproving manner.
The very first thing that I learned when I signed a contract with the Army, was that I am gambling that nothing such as war or me being call to war will happen during me contract. Second thing that I learn was that I am their for the duration of that contract. Yes, things do change but that contract that I signed is still in effect until the Army or I do something to cancel it completely.As a retired Personnel Management NCO I saw this situation happening almost daily to males and females during Desert Shield/Desert Storm deployments in 1990/91. Based on A full investigation, there are only one of three things that can happen here, discharge, court marshall, or circumstances beyond the soldier control ( people backing out at thevery last minute, people not legally taking care of the family member for the service member). By Law each soldier most have what is call “A Family Care Plan Packet.” In this packet are legal documents that state who, what, when, and where the family members will go if and when that soldier is deployed. Now, having said all of that, if the Media would investigate situation like this, the way they investigated Watergate, they would do the public and themselves a great justice.
I am a single Mom of three. I understand the situation and there are ways around it. I get the feeling we are not getting the entire story. The Family care plan requires consent by the soldier and the caretaker, so her sending her son was not an unexpected situation.
The soldier could have requested stateside deployment. Again, we are not getting the whole story.
When you join the Army you are a Soldier First, Mother second. That’s just the way it is.
your retarded! if you pick the army over your children that is your issue. some people know that there are more important things to life. your family ALWAYS comes first.
[...] of Nov 2009 story US Army single parent Alexis Hutchinson was scheduled to deploy to Iraq. She was told that she had [...]
It all sounds good! I spend 20years in the Army and only time I came closes to deportment as a mother was in 1990 during Desert Storm. But I have had aquintance who was being deployed who had a six year old son and at the last minute the individual on her care plan backed out at the last minute. She ran all over at the last minute trying to find someone else. U know it’s not always the case that some ones mother will step up and help them in times like theses. In some families the grandmother is not the most trusted person to care for the child. I didn’t even know the individual but I volunteered my family and my services to help her out. However, after 18 mos which she was only suppose to be gone for 6mos to 12 mos was a problem, but we had made the commitment.
In my years working as a civilian nurse in a military hospital I heard the same old story about soldiers getting pregnant either not to be deployed or getting pregnant after deployment. U know before judgements are made we need to give the soldiers the benefit of the doubt. Don’t make assumptions! Jail and placing the child in custody is not the answer, the Army was the one who did not keep their word, such as giving her the extension and then rescinding it. They know that they have single parents in the Military but does nothing to help either the married females or the single ones. So as far as this old soldier is concerned this young mother is not a bad mother she just have a problem that needs someone to help her.
I am also a mother in uniform. This is a no-brainer outside the US. No other country requires it famale soldiers to make these impossible sacrifices. Mothers and single fathers are given deferrments. This is an honorable task and all other countries recognize it as such and support military children and parents accordingly.
The draconian requirements placed on US military mothers are a remnant of hurdles intended to discourage women from making the military a career. Women are indeed soldiers and officers and essential to the service. But we are also essential to our children – it’s not a feminist issue or a weakness. It’s real life and our children are no less entitled to quality parenting (and nutrition – breastfeeding) than the children of those we defend. And for those who feel leaving their children in “good hands” is just fine – if your child is under the age of 7 – unless you’re a lousy mother, it’s not “just fine.” I accept it can be essential, but small children are hard wired to be with their mother or other primary caretaker. It’s how the species has survived and we shouldn’t be surrendering the rights of our children. We need to demand support to meet their needs AND continue our careers.
The men I work with could never hold down my 24/7 schedule as a mother. While I’m worrying about my toddler who only sees me for 3 hours a day, my male colleagues are chatting about the DVD they watched last night. Military mothers are working twice as hard for half the pay. No male colleague would put up with it.
This is an elephant in the corner that needs to be addressed. It’s also a form of bullying. Military mothers are bullied into choosing between the well-being of their children and their pensions. And no matter what they choose they are accused of failing. The result of this policy is that women are the least compensated in the service – they serve thousands of hours and then leaving to raise the children who will pay the taxes to subsidize the pensions of those who never have to make such choices or balance such demands.
The Coast Guard provides a sabbatical to all of its service members after a certain amount of service. The GAO did a study about 10 years ago and found that the sabbatical resulted in retention of about 40% of the personnel that would otherwise be lost. I personally know of an academy grad who took sabbatical after the birth of her twins and is now back in service. As a result of the study the GAO strongly recommended all services implement a similar program.
Think of it, even our own Coast Guard recognizes the issue. The US Army, Navy, and Marines are the only services in the industrialized world who don’t get it. Instead of attacking each other and perpetuating policies that can be modified without damage to the services – we need to support each military mothers in this impossible bind and find ways to speak out, so that our daughters and grandchildren don’t suffer accordingly.