Oakland Mother being tried for refusing to leave son and go to Afghanistan

Indybay.org

by Courage to Resist
Thursday Feb 4th, 2010

 Alexis Hutchinson, a single mother from Oakland, CA. is facing up to a
year in military prison for refusing to leave her son in Georgia
Foster care, while being deployed to Afghanistan.

In a shocking disappointment, Fort Stewart, GA Army officials announced
four separate court martial charges against Specialist Alexis Hutchinson,
the single mother of a one-year son who missed deployment in early
November 2009 when her childcare plan fell through.

Despite assurances by military public affairs officers that the Army would
work with Spc Hutchinson and her attorneys to resolve the matter
administratively, rather than through the criminal process, charges of
missing movement, AWOL, dereliction of duty, and insubordinate conduct
were filed today. Spc Hutchinson is a 21-year-old native of Oakland, CA,
now facing over three years in prison, a dishonorable discharge, and the
loss of custody of her infant. She has been assigned to Hunter Army
Airfield near Savannah, GA, since February 2008.

“I am disappointed in Major Daniel Gallagher’s decision to go ahead with
filing charges, which shows a lack of compassion for this young mother and
her infant son, and a lack of discretion to deal with the situation
fairly. The situation tends to show that the Army is not able to
effectively and humanely counsel Army families in this situation,” states
Spc Hutchinson’s civilian attorney Rai Sue Sussman of San Francisco, CA.
“An infant and his mother were forcibly separated, when other options were
available to the commander.”

“We hoped that the public outcry over this injustice would have moved the
Army to find a fair and compassionate resolution to a difficult
situation,” notes Jeff Paterson, Project Director of Courage to Resist.
“Instead, supporters of Alexis and Kamani nationwide will now lobby
members of the Congressional Government Oversight and Reform Committee to
investigate. What is happening here should not be allowed to happen to any
single parent.”

Background

On November 6, 2009, Army Specialist Alexis Hutchinson was arrested and
confined when she missed her plane to Afghanistan because she was taking
care of her infant son. When she reported the following day, the Army
removed her son from her and arrested her. She was granted leave to go
home for the holidays in December, and returned to Georgia with baby
Kamani last week.

In anticipation of going overseas, in early October 2009 Spc Hutchinson
flew to California and left her son with her mother Angelique Hughes of
Oakland, CA, as per her Army family care plan. However, after a week of
caring for 11-month-old Kamani, Ms. Hughes realized that she was unable to
take care for the infant in addition to her other duties to a
special-needs daughter, an ailing mother, and an ailing sister. Ms. Hughes
immediately contacted her daughter and the military chain of command that
she was not able to care for Kamani as planned.

The Army initially gave Spc Hutchinson an extension of time to find
someone else to care for her son, and in the meantime her mother brought
Kamani back to Georgia. A few days before Spc Hutchinson was scheduled to
deploy, however, the extension was revoked. She was told that she would
immediately deploy, and Kamani would be placed in the local county foster
care system. Any option to put her child Kamani in government custody
carries the risk of Spc Hutchinson permanently giving up parental rights.
Faced with that choice, Spc Hutchinson did not show up for her plane.

The military had Spc Hutchinson arrested the following day and put her
infant in the county foster care system. The baby’s grandmother retrieved
him and cared for him temporarily until his mother returned for the
holidays. Both Spc Hutchinson and her son are currently back at Hunter
Army Airfield, GA.

“They told me because I missed movement I’m going to jail… I started
crying a lot and I tried to explain that I just want an extension, I just
need time, that I need someone to take care of my child. They said that
they didn’t care… That was the worst thing I have ever gone through, to
have my child taken from me,” explained Spc Hutchinson in a November 2009
interview with KALW public radio.