The death of a child is devastating and often referred to as the worst experience a parent can endure. A child’s death causes a profound family crisis.
It shatters core beliefs and assumptions about the world and the expectations about how life should unfold. The overwhelming suffering and intense emotions that flood the days, weeks, months, and years following the loss is called grief.
But, after grieving for a child and trying to live the rest of your life with whatever strength you, only to find your child isn’t dead but alive somewhere out there can be emotionally overwhelming.
When a mother found out that her daughter, whom she was told had died in the hospital soon after her birth, was still alive. She began her search to find out what really happened to her baby girl, Rala. The Black mother named Damea reportedly gave birth to her daughter at home. To help her get through the birth, the baby’s father was said to have gone out to search for help and came back with a woman who assisted Damea until the paramedics finally came to the house. They reportedly found that the baby was not breathing, and it was alleged that the woman who came to help told Damea not to breastfeed Rala even though she was not a doctor.
Rala finally did start crying when the paramedics arrived and cut the umbilical cord. Eventually, the mother and infant were taken to he local hospital. It was here when things a drastic turn. It was alleged that the mother was told that her baby girl did not make it. When they left the hospital, Damea was not even given a birth certificate; they left only with a picture of the baby and an urn that was provided by the hospital. On the same day, another White couple named Joana and Jake left the same hospital knowing that they were becoming parents to an adopted baby. The day that Damea supposedly lost her baby was the same day Joana and Jake received a call from the hospital, informing that they had one last patient that the couple could adopt before the hospital closes their maternity ward. The same day which was marked as the death day for Damea’s newborn was the day that Joana and Jake had their adoption processed.
Years later, Damea wrote on Facebook, talking about how her baby was still alive and screenshots of the post were shared on Twitter. “About 3 years ago. We were told our Baby girl Rala was dead,” said the mother in the post. “Our Lives Changed forever, trying to live with this devastation Has been so hard and confusing. Only to find out Recently that there is a strong possibility that we have been lied to, and our baby is still alive out there somewhere with a whole new Family (Mind you, we were never granted a Death certificate of any kind). But was given an urn and a picture of the baby…” After the news of the death of her baby, Damea was said to have pushed for a death certificate for her baby and even sought out legal help. That is when she discovered that somehow, there was an adoption open with Joana. People who saw screenshots of the story were shocked to read that such a thing could happen. Some Twitter users even shared screenshots that they believe are from Joana and Jake’s blog where they were reportedly posting updates about their adoption journey. The blog is now deleted, and so is Joana’s photography page which was called Joana Mae Photography. Other social media pages of the couple were also deleted later.
