The son of “American Idol” contestant Syesha Mercado has been returned home after claims he was “kidnapped” by hospital officials.
Mercado, 35, captioned an Instagram post, “AMEN’RA IS OFFICIALLY HOME!!!” along with a clip of the couple driving home him home in their vehicle.
“He’s back, he’s with us, but we got to deal with six months of supervision … to show that we’re competent and able to raise our own baby,” his father said, adding that the fight was far from over.
“Every person that has been involved in this process – in keeping our son away from us – all those individuals will be held accountable,” he declared.
Back in August, Mercado and her partner, Tyron Deneer, revealed they were still fighting for custody of their 18-month-old son Amen’Ra, who was taken by the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) back in March.
“We still got work to do to get Ra back, but we just wanted to say thank you because of y’all… we had the proper support to get the best attorneys in the country to be able to bring justice,” says Deener.
Deneer told reporters that the couple’s children were removed from their care “because of how we present ourselves, our culture, the way we look.” Both he and Mercado were raising their children in a Black vegan lifestyle.
The disclosure came after the local sheriff’s department took their second child only six months after losing custody of their son during a hospital visit to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg.
“This is my first time being a mom and I’ve been deprived of holding my babies and feeding my babies. I didn’t get to see Ra say ‘momma’ for the first time and I didn’t get to see my babies meet for the first time,” Mercado said at the time per NBC. “I’m just missing out on so many precious moments.”
