Father shares eerily similar experience to Miya Rudd’s family, drastically different results
OWENSBORO, Ky. (WFIE) - While her autopsy results are still out, several questions surround the case of 8-month-old Miya Rudd from Ohio County, Kentucky.
[PREVIOUS: Remains found concealed inside family home of baby Miya Rudd, says KSP]
One Ohio County man who now lives in Owensboro says he and his fiancée found themselves in a similar situation to her parents, Tesla Tucker and Cage Rudd, when they were giving birth to their third child.
However, the state handled their case very differently.
Suffering from addiction, Baize and his fiancée had two of their children taken away by the state when they found out they were pregnant again.
While he says they were actively in treatment and trying to do the right things, their third child, a little boy, was born.
Due to their other two kids already being in custody of the state, he says their baby was taken, no questions asked, straight from the hospital.
“We were in treatment, trying to better our situation following our case plan, and everything was going right for us at that time, and they still removed the kid,” he explains.
Following Miya’s case, he says he couldn’t help but wonder why a similar treatment wasn’t given to Tesla Tucker and Cage Rudd, who had three of their children taken by the state and placed with family?
More importantly, could that have saved baby Miya from her untimely death?
“At the time, they gave us a case plan to work, and without working that case plan, then regaining custody of the children was impossible,” says Baize. “So, they had to do a lot of follow-ups, a lot of home visits, and everything like that. So, my question is, ‘was they not doing that for baby Miya and her siblings?’ They would’ve known way ahead of time if baby Miya had a safe, stable place to go.”
While Baize and his family wait, like so many others, to see what’s to come of Miya’s family and those who may be held accountable, there’s one thing he’s sure of.
When asked, “do you think if Social Services had done with baby Miya what they did with your kids, do you think she’d still be here?” he answered, “yes, absolutely.”
As we’ve reported, Kentucky State Police say Miya’s umbilical cord did test positive for meth, but they say the results of that test administered when she was born didn’t come back for a week or so.
At that point, they believe social services were looking to remove Miya, but that never happened.
District 14 Kentucky General Assembly Representative Scott Lewis says he and some other folks at the state level are already working on something to strengthen child protection laws once they get back into session.
“If there’s something we can do to strengthen those laws, we will,” says Lewis.
[PREVIOUS: Petition started to create ‘Miya’s Law’ after 8-month-old found dead]
14 News also asked the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services a list of questions regarding Miya’s case on Wednesday last week.
We’ve been told three times they’re “working on it,” but we have yet to receive any answers.
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