JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Two and a half years after Tasha Patterson had her children removed from her custody, she and her husband are still fighting to get them back. Now, her fight has inspired a Florida lawmaker to introduce a bill to change the way child abuse investigations are handled.

“I prayed for them because I wanted to be a mom,” Patterson said.

The South Florida nurse practitioner didn’t know if she could ever get pregnant.

“So, when not only did I get pregnant naturally, but also twins, it was a miracle pregnancy,” she said.

Her sons were born prematurely, and after they were released from the NICU, Patterson says she knew something was wrong.

“The entire time they told us they either had reflux, they had colic,” Patterson said. “They told me  I was just a new mom who was overly concerned.”

Everything changed when she took one of the twins to the emergency room in 2022. Doctors told her they found a brain bleed, liver laceration and multiple fractures. Soon after, the other twin was evaluated and also found to have fractures.

“We didn’t know where it came from,” Patterson said.

All three children — including the twins’ half-brother — were removed from the Pattersons’ custody. The couple was charged with child neglect.

“For you to snatch my children away, they said we did it to them,” Patterson said. “It’s absolutely the hardest thing we have had to go through as a family because nobody hurt my children.”

The state terminated their parental rights. But Patterson says new medical information later revealed the twins had hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS) and signs of a metabolic bone disorder.

A judge reopened the case, but Patterson said their ability to bring in expert testimony was limited.

“We did have our own child abuse pediatrician who ruled out abuse,” she said. “We had other geneticists involved. We had radiologists involved, and we weren’t allowed to bring them in.” 

Their case has now inspired legislation.

Democratic Sen. Barbara Sharief filed Senate Bill 304 — known as Patterson’s Law — to help prevent similar situations. A companion bill has been introduced in the Florida House.

“What was striking to me was the fact that they have gone through their entire life savings,” Sharief said. “They have been fighting in the court system to get their children back, and they have a condition called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. And this condition leads to fractures, it leads to injuries that could look like abuse.” 

If passed, the bill would require families to be informed of their right to request specific medical exams and their right to request a second opinion to rule out conditions that might mimic abuse during child abuse investigations.

“It would just make it mandatory that a judge considers another opinion, and that is a fair process,” Sharief added.

Patterson’s twins, now two years old, remain in the care of a relative. She’s only allowed supervised visits.

“It has taken a toll. It is heartbreaking. I miss them,” Patterson said. “They took the first two years I could have been raising them myself away from me. And they don’t have to deal with the fact that when I’m leaving, I have to hear them crying behind the door because they don’t understand why mommy has to leave.” 

First Coast News reached out to the Florida Department of Children and Families but is still awaiting a response.

Patterson plans to testify before the Children, Families and Elder Affairs Florida Senate Committee on Wednesday morning in support of Patterson’s Law.

Meanwhile, in Georgia, a similar measure called Ridge’s Law recently passed the state Senate and is headed to the House. That bill would also give parents the right to a second medical opinion in suspected child abuse cases.