'American Idol' finalist Syesha Mercado's kids are with an 'estranged relative' amid custody battle

The two young children removed from “American Idol” finalist Syesha Mercado and her partner Tyron Deener over health concerns are now living with an estranged relative, an attorney said during a news conference Tuesday with the couple.

Lead attorney Derrick McBurrows said the children, 15-month-old Amen’Ra and 16-day-old Asset Sba, are with “an estranged relative,” and that Mercado and Deener are able to visit them once a week.

His co-counsel Louis Baptiste said the children are together.

“We don’t want to say where for their safety, but they are not with their parents,” Baptiste said. “And not with the person they would choose.”

Just 10 days old at the time, the couple’s newborn girl was removed by authorities on Aug. 11 after their car was surrounded by Manatee County sheriff’s deputies. Deener’s 8-, 7- and 5-year-old children from a previous relationship were in the car at the time.

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Mercado and Deener have been working for more than three months to regain custody of their son, who was placed in foster care after what they thought was a routine trip to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida on Feb. 26. The couple was concerned about malnutrition after Mercado’s breast milk supply started to run dry and Amen’Ra would not accept other fluids.

Two weeks later, St. Petersburg Police removed the parents from the hospital for trespassing. Their son was discharged in late March and placed in foster care.

Deener said they have been targeted, at least in part, because they maintain a vegan diet.

“The only thing we’ve done as parents is going to get assistance for our son,” he said. “We’ve been judged on the way we look, the way we present ourselves. We’ve been criminalized. We had our son and daughter removed from us for lack of understanding.”

He said the Department of Children and Families, Child Protective Services and other authorities are “judging us, critiquing us. That’s outside their job. They’re supposed to be working hand-in-hand in building families, not destroying families.”

Wiping tears from her eyes, Mercado said, “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 ‘mama’ for the first time, and I didn’t get to see my babies meet for the first time, and I can’t go back and redo that moment.”

She said even though they are separated, “I feel my daughter. I feel her when she’s hungry. I know when she’s crying, and I can’t do anything.”

New attorneys brought on

McBurrows leads a legal team that has grown with the addition of two prominent civil rights attorneys.

Benjamin Crump has worked with the families of Trayvon Martin, Ahmaud Aubrey, Martin Lee Anderson and Breonna Taylor, while Jasmine Rand has worked as an attorney for the families of Martin and Michael Brown and as a media strategist for the George Floyd legal team.

McBurrows said there has been a “false narrative” created against Mercado and Deener that goes against state and federal laws and denied the parents their guaranteed right to due process “to raise their children, to practice their vegan lifestyle without judgment.”

Baptiste said the legal team is pursuing several approaches to getting the children returned.

“This case is based on animus that has been built on this family, against their beliefs, against their practices, what they choose to eat and what they choose not to eat,” Baptiste said. “If this family can be attacked because of what they believe, they practice a vegan lifestyle, then it shows that no family is safe, no child is safe.”

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McBurrows said he was “permanently changed” by the couple’s visitation experience through the Safe Children’s Coalition, the local agency contracted by the state to handle foster care and child welfare.

“The facility was absolutely disgusting,” McBurrows said. “I could see tension on Syesha’s face, and she’s still trying to build a relationship with their children. I will never be the same after the pain and shame they had to go through.”

Baptiste said there was no need for authorities to take the girl, whom he described as “a fully healthy baby girl.” Prior to Aug. 11, “every second she existed she was with her mother,” he said. He added that whenever the boy was taken for medical attention “he was brought by this family. Every single instance, they sought help, they sought guidance.”

He said the family has the right “to seek their choice of medical treatment. They have the right to practice their beliefs. The record is clear. At every single instance, these parents have done that. They always have made the best medical decisions for their children.”

Baptiste said the boy’s case is “already pending,” and there is “no firm timeline.” 

As for the baby girl, “that train has just left the station,” he said. “We’re hoping we can get a hearing on that case before September.” 

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Kim Kardashian, other fans send support

Attention is growing for Mercado’s efforts to win back custody of her two young children.

Mercado and Deener started a GoFundMe campaign in April to help cover legal bills and other expenses in the fight to recover their now 15-month-old son. Since Deener’s video of authorities taking their baby girl went viral, the fundraising effort has nearly tripled.

As of late Tuesday, the fund had collected more than $416,000, over double its $200,000 goal. Before the video, the total was closer to $100,000.

More than 11,500 people have donated, most in the $10 to $25 range. At least two contributions topped $4,000 each.

Mercado graduated from Sarasota’s Booker High School and went on to appear on season seven of “American Idol,” where she came in third place. She went on to star in a national tour of “Dreamgirls” and the touring and Broadway productions of “The Book of Mormon.” More recently she has been selling beads and wellness products.

Awareness of the case also grew on Saturday when Kim Kardashian West mentioned it on her own Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages, attracting thousands of comments. She provided a link to a page about Amen’Ra, including a video that shows Mercado singing to the boy.

“Everyone please read and spread this story is absolutely heartbreaking,” Kardashian wrote. “How a mother could go and seek help for her baby that is not wanting to eat, they take the baby into foster care and remove her newborn baby with no reports of abuse. Amenrasba.life.”

Support is coming to the couple from a variety of corners. A Facebook group called “Justice for Syesha – Bring Her Babies Home” has more than 800 members, and its organizers are issuing daily calls to action.

On Monday, followers were encouraged to contact Manatee County commissioners, after earlier calls for messages to leaders involved in child protective services and child health care.

Some posts have called for removing physician Sally Smith, the head of the children protection team in Pinellas County. She oversees nearly every case involving suspicious injuries at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg. Mercado and Deener brought their son to the hospital for treatment and two weeks later were ordered to leave the hospital campus for trespassing.

Smith has faced extensive criticism from defense attorneys, parents and child welfare employees for her approach.

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