Ahmed Amer (from bottom, L-R), Rehab Amer, attorney Nabih Ayad, and CAAO Spokesman Osama Siblani speaking while flanked by Ayad’s law team at the LAHC. The press conference was attended by various major Detroit media outlets.          PHOTO: Nick Meyer/TAAN

DEARBORN — After securing a more just and equitable future for all of Michigan’s families with the passing of the Amer Act last December, Dearborn’s Amer family has now turned its attention to civil court as three members of the family announced a lawsuit filed against a foster care organization and four state workers.

An emotional Rehab Amer, who was wrongfully accused and later acquitted on charges of killing her  son Samier, broke down into tears as she addressed a large gathering of Detroit TV and other media, some of whom wiped tears from their own eyes, at the family’s press conference at the Lebanese American Heritage Club on Wednesday, March 16.

“My beloved son Samier cried out from the grave, we are here today because of his cries,” Rehab Amer said.

Rehab Amer was acquitted after it was found that her son, who was two years old at the time, had a brittle bone disease that investigators had missed. He died from injuries sustained from a fall in the bathtub at age two.

“He cried out for 17 years after I buried him and had to exhume him to prove my innocence to my children who were ripped unjustly to the point of being told your mother had killed your brother,” Rehab Amer said.

Three other children were raised in a Christian foster household in Clarkston apart from their true Arab and Muslim heritage and brought up to believe Rehab Amer was guilty according to the lawsuit.  The family also has a strong bias against Muslims according to Rehab Amer. 

The lawsuit, which comes more than 20 years after the state removed the three children from the Amer family’s home, was filed on behalf of plaintiffs Rehab Amer, her husband Ahmed Amer, and her youngest son, Hussein Amer, who all attended the press conference, through Nabih Ayad & Associates of Canton in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

The family, which went through a seemingly endless string of legal battles to have the Amer Act passed,  said they waited to file the lawsuit until Hussein turned 18, which he did about a year and a half ago. Out of necessity considering the horrors of their past experiences with the foster care system, Hussein was born in Canada and was raised as the Amer’s nephew until he turned 18.

“The child recently turned 18 and the fear was that if they brought the (lawsuit) earlier, the Department of Social Services (now the Department of Human Services) would arrive and remove him,” Ayad said.

One of the three children, Zinabe, was even taken within 24 hours of her birth despite Rehab Amer’s prior acquittal, which took less than 30 minutes of deliberation.

Despite various relatives of the Amer family being cleared as fitting parents, they were not allowed to adopt the Amer’s children, only ones from other homes.

The Amer Act, also known as House Bill 4118, allows for special consideration when children are placed in foster homes, mandating that they are first placed with relatives if possible and also given special consideration in regards to religion and culture.  The Amer’s were expected to be honored at the UM-Dearborn Arab Student Union’s banquet on Friday, March 18.

The lawsuit names the Judson Center, Inc., a domestic non-profit organization which placed the children in foster homes, along with four state workers as defendants. The Amers had visited their children at the center and noticed a pattern of abuse in the form of marks, bruises, burns, and sores, which an investigator confirmed as abuse by their foster mother according to the lawsuit.

Ayad said that Rehab Amer was even blackmailed at one point into falsely admitting she had killed Samier in exchange for permission to keep custody of her children. But she refused, not wanting to take the blame for a crime she didn’t commit.

“The DHS said that was the only condition that would allow the children to be returned,” Ayad said. “They intended from day one to make sure they would never see their children again.”

The lawsuit contains a quote from state-appointed psychologist Dr. Ralph Epstein, who evaluated the Amer’s parental abilities and fitness following the taking of Zinabe for the court.

“My private thoughts after this meeting was that it might be a flagrant violation of civil liberties, constitutional rights for a juvenile court, private agency such as the Judson Center and a state agency (Social Services) to connive to punish parents although a circuit court had exonerated them of a criminal offense,” he said.

Osama Siblani, spokesman for the Congress of Arab American Organizations, also spoke on behalf of the Amer family and recalled his past experiences with community leaders seeking justice at the LAHC.

“We met with (former governor) John Engler, we raised money, but no one wanted to listen to us at the time; we were the bogeyman that everybody was scared of and no one wanted to address us or talk to us or see that we are human beings,” he said.

“Even 20 years later, someone has to fix this mistake and say that they are sorry,” Siblani said.

“We want to send a very clear message to the state of Michigan that this community cannot be neglected and with people like Ayad and his law office waiting and willing to take on issues like this one in court I am sure that we will win.”