Former American Idol personality Syesha Mercado says she and her partner Tyron Deener have regained custody of their 16-month-old son Amen’Ra following an extended six-month battle.
Mercado, 35, captioned an Instagram post Friday, 'AMEN’RA IS OFFICIALLY HOME!!!' along with a clip of the couple driving home with Amen’Ra in a car seat.
Mercado in the clip sang to her son, as the couple opened up about the details of the case, which began in February after Child Protective Services put the child into foster care after he was hospitalized at St. Petersburg, Florida's Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital.
The latest: Former American Idol personality Syesha Mercado, 35, says she and her partner Tyron Deener have regained custody of their 16-month-old son Amen’Ra following an extended six-month battle
The couple's newborn daughter was also removed from their custody for 10 days in August.
Deener said: '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.'
He added, 'Every person that has been involved in this process - in keeping our son away from us - all those individuals will be held accountable.'
The child looked overjoyed as he reunited with his parents while in a car seat.
Mercado in the clip sang to her son, as the couple opened up about the details of the case
The child looked overjoyed as he reunited with his parents while in a car seat
Deener said of his son: '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'
The couple in August had their newborn daughter Ast had been returned to them. Deener made the announcement in a video posted to Mercado's page, in which he also shared that Amen'Ra was still in foster care at the time.
Tyron thanked the public for their support as he filmed himself in the car as his newborn daughter snoozed beside him.
A GoFundMe for Syesha and Tyron's legal battles with Child Protective Services has raised more than $430,000.
'We still got work to do to get Ra back,' said Tyron in the Instagram video where he asserted that he and Syesha had 'the best attorneys in the country.'
He added: 'We have our baby back, our newborn, and we just gonna focus on getting those moments, these couple days, this week that we’ve been without her – focus on getting that time back.'
Delighted: Mercado and Deener had their newborn daughter returned to them in August
Sleeping peacefully: Their 13-day-old daughter Ast had been taken away by Child Protective Services but Tyron revealed in August that they have gotten her back
Celebrating one victory: Deneer made the announcement in a video posted to Syesha's page
Whilst he remained in the backseat next to his sleeping daughter Syesha could be glimpsed at the wheel smiling with relief.
The pair opened up about her battle to regain custody of their children in a news conference in August. Amen’Ra was taken from his parents' custody on March 11 and Ast was brought in by Child Protective Services in August.
In a press conference held in August, both Mercado and Deener said officials had no reason to remove the kids from them, as they have no current or past issues with the law or social services agencies that would make sense of the treatment they've received over the course of events.
The couple opened up about their battle to regain custody of their children in a news conference in August
'If this can happen to us, it can happen to you,' Deener said. 'We have no criminal background. We have no history with DCF. We have done nothing wrong.'
Mercado said in the clip, 'I went somewhere to get assistance, my baby was supposed to come home with me. We should have never been criminalized for getting assistance for something.'
In the clip, Mercado said she was 'just missing out on so many precious moments' and 'such a precious time' in seeing the children grow up.
'I am a first-time 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. I didn’t get to see my babies meet for the first time. I didn’t get to see that and I can’t go back and redo that moment, I will never be able to go back and redo that moment.'
Mercado and Deener expressed their anguish amid their battle to regain custody of the pair, who were removed from their care by child protective services officials in Florida
In the clip, Mercado said she was 'just missing out on so many precious moments' and 'such a precious time' in seeing the children grow up
Family's legal battle: Mercado had her newborn daughter taken away by sheriff deputies in Florida in August during a traffic stop, five months after her one-year-old son, Amen'Ra (pictured), was placed in foster care
She said of her son, 'I didn’t get to see Ra say, "Mama" for the first time'
She continued: 'I feel my daughter. I feel when she’s hungry and when she’s crying. And I, I can’t do anything. She’s not here with me. I’ve been deprived of that and I don’t know how to articulate it. It hurts so bad.'
Deener added that their lives revolve 'around health, balance and doing what we can to guide our children,' and that 'nothing that we do is detrimental to our babies.
'If you are a parent, if you are a grandparent, aunt, uncle, cousin, just know that we have agencies in place that have the ability to remove children without you breaking the law or abusing your niece, nephew, son.'
The couple are now receiving the services of prominent civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, who has past represented the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, in the efforts to get their kids back.
Crump has criticized the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office for 'publicly dehumanizing' a Black family with their actions.
Mercado said she felt helpless as she wanted to care for their son and daughter
Emotional: The mom-of-two fought back tears in the clip
The couple are now receiving the services of prominent civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, who has past represented the families of George Floyd and
