Syesha Mercado, a Florida mother of two who has been engrossed in a longstanding custody battle over her son Amen’Ra since March, shared footage from a short visitation with the toddler.
"All of the affirmation, all of the prayers, all of the positive thinking and mantras, they're shifting the energy and they're doing exactly what needs to be done in order to bring our baby home," she said in her Instagram story. “Literally I envision and I imagine him every day walking in that door just so happy and saying 'Mama.'”
The video shows Amen’Ra playing outside in a park, caressing plants and feeling the earth beneath his feet, while Mercado plays the drums during their two-hour supervised visitation.
"It was just so refreshing to be in the sun with our son and to have him feel the rays on his skin and have him experience his culture — us drumming to him, us singing to him, us holding him and just being completely present," she continued.
Amen’Ra was forcibly removed from Mercado and her partner Tyron Deener’s care after the couple took him to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg for malnutrition concerns. Mercado’s breastmilk supply was drying up and the now 18-month-old would not accept any other fluids. Once the couple arrived at the hospital, Manatee County authorities placed the child in foster care.
In addition to the custody battle over Amen'Ra, on Aug. 11, Deener posted an Instagram Live that showed two deputies providing the couple with a court order to turn over their newborn baby, Ast, for a checkup at the hospital, as Blavity previously reported.
“You have no heart. My baby is days old,” Mercado screamed as a caseworker repeatedly asked her to put the baby in the car. “My baby is healthy. My baby is happy.”
In an Aug. 17 press conference, Deener denied any allegations that he and Mercado had abused their children.
“The only thing that we have ever done as parents is make responsible decisions, loving decisions," Deener said, according to People. "We have not committed any crime. We have not abused our babies."
"Our life revolves around health, balance and doing what we can to guide our children," he added. "Nothing that we do is detrimental to our babies."
Mercado, meanwhile, became emotional as she spoke about having both of her children removed from her care.
"I am a first-time mom and I've been deprived of holding my babies, and feeding my babies," she said. "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."
"I'm supposed to be loving my babies," the singer continued. "I've been deprived of that and I don't know how to articulate it. It hurts so bad."
The couple has raised over $400,00 to cover legal fees, according to their GoFundMe, surpassing their initial $200,000 goal.
Baby Ast has also since been reunited with Mercado and Deener, nearly a week after being separated from the two.
