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.