American Idol’s Syesha Mercado On Losing Custody Of Her Two Young Children: ‘I’m Just Missing Out On So Many Precious Moments’

American Idol contestant Syesha Mercado and her partner Tyron Deener are expressing their hurt after losing custody of their two young children, 18-month-old son Amen’Ra and 2-week-old daughter Ast.

In a virtual press conference this past Tuesday, Mercado, 34, began crying after her children had been placed in the care of Child Protective Services.

“I am a first-time mom and I’ve been deprived of holding my babies, and feeding my babies,” she cried. “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 just missing out on so many precious moments — this is such a precious time,” she continued. “I feel my daughter. I feel when she’s hungry and know when she’s crying. And I can’t do anything. She’s not here with me.”

“I’m supposed to be loving my babies,” she said. “I’ve been deprived of that and I don’t know how to articulate it. It hurts so bad.”

Mercado and Deener’s newborn daughter was taken from their custody on Wednesday by deputies from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

Previously, Mercado recorded a clip of the interaction with the deputies, where both she and Deener received a court order to turn over their baby girl for a hospital checkup despite the family claims that they have paperwork proving she had gone the day before.

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The incident came five months after the couple’s eldest child was, in Mercado’s words, “forcefully and legally kidnapped” by the Florida Department of Children and Families on March 11.

Mercado claimed on her GoFundMe page that she had taken her son to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in Florida for fluids while transitioning from breastfeeding to the bottle due to her pregnancy when Child Protective Services services took the boy.

“On March 11th, our sun Amen’Ra was forcefully and legally kidnapped from us by CPS, who claim we refused a B12 shot that was a matter of life and death, which is an absolute lie,” she alleged. “We never refused a B12 shot, and at no point was he on the verge of death.”

A spokesperson for the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, Randy Warren, informed PEOPLE that authorities began an investigation into the matter after receiving a tip about a child who was “suffering from severe malnutrition.”

The parents “refused to cooperate” and a judge ordered the child to be placed in the custody of Child Protective Services. The case was then handed over to Safe Children’s Coalition, who handled the decision to “shelter a second child born into the parent’s care.”

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Warren revealed that deputies from the sheriff’s office “executed a pick-up order signed by a family court judge” last week after “repeated attempts to make contact with the parents.”

The child remains in state protection following an August 12 court hearing, according to the Miami Herald-Tribune. During a press conference on Tuesday, Mercado and Deener denied allegations that they had mistreated their children.

“The only thing that we have ever done as parents is make responsible decisions, loving decisions,” Deener said. “We have not committed any crime. We have not abused our babies. We have not done anything that is irresponsible as parents.”

“Our life revolves around health, balance and doing what we can to guide our children,” he said. “Nothing that we do is detrimental to our babies.”

“I went somewhere to get assistance, my baby was supposed to come home with me,” added Mercado. “We should have never been criminalized for getting assistance for something.”