Chicago Boy Medically Kidnapped for 20 Months Back Home – Family Strives to Overcome Trauma

It has been two years since "Baby Malik" was returned to his family. It has been a long journey of helping him to overcome the harm from being taken by Child Protective Services and Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago, but his grandmother Lakisha Tanna says that they can finally "function like a normal family again." Malik just started K-5 kindergarten. He is doing well now, but that didn't happen overnight. He was out of his family's custody for 1 year, 8 months, and a day. All that time in the custody of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) had a lasting impact on him, and it wasn't good. He came home with a great deal of insecurity, afraid to let Lakisha out of his sight. There were times that Lakisha was afraid that he would never come home, and times that she feared for Malik's very life. She thanks God that he is safe now. The public attention brought to their story by Health Impact News made a big difference, she believes. As long as DCFS and Lurie Children's Hospital were able to operate in secrecy, there was no accountability and they were able to do whatever they wanted with Malik, including perform multiple experimental surgeries on him without his family's consent. To this day, Malik's story remains one of the most horrific stories we have ever covered of medical abuse under Child Protective Services custody. Because our readers became involved in making phone calls and writing letters, holding the hospital and DCFS accountable, Malik was finally returned home.

Judge Rules that Baby Malik Taken at Chicago Hospital is to Go Home

Lakisha Tanna is ecstatic. She has been fighting Illinois DCFS for her now 3 year old grandson Malik Mitchell for more than a year and a half. The family has been desperately concerned for his well-being and his very life, because they believe that Lurie Children's Hospital has been conducting human experiments on the little boy. In a court hearing on Tuesday, July 7, 2015, the judge reportedly said that, "This case has been going on too long. It is past time for Malik to go home." Malik is going home.

Medical Kidnapping in Chicago: DCFS Does Not Want You to Know What They are Doing to 3 Year Old Malik

Malik Mitchell turns 3 years old today, but he will not be celebrating his birthday at home with his family. Instead, he is still stuck in the Illinois Child Protective System, where he has been for more than a year and a half, away from his family. DCFS seized custody of Malik on December 6, 2013, after his grandmother, who had legal custody, asked for a second opinion about his medical care. Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago had already performed numerous surgeries on his tiny body, and Lakisha Tanna wanted to know if there were other options for her grandson. The final court date to permanently remove custody is Tuesday, July 7, at 1:30 pm at the Juvenile Detention Center, 1100 S. Hamilton, Chicago. The State does not want the public to know about this, as they have issued a gag order on the family, and have told Health Impact News to take down our stories about Malik. We will not comply. Instead, we are encouraging the public to take action!

Illinois Gags Grandmother from Exposing Chicago’s Lurie Children’s Hospital in Medical Kidnapping

Another family has allegedly been gagged from speaking out about their experiences with Child Protective Services and a hospital they have said is hurting their child. Lakisha Tanna is the legal guardian and grandmother of Baby Malik, hereafter known as "Baby M." She has been ordered by the Cook County, Illinois, Family Court to refrain from media contacts or postings about her grandson. There is great concern for Baby M's safety at present. He is currently being held in Lurie Children's Hospital. His latest return there was not for any medical reason; it was an emergency placement because he was removed from the foster parents' custody. Allegedly, Lurie Children's Hospital is planning to repeat surgery on him soon, one which has been performed twice already, involving resectioning of his intestines. Is the State of Illinois trying to silence the family? Is his how Child Protective Services has gotten away with taking children away from parents for so long, in so many places, without bringing criminal charges against the parents? Where is the transparency when gag orders are issued against the parents, and news reporters are forbidden to obtain or print any records on this cases? The secrecy that shrouds the Family Court System potentially endangers families everywhere, because any alleged corruption is allowed to continue unchecked.

Verdict – Missouri Resident Isaiah Rider To Remain Ward of the State of Illinois

Michelle Rider is in shock. Her son is upset and angry. They cannot believe that the system can get away with making 17 year old Isaiah Rider a permanent ward of the state of Illinois. The Missouri residents only visited the state in order to have a surgery there that was supposed to help Isaiah, who suffers from a rare neurological condition that leaves painful tumors on nerves. Instead of helping him, the actions initiated by Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago have resulted in custody of Isaiah being seized by Child Protective Services of Illinois. The final hearing for the Riders was on Wednesday, March 11, and the verdict was not at all what they had hoped to hear. Michelle writes: "Isaiah was just made a ward of the court in the state of IL. A Missouri residing resident is a ward of another state."

Chicago Lurie Children’s Hospital Takes Baby Away From Family for Seeking a Second Opinion

When Lakisha Tanna's infant grandson was transferred to Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, she thought that he was in the best place he could be to receive the care that he needed for his medical condition. She never dreamed that this choice would eventually result in her adorable grandchild being what she terms "medically kidnapped" more than a year later. On March 12, the family faces a hearing to determine whether Malik, now 2 1/2, will be able to return home to his grandparents who love him, or forever become a ward of the state of Illinois.

The Isaiah Rider Case – Why Didn’t the Choctaw Tribe Save Isaiah From This Nightmare?

We have been following the Isaiah Rider case since last year when he was kidnapped from his mother, by Child Protective Services, after Lurie Childrens Hospital accused her of “Medical Child Abuse”. What followed after that has been a long and twisted road of stonewalling, roadblocks and what appears to be a betrayal by some in the Choctaw Nation, the Native American tribe to which both Isaiah and Michelle belong. The Choctaw who could have intervened and rescued Isaiah from a system where he had recently been sexually assaulted, instead sided with CPS and the state of Illinois and agreed to leave him in their custody. It wasn’t until recently that we came across a potential conflict of interest that might explain why the Choctaw chose to side with CPS and Lurie Childrens Hospital.