by Brian Shilhavy
Health Impact News Editor

Justina Pelletier has become a national symbol for children and families all across America who have gone through legal kidnapping. Justina and her family traveled to Washington D.C.  to promote “Justina’s Law,” a bipartisan bill proposed to end medical research on children. She received a standing ovation from members of Congress.

Justina was taken away from her parents by force at the age of 15, and held for over a year as Boston Children’s Hospital kept her confined in their psych ward. They disagreed with the family’s doctor over her diagnosis, and had the state’s “child protection” social service agency seize custody of her away from her parents, against her will and the will of her parents. What ensued was a long legal battle to get their daughter back, that probably only ended positively because her story went viral and was picked up by the national mainstream media. This because her father refused to obey a court-directed gag order and went to the media with their story. Media heavyweights such as Dr. Phil, Mike Huckabee, and Glenn Beck picked up her story.

Here is a plea Justina made herself to Governor Patrick and Judge Johnston just before she was finally released:

Unfortunately, Justina’s story is not a unique situation in America today, but it is part of a corrupt system that has grown in power and is now out of control. Justina’s story can be retold by families all across America.

How many families have endured similar circumstances: hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands?? No one knows for sure, but based on reports from attorneys who handle these types of cases, it is at least in the thousands, if not much higher. Here are a few cases we have reported on where children were legally seized away from loving parents due to disagreements over medical treatment:

The Nikolayev Family of Sacramento

Anna and Alex Nikolayev with their baby Sammy.

In 2013, Anna and Alex Nikolayev’s baby Sammy was seized by Child Protection Services, with the help of local law enforcement, simply because they took their baby to a different hospital to get a second opinion about heart surgery. The entire incident where the child we removed by force was captured on video:

In the unedited video above, the entire incident of Child Protective Services and the Sacramento Police using force to take away Anna and Alex Nikolayev’s baby is recorded. Anna and Alex had received poor care for their baby at a local hospital, and when the hospital wanted to do heart surgery on their infant, they wanted a second opinion and took the baby to a different hospital.

The first hospital did not approve of this and did not discharge the child. Therefore, they called Child Protection Services. The parents, meanwhile, had taken the baby to a second hospital, where the child was discharged that night by a physician, since there was no immediate danger, and the surgery was not imminent.

But, the next day, Child Protection Services and the Sacramento Police showed up at the parents’ home to take away their baby. The husband was outside at the time, and he was forced to the ground so that the police could enter the home by force. The mother, seeing what was happening outside, set up the camera to record the whole incident (see video above). The social workers would not even tell the mother where they were taking the baby. The police took the baby out of the mother’s arms by force, and only after the social workers had already left with the baby did they allow the mother to show the hospital documents showing that their baby was properly discharged by a physician from the second hospital. The police did not seem to care what the facts were at all, and gave full authority to CPS to remove the child. (Full story here.)

Senior Consul of Russia, Vycheslav Uvarov, in San Francisco in the court in Sacramento, with Honorary Consul of Russia, Natalia Owen. Photo by Alexander Klimov – posted on Facebook.

Since the father is a Russian national, this incident caused an international uproar. Russia accused the United States of abusing the couple’s human rights. Diplomats were sent to attend the hearing in Sacramento. (Full story here.)

One of the attorneys representing the parents explained that these actions by the CPS are not uncommon, and that the child is almost never returned to the parents at the first hearing:

In this shocking interview above, the attorney explains how CPS works in abducting children from families. He has 21 years experience in litigating against CPS.

Quotes:

“A young, cute, little baby is about the most marketable commodity that exists.”

“The chances they will get their baby back today are (slim). In my 21 years of experience, between me and my colleagues, we have seen maybe 3 cases where the child was returned the first day. Now think about that, can they really be right that much of the time?”

Fortunately, the child was ordered to be transported to the care of a hospital that the parents chose (CPS was holding him in the original hospital), and his custody was returned to the parents. One has to wonder if the same result would have occurred, had not one of the parents been a Russian national and had the help of political pressure put on the situation.

The Godboldo Family of Detroit

Maryanne Godboldo and a picture of her daughter Arianna.

In 2011, Health Impact News was one of the first news sources to cover the story of Maryanne Godboldo, a Detroit homeschooling mother who refused to give her child powerful anti-psychotic drugs after she was developmentally disabled due to vaccines. She refused to give up her daughter to Child Protection Services, so they called in a SWAT team and had Maryanne arrested, and seized her daughter. You can read the entire story here. It was one of our top stories in 2011.

Maryanne Godboldo’s story is told in the following video:

This long protracted legal battle, which has resulted in the child being reunited with her mother and all charges against the mother dropped, would not have been possible without Attorney Allison Folmar.

Attorney Allison Folmar (left) and Detroit mother Maryanne Godboldo (right)

Parents who have taken their children off of psychiatric drugs after seeing the dangerous effects on their child have been charged with medical neglect and had their children forcibly removed from their custody.

The charge of “medical neglect” is an oxymoron when it comes to the issue of psychiatric labels and drugs because:

A) There are no medical/scientific tests to prove any child diagnosed “mentally ill” has a medical condition of “mental illness”, as none exists and

B) because the psychiatric drugs prescribed against the parents will have been documented by international drug regulatory agencies to cause mania, psychosis, suicidal ideation, heart problems, diabetes, stroke, and sudden death.

Maryanne was fortunate to have community support and the help of an experienced attorney. The last appeal against her was just denied by a Wayne County District Judge earlier this month (July 2014), ending a long court battle (story here).

The Rider Family of Kansas City

In June of 2014, Michelle Rider and her 16-year-old son, Isaiah Rider, traveled from Kansas City to Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago after doctors in her hometown, Texas, and Boston were unable to effectively treat his neurofibromatosis — a painful condition that causes tumors to grow on his nerves. When Isaiah’s pain was reportedly not getting any better at Lurie’s, his mother attempted to have him transferred to another hospital. But doctors at Lurie’s Hospital reported to Cook County Court that Michelle was guilty of “medical child abuse”, as they disagreed with the course of treatment chosen by the mother. As a result, they seized custody of the child and put him into a foster home, allowing the mother to only be able to visit her son twice a week for one-hour supervised visits.

We only know about this story because the local media in Chicago picked up the story:

Isaiah made a video explaining that his mother was a good mother, and had done nothing wrong. The video is published on Facebook and can be seen here. He remains in the custody of Cook County and is currently in a hospital in Chicago against his will.

The Diegel Sisters of Phoenix

In a case bearing several similarities to Justina Pelletier’s family’s experience with Boston Children’s Hospital, and Isaiah Rider’s family’s experience with Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, 10 and 12 year sisters have been seized by Phoenix Children’s Hospital over a medical dispute. The mother has reportedly been ordered to not discuss the case with anyone, and has been forced to take down YouTube videos and a Facebook Page with over 3000 followers that was documenting the actions of Child Protection Services and doctors at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

Kayla and Hannah Diegel suffer from congenital disorder of glycosylation, (CDG, a form of mitochondrial disease.) Part of their condition is also suffering with “Gastroparesis,” which is a partially paralyzed stomach. As a result, they were fed through feeding tubes to bypass the stomach.

During the course of their treatment, the girls’ family doctor’s clinic of eight years, Estrella Mountain Medical Group, suddenly sent a letter to the parents instructing them to transfer the girls to the care of Phoenix Children’s Hospital Special Needs Clinic. They bounced between several different doctors at PCH, but they were all in the field of genetics. It was during this time that the girls were diagnosed with “congenital disorder of glycosylation” (CDG).

Unknown to the parents at the time, there was funding and drug trials going on for this rare condition. The article on the Facebook Page reports: “The glycosylation trial whose collaborative agreement is through NHGRI/ TGEN opened up on March 14th, 2014, just 3 weeks before the two Phoenix sisters were medically kidnapped.”

The mother reportedly began to suspect that something was going on, as she reviewed the medical records and medications her daughters were receiving. She requested that the care of her daughters be transferred to another doctor “due to his neglect and endangerment of younger daughter i.e., not returning phone calls, ignoring her severe pain and documented bowel impaction being treated from home by registered nurses, under his supervision.”

Shortly after this, in April of 2014, the hospital took custody of both daughters away from the family through CPS.

The family contends that the daughters are suffering since being removed from their family, as their feeding tubes have been removed. Kayla has reported lost 25% of her body weight after being in the custody of PCH for four months. Story here.

The Ferris Family of Williamstown Pennsylvania

In 2012,  Jodi and Scott Ferris were planning on having a home birth, assisted by a midwife. When the baby decided to come early, before the midwife could arrive, they were advised to go to the local hospital. The baby ended up being born in an ambulance in the parking lot of the hospital. The baby was normal and healthy.

While dad went home to fetch the other children, mom was left with the baby in the hospital, where attitudes towards home deliveries and midwives were apparently frowned upon. When they attempted to give the newborn baby a vaccine, the mother stated that she would prefer to wait and discuss it with her husband when he returned. This was not good enough for the hospital, so they kicked the parents out of the hospital and seized custody of the baby. (Read the full story here.)

Fortunately the Ferris’ were part of an organization called “Home School Legal Defense Association” (HSLDA), and attorney Michael P. Farris got involved in the case. The infant was released to the parents the next day. HSLDA takes a strong stance regarding parental rights, and has formed an organization called “ParentalRights.org” which is lobbying for a Constitutional amendment to protect parents’ rights.

The issue of vaccines and vaccine choice is increasingly becoming a major issue in the U.S., with doctors frequently taking matters into their own hands due to their beliefs in vaccines. Earlier this year the Bidwell family in Alabama experienced a similar story as the Ferris family did, when a doctor forced them to vaccinate their newborn child, against the wishes of the family, or have their child taken away from them by Child Protection Services (story here.)

Many, Many More

The above stories are but a small sampling of what is happening all across the United States every day. Here are a few others we have reported on:

Family of Amish Girl Who Fled the Country to Avoid Forced Experimental Chemo Tells Their Side of the Story

Child Taken Away from Parents for Medical Reasons Dies in Foster Care

Mother Forced to Give Son Chemo, Even Though He is in Remission

State of Michigan Sues Parents to Force Chemo on Cancer-free Child

Gulf War Vet and Wife Lose Children to CPS because Doctor Prescribed Medical Marijuana for Headaches

After reading these horrible stories that are every parent’s nightmare, the natural question is: How can they do that??

The fact is there is no legal jurisdiction for medical professionals to take custody of children away from parents. There is only one reason they can seize children away from loving parents: the power of a government agency called “Child Protection Services” (CPS).

The Corruption of CPS

The corruption of CPS, which is growing, has been well documented since the late 1990s. As I have mentioned, these kinds of stories of children being seized away from loving parents for simply disagreeing with a doctor, or choosing one doctor over another, are not new. They have been happening for quite a while. The only thing that is new is that local and national media are starting to bring these tragic stories to the general public.

If you search for documentation of these kinds of abuses being carried out by CPS, you will find several books that have been published:

Out of Control: Who’s Watching Our Child Protection Agencies?

This book by Brenda Scott was published way back in 1994, and one of the first ones to blow the whistle on this out-of-control agency. Description from Amazon.com:

This book of her stories is true. The deplorable and unauthorized might of Child Protective Services is capable of reaching into and destroying any home in America. No matter how innocent and happy your family may be, you are one accusation away from disaster.

Fighting CPS: Guilty Until Proven Innocent of Child Protective Services Charges

by Deborah K. Frontiera – Description from Amazon.com:

Proving Innocence chronicles thirteen months of agony and frustration suffered by the innocent Bonilla and Frontiera families as a result of Children’s Protective Services removal of young James Bonilla from his parents. Most people are not prepared to navigate the maze of sometimes senseless procedures of a government agency that has too much power. The Frontiera and Bonilla story and reports of several other cases across the country should be a wake-up call to a public unaware of how the state agencies charged with protecting the nation’s children are failing. Interviews with lawyers, caseworkers, and others who work within the system, point out specific steps that should be taken to improve how these agencies work. The author issues a call to action from the public to charge all levels of government to make necessary changes in these agencies. They must protect children from abuse and neglect without persecuting innocent families.

Child Protection/Abduction Services: The Modern Mafia: Federally Financed Perjury, Fraud, Kidnapping, and Child Drugging for Profit

by Dr. Eric D. Keefer D.D. – Description from Amazon.com:

Corruption abounds, the system created to protect, assist, and enable children and families is now their worst enemy. Bribery has been legalized. Kick-backs and pay-offs don’t create conflict of interests, they they take the children from innocent families and the pay-offs with impunity. They act and take actions with no regard for the constitutions of the states or the nation. “All Men are equal before the law” was written for a reason, decided for a reason, and part of our legal system for a reason. It is time that “we the people” and the workers inside the CPS-DFCS and “Family Court” system are again…equal before the law.

Memoirs of a Baby Stealer: Lessons I’ve Learned as a Foster Mother

by Mary Callahan – Description from Amazon.com:

Mary Callahan never planned on writing a book about her experiences as a foster parent. She had only one goal as a parent, to help the children in her care. But as she learned their stories, it became painfully clear that the Child Welfare System had no sincere regard for the welfare of children. Callahan realized the only way to truly help the children was to tell their stories.

Written from the unique perspective of a foster parent, Memoirs of a Baby Stealer chronicles Callahan’s experiences with five foster children, shedding light on the inadequacies of the Child Welfare System in this country. As the author explains, “They are taking kids from places that aren’t that bad, putting them in places that aren’t that good, and completely ignoring the bond that exists between parent and child.”

This is just a sampling of the titles published on the corrupt CPS agency. There are many more.

One Congresswoman who tried to take action against the corruption and abuses within the CPS back in 2007 was Nancy Schaefer from Georgia.

Congresswoman Nancy Schaefer talking about the Criminality of CPS, before she was found murdered in her home.

Congresswoman Schaefer lost her Senate seat in Georgia as a result of her speaking out against the corruption within CPS, but states it was something “worth losing” for standing up for the rights of parents who were having their children kidnapped by CPS. She and her husband were found murdered in their home in 2010. You can read her report on CPS from 2007 here: http://fightcps.com/pdf/TheCorruptBusinessOfChildProtectiveServices.pdf. Below is a recorded video from before her death.

Former CPS Investigator Becomes Whistleblower

Why has this government agency become so corrupt? The answer is simple: the foster care system is a $29.4 billion dollar industry.

The right to legal counsel, your Miranda rights, and the right to a speedy jury trial are American rights protected by our Constitution.  But not in family court, where a single judge can decide whether or not you are a fit parent. CPS has more power today than the police, sheriff, or FBI, as they can come into your home and remove your child without a search warrant or court order. Someone who doesn’t like you, for any reason, can make a phone call and provide an anonymous “tip” with the result of you losing your children.

Carlos Morales is a former CPS investigator, and in the video below, titled “Foster Homes: Where Good Kids Go To Die,” he exposes the seedy underworld of foster homes in the United States, where children are routinely abused physically, emotionally, and sexually.

Some statistics revealed in the video show that foster kids are:

• 7-8 times more likely to be abused
• more likely to end up homeless with nearly half becoming homeless at the age of 18
• 3 times more likely to be put on psychotropic drugs
• 7 times more likely to develop an eating disorder
• more likely to have PTSD than veterans of war and less likely to recover from that PTSD
• more likely to become pregnant as a teenager
• 20% more likely to be arrested
• 6 times more likely to die

than if they stayed in an abusive household. (Research and citation here.)

So what is the solution to this problem? Actually, it is a rather simple one.

Abolish the CPS

The solution to the problem is to abolish all federal and state funding to Child Protection Services. This one simple act would solve most of the problems. States lose federal funds if they don’t meet a certain quota of children placed into foster care, and if the federal funding dried up, there would be no motivation whatsoever to take children away from good parents. The state agencies would cease to exist.

Some will complain that children who are legitimately abused by their parents will suffer. But as Carlos Morales clearly explains in the video above, children need to be protected from CPS and the corrupt foster care system, more than they do from their natural parents.

This abuse of power and abuse of children has gone on for far too long. While I applaud Michele Bachmann and other members of Congress for putting forth a bill to end medical experimentation in hospitals, the real problem is CPS. This agency needs to be abolished immediately, because it is CPS and the respective state agencies that are being used by the medical system to seize children and use them in medical experimentations.

There are already laws in place to protect children from abusive parents. CPS has no authority to arrest parents or seize children. They need to use local law enforcement, and this is currently done with no warrant, no court order, no trial.

This needs to stop! Parents deserve the same Constitutional rights in respect to their children that all other members of society enjoy. Current law enforcement agencies in place at the local level can handle complaints against bad parents the same way they do against any other criminals. And the foster care system, where there are undoubtedly many fine people, can be turned over to private agencies where corruption due to massive federal funding can be eliminated.

Until this happens, however, the U.S. will continue to be one of the most dangerous places in the world for children to live, and parents will constantly be in fear of taking their child to a doctor or health professional, for fear that they may lose their children if they disagree with someone in the powerful pharmaceutical industry, where corruption and criminal activity is also rampant.

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