Child Protective Services and the State Attorney General’s Office do not want the public to know about the medical kidnapping of the Meissinger family’s two infant sons, and have demanded that Health Impact News‘ coverage of the story be taken down. Read the story we will NOT take down here.
by Brian Shilhavy
Editor, Health Impact News
In October (2018) we brought you the story of a young couple’s situation in Arizona, where both of their infant sons were removed from their family by the Department of Child Safety, Arizona’s version of CPS (Child Protection Services).
They lost their first son, Keaton, at 2 months of age after taking him to the doctor shortly after receiving multiple vaccines and becoming sick. A Child Abuse Pediatrician at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Dr. Cynthia Nelson, reported that Keaton had been abused based on medical evidence.
And while the parents have not yet been found guilty of any crime in an ongoing investigation, an investigation in which other doctors have allegedly weighed in and disagreed with Dr. Cynthia Nelson, the State of Arizona also removed the Meissinger’s second son 48 hours after he was born, simply because there was an open investigation regarding their first baby.
Read the full story here:
Arizona Parents Falsely Accused of Child Abuse Lose Infant Son – Have 2-Day-Old Newborn Also Medically Kidnapped
Arizona Assistant Attorney General Colleen O’Donnell-Smith (second from left) is demanding that Health Impact News take down their story about the Medical Kidnapping of the Meissinger babies. Image from Facebook.
This story has drawn national attention, and Health Impact News recently received an email from the mother, Briana, explaining that the Arizona Attorney General office was demanding that we take down their story:
I have been instructed by the Assistant Attorney General (Colleen O’Donnell-Smith) to write you a formal letter to request the removal of the article that was published about our family and children; the AAG stated that I am to request this because the article contains information that violates confidential information of the case.
So, this email is being sent to suffice the request of a formal request to remove the article from the website Medicalkidnap.com.
I would like to clarify and have in writing that all communication that was provided to you, was given to you by myself, and that you never had contact nor were you ever supplied any information by my husband, Jordan Meissinger, so that if there are any consequences incurred for our involvement, they fall on me, and me alone- as I am ready to accept responsibility for my actions.
However, I also would like to note that I was not aware that I was violating any laws, rather, practicing and utilizing my 1st ammendment right, and I was not aware speaking about what my family is going through contradicts or disqualifies me of practicing my 1st amendment right.
Thank you for your time, and I look forward to your response on how we can resolve this matter.
Kind regards,
Briana
1st Amendment Routinely Violated in State-Sponsored Child Kidnappings When Children go into Foster Care
We have been publishing stories about state-sponsored child kidnappings on our MedicalKidnap.com website for over 4 years now, and this is not the first time we have been told we must remove one of our articles.
We have never complied with these demands and threats, and we are NOT going to start now.
These demands are directed towards traumatized parents while keeping their children captive, and are usually accompanied by an unconstitutional gag order to try and silence the parents.
We have had judges from Arizona in the past make similar demands of Health Impact News (see: Arizona Judges Continue to Threaten Parents and Restrict Free Speech, and 10 and 12 Year Old Sisters Seized from Family by Hospital in Phoenix), and the Arizona DCF has made similar demands (see: Arizona DCF Tries to Stifle Free Speech in Medical Kidnapping Case – Demands Our Stories of Coumpy Family be Taken Down).
However, I believe this is the first time that a State Attorney General has made such a demand.
Here is a description of the office of Attorney General as defined by the Arizona State Attorney General Website:
The Attorney General serves as the chief legal officer of the State. The Attorney General is mandated by our constitution and elected to a four-year term by the people of Arizona.
The Attorney General’s Office is the largest law office in the State. The Office is divided into:
- Criminal Division
- State Government Division
- Child and Family Protection Division
- Civil Litigation Division
- Solicitor General’s Office
- Communications Division
- Operations
Mark Brnovich is the current Arizona Attorney General, elected into office by the people of Arizona.
Arizona Assistant Attorney General Colleen O’Donnell-Smith apparently works in the Child and Family Protection Division, Durango Unit #2. She is a public servant, and can apparently be contacted here.
The Attorney General Office contact page is here.
Attorneys working within the office of the State Attorney General office should be well-versed in the U.S. Constitution, and specifically the First Amendment which protects Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press.
By intimidating parents whose children are held in captivity by the State, and demanding that they not speak out against any alleged abuse happening with the abduction of their children, is a clear violation of the intent and purpose of the First Amendment contained in the Bill or Rights.
Here is part of the text of the Preamble of the Bill of Rights, stating the purpose of these “rights:”
THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.
Clearly, the Bill of Rights, and other amendments to the U.S. Constitution that followed, were intended to protect citizens of the United States from abuses in government.
Here is the First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
So on what basis do government officials intimidate parents and members of the press like us, trying to silence us, which appears to be such a blatant violation of the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment?
Most states have passed some kind of “confidentiality law” which is used as justification to keep proceedings in family or juvenile courts secret, away from public scrutiny.
However, just because a State Law is on the books allowing officials to intimidate and silence parents and/or members of the Press, does not mean that the law is Constitutional. Many, if not most, of these laws could probably be challenged in Federal courts as to their Constitutionality with very favorable outcomes.
The law we have seen usually referred to in Arizona is the Arizona Revised Statutes Title 8 on “Child Safety.”
The section on “Confidentiality” is 8-542:
A. It is unlawful, except for purposes for which files and records or social records or parts of or information from files and records or social records have been released pursuant to section 8-541, or except for purposes permitted by order of the court, for any person to knowingly disclose, receive or make use of, or authorize, knowingly permit, participate in or acquiesce in the use of, any information involved in any proceeding under this article directly or indirectly derived from the files, records, reports or other papers compiled pursuant to this article or acquired in the course of the performance of official duties.
B. A person who knowingly discloses information in violation of this section is guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor.
C. This section does not prohibit persons employed by the court, the division or a licensed child welfare agency from conducting the investigations or performing other duties pursuant to this article and done within the normal course of their employment.
We have had multiple reports over the years from parents who claim that they have been threatened with jail time if they do not comply with a gag order, or refuse to take down a website or Facebook Page that contains pictures of their children who are now in Foster Care.
And while to our knowledge no judge has of yet followed through with implementing that threat (maybe because they know it is not Constitutional?), how many parents in Arizona know that the law states this particular “offense” is only a “class 2 misdemeanor?”
What about section C of 8-542 where the law states:
“This section does not prohibit persons employed by the court, the division or a licensed child welfare agency from conducting the investigations or performing other duties pursuant to this article and done within the normal course of their employment.”
What is the purpose of this section, and how is it used?
Double Standards: Parents May not Post Pictures or Information About Their Own Children, but State Agencies Can for the Purpose of Adoption
Whether justified by 8-542 section C or not, it is easy to see the double standards of imposing gag orders against parents and demanding that news organizations like Health Impact News remove any photos or information about children in Foster Care, when State agencies do that very exact same thing.
Here is a screenshot from a tax-payer funded Arizona government website, where anyone can basically put in an order for a child to adopt, based on search criteria:
After entering search parameters, results will be shown with pictures (sometimes even videos as well), and a full profile of the child currently in Foster Care:
And this is just one example. There are many other such sites as well.
So while the State intimidates and threatens parents who post photos and information about their children who have been placed into Foster Care, the State has no qualms about marketing those same children for adoption, which brings in massive amounts of federal funding.
CPS and Foster Care = Child Trafficking
Billions of taxpayer funds are spent each year on the Child Welfare system, which employs hundreds of thousands of people, from Child Abuse Pediatricians to Social Workers to Judges and apparently to Attorney Generals as well, among many, many others.
We have documented much over the years about the abuses of this system, which MUST take children away from their families in order to survive and receive government funds, and has basically become a Child Trafficking System.
And as long as the 1st Amendment still stands, we will continue to expose this evil system that is destroying lives and families.
To learn more see:
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