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Parents of Down Syndrome Baby Euthanized by Vanderbilt Hospital Expose Lies of Social Workers in Court

Could things start to be turning around for the Rivenburg family? At stake in the most recent court hearing was the termination of parental rights for the parents of Annalise Rivenburg, the big sister of deceased Baby Steffen. While their family and many supporters around the world waited and prayed, Steffen Rivenburg, Sr., and Patricia Tornberg walked into Judge Wayne Shelton's Clarksville, Tennessee, courtroom on Monday, July 9, 2018. They had been in that courtroom many times, and every time they felt like were walking into a lions den, facing attorneys, social workers, doctors, Guardian ad Litems (GALs), and a judge, all of whom seemed determined to tear them and their family apart. This time, however, it was different. Grandmother Lisa Rivenburg, spokesperson for the family, told Health Impact News: "It was epic! The judge LISTENED to the kids [Steffen, Sr., and Patricia] this time!" This is the first time since their children were taken from them by the Department of Children’s Services (DCS) on February 2, 2017, that the family has felt that they were listened to in court. They don't know why things changed, but they see this as a huge answer to prayer. Annalise is still not home with her family, but her parents' parental rights have not been severed. For now she remains in the foster home that she was placed in by DCS, but she is not up for adoption.

Mother Who Was Sexually Trafficked as a Child in Foster Care Has Her Own Baby Medically Kidnapped – Fears for Her Safety

A Maryland couple followed the advice of their doctors, and now their baby has been taken away from them by Child Protective Services. First time parents, Jennifer Guskin and Scott McFalls, were concerned about their baby's weight, but none of the three pediatricians they consulted noticed that baby Iris had a tongue and lip tie. By the time they found a doctor who figured it out, CPS had already decided to take their baby from them. It is the kind of nightmare scenario that could happen to any family. Doctors may not always be able to figure out why a child isn't gaining weight, but as soon as the baby is diagnosed with failure to thrive, Child Protective Services is often quick to blame the parents and seize the child. Unlike most families, Jennifer Guskin and Scott McFalls know all too well what kinds of horrors possibly face children taken by CPS and put into foster care. Jennifer was adopted as a baby herself, and she has recently gone public with horrific details about her childhood and how she became a victim of child sex trafficking and experimentation. Jennifer and Scott recognize the danger that their baby is in, and that thought terrifies them.

Tennessee Court Seeks to Terminate Parental Rights for Young Sister of Down Syndrome Baby Euthanized by Vanderbilt Hospital

It has been just over a year since the death of Baby Steffen Rivenburg Jr. at the hands of Vanderbilt Hospital, Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (DCS) and Judge Wayne Shelton's court. Since his tragic, senseless death, his family has been fighting DCS and the court for custody of Baby Steffen's older sister, Annalise. On Monday, July 9, parents, Steffen Rivenburg Sr. and Patricia Thornberg, will again go to court over custody of Annalise. Maybe. They were supposed to have court on Monday, June 11. When they went to court that day, they were told that court was cancelled. They again went to court on June 19 for a scheduled foster care review board hearing. When they arrived on that date, they were told that court was changed to July 23. They later received documents in the mail telling that that court was to be held on July 23. Quite by accident, they learned that the July 23 hearing has been moved to Monday, July 9. Steffen's mother, Lisa Rivenburg, the unofficial family spokesperson, told Health Impact News that they called the court this past Monday, July 3, about filing some paperwork. That was when they learned that their court date had moved up 2 weeks. If they hadn't called the courthouse, they never would have known about the date change. The hearing will presumably address motions filed by DCS, including a "Motion to Ratify Per Plan and Motion to Review Permanency" for Annalise. On June 11, 2018, DCS filed for termination of parental rights over Annalise. The family has 30 days to respond to the TPR filing. They hope to address the filing in court on Monday, July 9. The public is invited to come to the Montgomery County Juvenile Court at Two Millennium Plaza, Clarksville, TN 37040 on Monday, July 9, at 10:30 a.m.

Massachusetts Attorney Exposing Medical Kidnapping Threatened with Being Disbarred

Lisa Belanger says that she was always "Daddy's girl." She is the youngest daughter of Marvin Siegel of Boxford, Massachusetts, and she and her father have always been very close. It has now been more than a year and a half since she has seen her father, not by her choice or the choice of her father. A court, guardians, and lawyers have medically kidnapped her father, essentially imprisoning him in his own home, and they have forbidden his baby girl from having any contact with him. Lisa Belanger is an attorney who followed in her father's footsteps, and she is not taking this cruel twist of life lying down. She has been fighting to get him back since he was taken under state guardianship in mid December 2011. Now, in what she sees as retaliation for exposing the corruption in the guardianship system in and around the Boston area, an attorney, who has been fighting alongside the guardians against the family of Marvin Siegel, is attempting to have Lisa Belanger disbarred. This attorney, Marsha Kazarosian, was hired by Mr. Siegel at one time, but just before he was medically kidnapped, he attempted to fire her. In a handwritten statement, he wrote: "I want to terminate your services for going against my wishes." Kazarosian refused to be dismissed. Now, almost 7 years later, Lisa Belanger is still fighting the attorney for one of the most basic of human rights - the right to have a relationship with her father. She says that the complaint against her essentially boils down to this: They're saying, "We're going after you because you dare to expose us."

Children Taken by Arizona CPS for 2.5 Years Return Home with Horrible Accounts of Abuse in Foster Care

A young Arizona boy wrote a heartbreaking letter to his teacher describing the horrors that he saw while he was in a group foster home. Had the things that he talked about happened in his own family home, the teacher would have been mandated to contact Child Protective Services, and a social worker likely would have taken him from his home before the day was out. However, the incidents happened under state custody, and it was almost a month later that the teacher told the boy's mother about the letter. As hundreds of parents have reported to Health Impact News, the real abuse and dangers in foster care are swept under the rug by social workers, while minor incidents or accidents that happen in loving family homes are turned into major catastrophes that Child Protective Services must rush in and address. The children of Arizona mom, Aprilli Coumpy, were taken from her by the Department of Child Safety (DCS) in March of 2015, over an accidental injury involving spilled Ramen noodles. The children spent almost 2 1/2 years in various foster and group homes, before they were finally returned home. Their case was closed on August 15, 2017. The separation traumatized the children and their mother, and they are in counseling as they try to heal and move forward from the harm caused by those charged with protecting families. Now that the children are finally back home and starting the healing process, they want to go public with the horrible abuses the children suffered while in foster care.

Texas Mom Blamed for 4-Month-Old Daughter’s Accidental Gardasil Vaccine Injury – Loses Parental Rights

A Texas jury decided Thursday afternoon, June 21, to terminate the parental rights of a mother whose 4-month-old baby was injected with the Gardasil-9 vaccine in error. Anita Vasquez is devastated. She and her friends and supporters are shocked that this could happen. Instead of doctors and social workers considering the possibility that the symptoms her daughter, Aniya Blu Vasquez, experienced could be related to the vaccine that is not approved for children under 9-years-of-age, Anita was blamed, and her daughter was taken from her by Child Protective Services (CPS). Anita tells us that there was important information that the jury did not hear before making their decision. There were things that she believes her attorney should have presented but did not. For example, only doctors who believed that there were no side effects from the Gardasil vaccine were allowed to testify.

Florida Illegally Separating Children of U.S. Citizens from their Parents – Where’s the Outcry?

Young children torn from their parents, sleeping in a different bed every night. Families torn apart needlessly - and illegally -- over and over again. But this time it's not the U.S.-Mexico border. This time it's Florida. Who says it's illegal? A report commissioned by the state itself. Why is it happening? In part, because caseworkers are terrified of "media consequences" if they leave a child in her or his own home and something goes wrong.

Mother Faces Jury Trial As Texas Seeks to Terminate Her Parental Rights Over Daughter Injured by Gardasil Vaccine

A trial began this week for a mother who was separated from her baby after the 4-month-old mistakenly received a Gardasil-9 vaccine intended for her older brother. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services seeks to convince a jury to terminate the parental rights of Anita Vasquez for her now 22-month-old daughter, Aniya Blu Vasquez. Jury selection began on Monday, June 18, 2018, for the trial which is expected to last up to 2 weeks. We originally reported their story in June of last year. The previously healthy baby, Aniya, began showing symptoms of problems almost immediately after getting the Gardasil shot, a vaccine which is not approved for use in children under 10 years of age. Her mother sought medical attention for the symptoms that her daughter exhibited, asking each practitioner about the connection between the symptoms and the Gardasil-9 shot that her baby should not have received, but her concerns were rebuffed at every turn. No doctor that saw her daughter wanted to admit that the vaccine could have any kind of side effects. The doctor who made a medical error in giving her the vaccine has suffered no consequences, but the baby's family has been ripped apart, as the mother is being blamed for her daughter's medical condition.

Difficult Father’s Day for Dads Who Lost Their Children to Corrupt Child Protection System

It is Father's Day. The day that we honor dads. The holiday began decades ago as a day to celebrate the strong, heroic, protective men who inspire, encourage, and push us to be the best we can be. Most of us have a beautiful, nostalgic image of what today is supposed to be like, but for too many of our readers, that image is a painful reminder of what could be, what should be - but isn't. Children and parents are being separated by the hundreds of thousands in the United States. There are many fathers who want nothing more than to be with their children today, but a judge or a social worker has decided that they can't be. If they had done something wrong, the bitter separation might be somewhat easier to bear, but many dads today are in a situation that was created by a false allegation or by asking for a second medical opinion. They wanted to protect their children and give their best, but people who see their children as little more than dollar signs have stolen that basic human right from them. May God soon bring about the day of restoration of families, and may He hold and protect all of the children, and comfort every one who is missing a loved one today.

Foster Children Turned into Breeders? – CPS Seizes Half of All Babies Born to Teen Moms in Foster Care

According to a recent study published in June 2018, 1 out of 4 newborns born to mothers who are in foster care themselves are seized by Child Protective Services (CPS) within their first week of life. According to American Academy of Pediatrics, by the time the babies reach 2-years-old, almost half of them, 48.8%, are taken from their mothers. At Health Impact News, we have seen a clear pattern of CPS involvement with parents who were in foster care themselves, whether their babies were born while they were in foster care or after they aged out. Many such parents have reported that they feel targeted by CPS. Some have had children taken by the same social workers who took them from their families when they were younger, and some even appear before the same judge as both child and parent. This is the first study that looks at the numbers of children taken from mothers in foster care, and the results are shocking. They reveal massive failure on the part of the foster care system to help the children with whom it is charged with protecting. According to the study: "The biggest differences were seen for children taken into care within 7 days. ... those in care at the birth of their child (regardless of whether they were in care at conception) had more than 11 times the odds of having their child placed in care."