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.

Arizona Veterans Group Calls Out Local Law Enforcement and Mayor for Covering Up Pedophile Trafficking

Last month (June 2018) Health Impact News reported on the story out of Tuscon, Arizona, where a group called Veterans on Patrol uncovered a child sex camp that was believed to be used by cartels crossing the border from Mexico to traffick children in the U.S. Local law enforcement refused to acknowledge that the camp was used in child sex trafficking, and just when it looked like they were going to remove the members of the group from continuing their investigations, something dramatically changed, and the veteran group, now joined by hundreds of volunteers coming in from all over the world, was allowed to continue their patrols in the area. Their patrols have continued the past few weeks, and the group is claiming that they have shut down some of the human trafficking, as well as drug trafficking, as a result of their efforts. The leader of the group, Lewis Arthur, who once enjoyed a great local reputation for his work with getting veterans off of the streets, has come under increasing pressure and criticism from local law enforcement and the corporate-sponsored media. He recently vented some of his frustration on a Facebook Live-stream broadcast, where he accused local law enforcement and the Tucson mayor, Jonathan Rothschild, for covering up known pedophile groups operating within Tucson, Arizona. Throughout his broadcast, Arthur makes is clear that he is being driven by a mission he believes has been given to them from God, and his trust that God will protect him from those seeking to destroy him and his credibility. He believes that their work is revealing the truth about human trafficking coming across the border, and its link to pedophile groups operating out of Tucson and elsewhere which is being covered up by bad law enforcement officers and political figures.

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.

Father Wrongly Convicted for Shaken Baby Syndrome Death of Son Set Free After 10 Years

A District Court judge has overturned the 2009 homicide conviction of Robert Wilkes, marking yet another court victory for the Montana Innocence Project. Wilkes’ 3-month-old son, Gabriel, died in October 2008. More than a year later, Wilkes was convicted in the baby's death and sentenced to 40 years in prison. The Montana Innocence Project began to look into his case in 2012, finding that Gabriel had no signs of abuse and that the prosecution relied on the theory of Shaken Baby Syndrome in Wilkes' case. The Innocence Project gathered a series of medical experts from around the country to review the case. They determined a number of other likely causes of his death. Also, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy had listed the cause of death as “undetermined,” something Wilkes’ defense attorney did not present at trial. In an order issued Thursday, District Court Judge James Haynes of Ravalli County, who was brought in to oversee the Wilkes case, overturned the conviction. As part of his order the judge concluded that Wilkes’ attorney at trial had been ineffective in his representation of his client. In a statement, Innocence Project attorney Toby Cook said the medical evidence they presented was “overwhelming.” “While we have always believed in Dave’s innocence, he can never regain the 10 years he has lost,” Cook said.

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.

Hundreds of Thousands of Children in the U.S. are Being Separated from Their Parents – Many are Sexually Trafficked

The corporate sponsored "mainstream" media has been fixated in recent days with reports that children are being separated from their parents at U.S. borders. For the news sources that are critical of the current administration, one is led to believe that this is a recent problem that just started. However, this limited and biased view is not even close to the truth. Health Impact News has covered the issue of child trafficking of minor children coming across the U.S. borders since 2016, when Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) published a six-month investigation into the matter during the Obama administration. Focusing on a couple of thousand children currently in border facilities without their parents also ignores a far greater problem, one that is a national crisis, and that is the 400,000+ children who have been taken away from their parents, and the practice of child trafficking that is continuing to happen in every U.S. state every single day. The overall real problem in this tragedy is one of child trafficking, and it is time that this issue gets public attention.

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.