2-Year-Old Girl Taken Away From Parents Because Military Vet Dad Chose Medical Cannabis Over Dangerous Psych Drugs for PTSD

Parents Ashley and Edward Thomas of Idaho recently had their 2-year-old daughter taken out of their home, as police arrested them and locked them up in jail. Their crime? Edward is a disabled military veteran who suffers from PTSD after serving in a combat role in Iraq. Not doing well with toxic pharmaceutical drugs, which many reports link to an alarming increase in suicide rates among veterans, Edward turned to medical cannabis to ease his stress and stop his seizures. In many states, this would be perfectly legal, as most states are moving towards approving legislation for the medical use of marijuana, if not decriminalizing entirely. But not in Idaho. Idaho is the home of these young parents, however, who need the support of their family in their home state. Now Edward and his pregnant wife face a future as branded criminals as the State of Idaho takes custody of their children.

Almost 40% of American Families at Risk to Have Their Children Kidnapped by the State – Over 50% if You Are Black

A stunning number of American children are subjected to at least one Child Protective Services investigation by the time they reach 18 years old. According to a study published by the American Journal of Public Health, almost 4 out of every 10 American children will experience some kind of social worker investigation into allegations of child abuse or maltreatment at some point in their childhood. The rate is even higher for African American children (53.0%). Alarm bells should be sounding for every family in America. According to the 2010 Census, there are 74.2 million children under 18 in the United States. If 37.4% of American children will be investigated by Child Protective Services, at some point, by the time they turn 18, that means that the strong arm of the law, via social workers, is investigating almost 28 million children. Odds are strong that your children or your sister's or best friend's children will be investigated. Will the social worker be one who believes that they are justified in lying about you? Will the allegations be made up? Will they be from a doctor that the court will believe over you, no matter how much evidence to the contrary you have? Do you have the money to hire an attorney to help you fight? Will your newborn be deprived of vital bonding time and breastfeeding? Will your child be abused or trafficked in foster care while you fight in court? Will you lose family and friends in the face of accusations of things you never did? Yours could be the next family investigated. Chances are almost 40% that you will be investigated one day. Isn't is time to pay attention?

Texas Foster Care: “Rape, Abuse, Psychotropic Medication, and Instability” Still the Norm as State Fights Against Reform

The battle continues between the State of Texas and attorneys who represent more than 12,000 children in the state's foster care system. A panel of three judges in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans heard arguments Monday, April 30, about the constitutionality of the state's troubled foster care system. This is the latest chapter in a fight to change the system in which, according to U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack, "... children have been shuttled throughout a system where rape, abuse, psychotropic medication, and instability are the norm." After Judge Jack ruled in December 2015 that the system as it stood was unconstitutional, Texas Attorney General Kenneth Paxton appealed the decision, defending the state's foster care system. Many of the original plaintiffs in the lawsuit, who were formerly foster care children, have now become adults and aged out of the system and are missing. The San Antonio Express ran a story looking into what has happened to these Texas foster children who aged out of the system, and they found that most of them suffer unemployment, homelessness, and sex trafficking as adults.

U.S. Press Condemns U.K. Treatment of Baby Alfie While Ignoring Same Medical Kidnapping Seen in U.S. Every Day

The tragic medical kidnapping story of Alfie Evans and his resulting death in the U.K. has been widely published in both the corporate-sponsored "mainstream" media as well as in the alternative media. While this story is being spun as a tragic rare event that only happens outside the U.S. in places like the U.K., the fact is that this story is being repeated every single day right here in the U.S. So it begs the question: why are similar stories happening right here in the U.S. not getting the same kind of media coverage? I am very glad that the public and the media was outraged over the injustice of Baby Alfie in the U.K., so much so that there were demonstrations in the streets protesting medical tyranny and standing up for parental rights. But why is that not happening right here in the United States, where the problem is probably much worse? America's children are being kidnapped by the state every single day. They are being used for drug trials, they are being put into pedophilia sex trafficking rings, they are dying at the hands of medical authorities, and American taxpayers are paying BILLIONS of dollars to employ hundreds of thousands of government employees, from social workers, to psychologists and medical doctors, to attorneys and family court judges and workers who profit from this child trafficking system, and allowing it to continue. What is it going to take to get the American public out into the streets to protest this gross injustice against our children?

Parents File Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit Against Minnesota Because CPS Kidnapped Their Children

This past week (April 2018) a group of Minnesota parents filed a federal civil rights lawsuit accusing Dakota County and the State of Minnesota for kidnapping their children and placing them unnecessarily into foster care. The lead plaintiff in the lawsuit is Dwight D. Mitchell, who founded an association of parents called Stop Child Protection Services From Legally Kidnapping, which has about 250 members in Minnesota. Mr. Mitchell and several parents held a press conference at the State Capital last week, and Mr. Mitchell was interviewed by several local media sources. Mr. Mitchell explains how he had his three children removed from his home because a family babysitter reported him to CPS for a "bottom spanking" with one of his children. It took him almost 2 years to get his son back home.

Mom Who Lost 2.5 Years of Her Children’s Lives While They Were in Foster Care Seeks Attorney to Fight Corruption in Arizona

The Coumpy children are finally back home. Their mother, Aprilli Coumpy, has lost over 2 years of her children's lives, time that can never be replaced. And like most children who are taken away from their families, the Coumpy children are still suffering today, even though they are back home. They were seized by Arizona's Child Protective Services back in 2015, after an accidental injury when the children woke up early and decided to cook breakfast for their still-sleeping mother. It was something that could have happened in any home. After a hard-fought battle against the State of Arizona, where the state even tried to get Health Impact News to remove their stories on this case published on MedicalKidnap.com, the children were finally returned home shortly after the latest Health Impact News article on their family was published, which exposed wrong-doing by the Department and by social worker Lisa Millett. Like many families, the Coumpys decided to lay low and stay out of the media spotlight as they began their journey of healing. It has been 8 months since their case was closed on August 15, 2017, and the family is still suffering trauma from the overreach of Child Protective Services into their lives. The mother, who refused to give up fighting for her children when they were in state custody, is now determined to fight for justice, not only for her children, but for all children who are victims of social workers who abuse their power. Aprilli Coumpy seeks an attorney who will help her to file a lawsuit on behalf of her children, all the while she is working to help her family heal from the damage inflicted on them when they were taken.

Young Child Molested by Nurse in Foster Care Still not Returned to Mother More than a Year Later

After 3 years of fighting to get her daughter home from foster care, South Carolina mom, Kaya Thomas, has been given a new hoop to jump through. She was told in court on April 18, 2018, that she has to get a bigger vehicle by the beginning of June as a condition for Kaya to begin unsupervised visits with her daughter, Egypt. Kaya Thomas did not abuse her daughter. This fact is not even in dispute. Egypt was the victim of a crime perpetrated by her biological father when her mother was not present. For that, he is behind bars. Yet, three years later, an innocent mother is still fighting the system to get her daughter home. She is not financially in the position to be able to go out and get a bigger vehicle. She only has a month to get it. Social workers have told her that if she sets up a GoFundMe type of account to ask for help, that will be used against her. How do parents fight this kind of tyranny? All Kaya Thomas wants is for her little girl to be home where she can love her and take care of her. Will the lack of a larger vehicle really keep the state from returning a child to her mother?

Study: Shaken Baby Syndrome Diagnosis Lacks Scientific Evidence – Leads to False Accusations of Child Abuse

There has been an increase in recent years in the number of cases of Shaken Baby Syndrome and Abusive Head Trauma. Is this due to an increase in the number of child abusers, better recognition of the symptoms which leads to more accurate diagnoses, or is something else happening? Could it be that increased awareness of Shaken Baby Syndrome in the medical profession has led to overdiagnosis of abuse when there could be other explanations for the symptoms? If it is the latter, then there stands a good chance of innocent parents or caregivers being blamed, perhaps criminally, for something that they did not do. At Health Impact News we have covered many cases of parents who were arrested or lost their children to Child Protective Services after being accused of Shaken Baby Syndrome or abuse even though there are legitimate medical conditions accounting for the symptoms. In what is believed to be the first study of its kind, researchers in Sweden set out to examine this crucial question. They published their findings in the European Journal of Public Health on Tuesday, April 17, 2018: Infant abuse diagnosis associated with abusive head trauma criteria: incidence increase due to overdiagnosis? This study follows up Sweden's Council on Technology and Social Evaluation and their National Medical Ethics report in 2016 that concluded the science behind SBS is not credible.

“Mental Illness” Label Used to Medically Kidnap Mother and Try to Adopt Out Her Children

Tara Chapman, a 33 year old disabled mother, was handcuffed, drugged, and carted away to a facility that is 8 hours from her family. She is being held prisoner in Tennessee under the guise of mental illness, even though a mental hospital in Virginia recently said that she did not meet the criteria to commit her. The state of Tennessee wants Tara's three boys to stay in foster care, away from family. The family wants to know how far the state is willing to go to ensure that neither Tara nor her family gets her 3 children back? A fourth child, Tara's daughter, is being cared for by her mother Whitney, the children's grandmother, but the state refuses to allow the grandmother to care for the 3 boys. There was supposed to be a court hearing on Friday, April 13, 2018, but the juvenile court cancelled it without warning less than 24 hours before. Tara has suffered from mild mental illness for many years, but it was only after her children were seized by Child Protective Services and abused in foster care that her mental health deteriorated to the point where she qualified for disability. It would appear that the state of Tennessee is using her disability as an excuse to adopt out her children, even though her family is willing and able to care for the children.

Adults Medically Kidnapped: 3X More than Children in Foster Care – $50 BILLION in Assets Seized

Most of the stories that we cover at Medical Kidnap involve children who were taken from their families by Child Protective Services. However, medical kidnapping can happen to adults too. We have covered a number of stories of adults being taken by Adult Protective Services and being placed under the legal guardianship of strangers. Philly.com now reports that a woman who has been court-appointed as a guardian in at least 93 cases from 2015 to 2017 has a considerably criminal history of fraud, bad check writing, and forgery. Yet, Gloria Byars was the guardian recommended by the non-profit Philadelphia Corporation for Aging to oversee the lives and estates of many senior citizens in the Philadelphia area. Guardians in many states are not required to undergo background checks, and it is stunningly easy in some places for anyone to become a guardian. It is also stunningly easy for an unscrupulous person to allege that a person is "incapacitated" and in need of a guardian, even if it is not true. As reported by Philly.com: "Nationwide, guardians oversee an estimated 1.3 million adults and $50 billion of their assets, said Brenda Uekert, principal court research consultant at the National Center for State Courts." That means that [the] number of adults under guardianship care is roughly 3 times the number of children in foster care across the United States. According to the AFCARS report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, there were 437,465 children in foster care in 2016.

Florida Mom Seeks 2nd Opinion on Dying Newborn After Car Accident – Loses Custody of All Three Children and Baby Dies in State Care

When an 8 month pregnant mother arrived at the hospital after a car accident, her baby was clearly in trouble. Doctors allegedly seemed to be more concerned about Johnna Furman's broken wrist than the emergency facing her unborn baby. Her baby needed to be born quickly, but the delay of a necessary c-section resulted in life threatening lack of oxygen to the baby in the womb. Baby Gabriel was born with brain damage and other serious medical conditions allegedly arising from this lack of oxygen. Throughout his first week and a half of life, doctors at the University of Florida Shands Hospital told Johnna that her baby would not survive. She refused to accept that answer. When she tried to transfer care of her baby to a local children's hospital for a second opinion, doctors from Shands Hospital reported her to Child Protective Services. While doctors blamed the mother, Johnna says that it was their medical malpractice that resulted in brain damage to her baby, ultimately leading to his death, and that the hospital is covering up what they did by blaming her. Child Protective Services seized her baby and her other 2 children 11 days after the car accident. Evidence that would have proven her innocence was not heard by the Florida judge, who is known for approving over 30,000 adoptions, and her parental rights were terminated less than a year later. She had another baby the following year, but Florida seized custody of that baby, too. In a video that Johnna recorded to talk about her case, she said: "My family's gone. I can never have another child. I don't understand how this is supposed to be the American dream, that justice doesn't matter. The truth doesn't matter."

The Corrupt Foster Care and Adoption System: Why Aren’t More Foster and Adoptive Parents Speaking Out?

For years now, Health Impact News, via their MedicalKidnap.com website, has exposed the child welfare system in the United States, which encompasses foster care and adoption services, as a child trafficking system. The data is very clear. A very small minority of children removed from their homes by child protective services (CPS) are removed because they live in "abusive" homes. The vast majority, anywhere from 75% to 85% or more, are removed for other reasons, usually under the umbrella term of "neglect." This would include "medical neglect" where one can lose custody of their children simply for disagreeing with a doctor, or seeking a second medical opinion. Based on large scale research studies conducted at MIT by Joseph Doyle in 2007 and 2008, the data also clearly shows that children in foster care fare far worse than even children left in "troubled homes," which begs the question as to why we even have a child welfare system that takes children out of families and makes them wards of the State. Since the evidence clearly shows that the child welfare system is thoroughly corrupt, causing far more harm to children than good, we pose the question: Why aren't more foster and adoptive parents speaking out against this corruption? If "good" foster and adoptive parents took a stand against corruption in Child Welfare, it could put a big dent in the system, if not take it down altogether. If you are a foster parent or adoptive parent that participates in this tyrannical, evil system that trafficks and murders children, you are part of the problem, not part of the solution, no matter what your motives or intentions are. Expecting a bloated government system funded by BILLIONS of dollars to change itself is unrealistic, and not much will happen to change the system until foster and adoptive parents, many of them being recruited by Christian churches, develop a conscience and a soul, and decide to take a stand against real child abuse which is happening every day here in the United States, through child welfare services.

Families Protest at Kansas State Capitol: “Our Children are not for Sale!”

The crowd of parents, advocates, and recently freed children say they have had enough. About 150 people braved freezing temperatures to march on the Kansas state capitol for the 3rd annual Fools No More rally on April 2, 2018. Event organizer Jennifer Winn, family advocate and former gubernatorial candidate, said: "This is about our children. All the aspects of this event are about issues that impact our children from DCF, parental rights, juvenile justice, medical cannabis; all these issues impact the lives of our children.... We are fighting for their future." Some of the most fervent marchers were children who were recently held captive in the Child Protective System, known as DCF in Kansas, and who are now reunited with their families. One such child, the 14 year old son of "Hunger Strike Dad" Raymond Schwab, was asked what he thought of what DCF did to him. There was no hint of hesitation on his part. He replied passionately: "Shut the system down!"

SC Family Reunited at Easter Almost 3 Years After Child Abuse Doctor Falsely Accused Mother

The Headleys were reunited this week, but it was a day they had begun to doubt would ever arrive. In July of 2015, Dr. Nancy Henderson-Hines of Greenville Memorial Hospital reportedly accused Danielle Headley of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. Based on her accusation, a family was kept apart for 2 years and 9 months. Children were placed into foster care where they suffered abuse, trauma, and even sodomy. A marriage was almost ripped apart. Reputations were destroyed. An innocent woman faced the possibility of spending 30 years in prison for a crime that didn't occur. It's over now. None of the doctors from Greenville Memorial Hospital, including Danielle's accuser Dr. Nancy Henderson-Hines, showed up at court on Monday, March 26, 2018. They were reportedly no longer willing to testify in Danielle Headley's criminal court case. Danielle told Health Impact News that her lawyer told her Monday that the prosecutor, known as a solicitor in South Carolina, said: "We are dropping everything. We don't have any evidence." Two years and nine months of trauma for Danielle, William, and their 4 sons, as well as grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends, is over. There was no evidence that she hurt her son. There never was.

Did Pennsylvania Mom Who Stood Up to Dental Bullying Uncover Massive Pediatric Dental Fraud Nationwide?

When a Pennsylvania mother posted a threatening letter on Facebook from her children's former dental practice, Smiles 4 Keeps, which threatened to report her to Child Protection Services if she did not keep a dental appointment for her child, a firestorm erupted. The Smiles 4 Keeps letter received by Trey Hoyumpa has ignited commentary from thousands of parents and patients across the nation telling their stories of dental abuse, bullying, and fraud at the hands of pediatric dentists. Health Impact News was the first to report the story in the media, and since then, mainstream media sources have also picked up on the story. Responses to the letter have been passionate and prolific, prompting coverage from local media in Pennsylvania to national media sources such as Yahoo News to national political commentator Michelle Malkin. Since publishing our original report, Health Impact News has done some more investigating into the practices of this particular Pennsylvania pediatric dental clinic, and its director Dr. Ross Wezmar, as well as pediatric dental practices nationwide. We have found that Department of Justice settlements for pediatric dental fraud cases are some of the largest fraud settlements in healthcare, especially in relation to billing medicaid for unnecessary child dental services. Dr. Wezmar seems to be a national leader in the Pediatric Dental field, and is actually listed as the "Dental consultant to Head Start, Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare," and "Chairperson AAPD Medicaid Committee," among other accolades tied into billions of dollars of federal funding. The bio on his Smiles 4 Keeps website also boasts that he is the: "Only east coast private practice chosen to participate in Harvard University Children’s Hospital Early Childhood Caries Program aimed at reducing early childhood decay." Harvard University Children's Hospital is better known as Boston Children's Hospital, infamous for its reputation for medically kidnapping children for medical research, as was exposed nationally with the Justina Pelletier medical kidnap case that gained national exposure. Could it be that the firestorm Pennsylvania mom Trey Hoyumpa unwittingly caused by publishing a letter received by Dr. Ross Wezmar's Smiles 4 Keeps pediatric dental clinic threatening to report her to Child Protection Services for failing to keep a dental appointment is the tip of the iceberg in nationwide pediatric dental fraud practices?

Child Protective Services in North Carolina using Blackmail to Illegally Seize Children from Families

Associated Press reporters recently exposed a story of illegal practices by Child Protective Services social workers in one North Carolina county. Social workers in Cherokee County have been reportedly coercing parents and taking their children illegally, bypassing the court system by threatening to adopt out their children or throw the parents in jail if they refused to sign paperwork known in NC as a CVA - Custody and Visitation Agreement. The same paperwork is known in other states as a "safety plan" or other such name. Richard Wexler of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform (NCCPR) has another name for it - blackmail. Wexler authored an article in response to the AP expose' entitled, "Child welfare, foster care and civil liberties: When CPS resorts to blackmail." Where the AP article leaves room to believe that the actions in Cherokee County are a problem of corruption unique to one area, Wexler's opening salvo leaves no room for that impression: "Reporters in North Carolina exposed the practice of child welfare agencies blackmailing families into giving up all their rights and letting them take away children with no court review at all. The only thing unusual about this is that, in North Carolina, it’s illegal. Elsewhere it’s standard operating procedure."

Mom Stands Up to Dental Bullying When Dentist Threatens to Call CPS Over Missed Dental Appointment

Is Medical Kidnapping now spreading to the dental profession? Parents all over social media are in an uproar over a letter posted by a Pennsylvania mother from her children's dentist office. Smiles4Keeps Pediatric Dentistry sent a letter to a mother threatening to call Child Protective Services if she did not schedule a dental appointment for her child. The dental office staff has responded to the post and comments with a post of their own, defending their actions as being their legal obligation. Instead of quieting public fears, the response appears even more disturbing to parents, who are accusing the dental office of "bullying," and "blackmail." Are dentists to become "mandated reporters" simply because a parent chooses not to bring their children in for regular dental checkups every six months, or because parents may choose a different dental practice that is not approved by the current dental practice? Is this really grounds for Child Protection Services to come in and remove children from their families and start an investigation?

Tennessee Family Seeks Lawsuit for Malpractice, Negligence, and Wrongful Death Over Down Syndrome Baby Taken Off of Life Support

A Tennessee family is crying out for justice. When doctors, social workers, and lawyers pushed last spring to have Baby Steffen taken off of life support, his family and their supporters pleaded for him to be given a chance to live. They could not understand why there was such a concerted effort to end Baby Steffen's life. It made no sense to them. Now, the results of a private autopsy are back, and the reasons seem crystal clear to the family. According to Baby Steffen's grandmother, Lisa Rivenburg: "It's open and shut malpractice, negligence, and wrongful death." They have suspected all along that somebody was covering something up. Now, they believe they have the evidence they need to pursue a lawsuit. They are in need of an attorney willing and able to take on the case.

Neuropathologist Doctor: I Believed in Shaken Baby Syndrome until Science Showed I was Wrong

Dr. Waney Squier is a renowned British pediatric neuropathologist and considered the UK's leading scientist in the field of pediatric neuropathology, and worked as a consultant at the John Radcliffe Hospital for 32 years. Until 16 years ago, she vehemently supported and adhered to the mainstream belief that when a medical professional suspects that an infant has been violently shaken, they must examine the baby for the “triad” of injuries believed to be associated with shaken baby syndrome (SBS). However, after examining the science behind SBS, Dr. Squier changed her opinion of SBS, and went from being a doctor who testified against parents and others who were accused of shaking their babies and injuring or killing them, to being a doctor who defended such parents and caregivers by offering other medical evidence that could explain such evidence apart from "shaking." As a result, her peers in the medical field attacked her, and in March of 2016 the UK General Medical Council (GMC) found Dr. Waney Squier guilty of “misleading her peers, being irresponsible, dishonest and bringing the reputation of the medical profession into disrepute” and she was "struck off the medical register" which prevented her from practicing medicine. However, over 350 doctors, scientists and lawyers rallied together in her support, and in an unprecedented move they sent a letter of protest to the British Medical Journal (BMJ), questioning the GMC’s decision. As a result, in October 2016, Dr. Waney Squier won her appeal and was reinstated. However, although Dr. Squier’s name was returned to the medical register, she has been prevented from giving evidence as an expert witness for another three years, which many believe was her punishment for standing up to the establishment. Dr. Waney Squier gave a TedX talk in November 2017 at Wadsworth, and it is now available on YouTube. In this TedX lecture, Dr. Squier speaks openly about the problems with SBS, and how thousands of parents are being wrongly accused of harming their babies.

Attorney Reporting in Newsweek: Foster Care is a System Set Up to Sex Traffic American Children

Attorney Michael Dolce, from the law-firm Cohen Milstein, recently wrote an opinion piece published by Newsweek stating that the nation's foster care system is set up to sexually traffic children. Dolce, who speaks from experience from representing children abused in foster care, writes: "Here’s the ugly truth: most Americans who are victims of sex trafficking come from our nation’s own foster care system. It’s a deeply broken system that leaves thousands vulnerable to pimps as children and grooms them for the illegal sex trade as young adults. We have failed our children by not fixing the systemic failures that have allowed this to happen for decades."