Couple Arrested and Children Taken by CPS When Trying to Leave Texas to Visit Dying Grandmother

They just wanted to honor a dying grandmother's deathbed wish to see her grandbabies one time before she leaves this earth. Now, thanks to the intervention of a Texas Ranger and CPS, that may never happen. Ahmed and Olubunmi Giwa were arrested last weekend and all of their children seized by Child Protective Services when they tried to fly out on an emergency trip to see Mr. Giwa's mother. Ahmed's mother is reportedly doing very poorly. The family was simply planning to visit her in Nigeria for a couple of days. They had return tickets for everyone, and their car was parked in the parking deck at the airport the whole time. Ali Giwa was medically kidnapped on April 14, 2015, by Harris County CPS - a county the family doesn't even live in - on allegations of "failure to thrive." It is still unclear how Harris County has jurisdiction in this case. Though Ali has some developmental delays, CPS never mentioned to the judge that he is in the 75th percentile with his height and weight. He was returned home on July 29, but the bizarre case remained open. Now, CPS has taken the 2 year old's twin sister and his 3 year old sister as well and placed them into foster care, accusing his parents of "interfering with child custody" and attempted international kidnapping, of their own children.

Medical Kidnapping in Kentucky: Mother Coerced to Give Up Daughter to Adoption in Order to Keep Son

When Brenda Maney of Richmond, KY, walked into her Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) hearing on May 7, 2015, she was not prepared for the impossible choice the Family Court would present to her. About 2.5 years earlier, in the winter of 2012, a series of unfortunate events in Brenda’s life led to a friend naïvely calling Kentucky's Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) for help. DCBS social workers showed up at Brenda’s door, and despite the children being well taken care of, removed her children after “diagnosing” her as having Postpartum depression and demanding that she check herself into a psychiatric hospital for treatment in order to get her two children back. Brenda would never get her baby daughter back, despite the fact that she did what DCBS required and checked into the hospital. At Brenda’s TPR hearing, the judge called a recess which lasted about 40 minutes. Brenda’s attorney came back and said that the court was offering Brenda a choice – to choose between having her 14-year-old son Aaron come home by giving up her 3-year-old daughter Tanaieah voluntarily to adoption, or lose both children. The attorney explained: “Your daughter does not know you, she has bonded to the foster family and she is happy. She thinks they are her family. DCBS is going to use her attachment as the ‘Best Interest of the Child’ and if you continue with the TPR hearing, you will lose. Your son wants to come home. He’s miserable in foster care. He’s not thriving in foster care. Every potential adoptive home he’s been placed in has fallen through. You should take this offer, for Aaron. If you go ahead with the TPR hearing, you will lose. You will lose both children.” Faced with an unbearable likelihood of losing both children, Brenda could not allow Aaron to suffer any longer. Brenda chose to get Aaron out of the foster care system that was destroying him, by relinquishing her rights to Tanaieah. Even though the Family Court required that Brenda sign her rights away “willingly,” she did so out of coercion and feeling that she had no other choice.

North Carolina Child Medically Kidnapped Starving to Death in Foster Care

A North Carolina grandmother is "horrified" at the condition of her 4 year old grandson Malakai. The deterioration in his health reportedly happened after Child Protective Services removed him from his family and placed him in foster care. She reports that he had previously been very healthy, with no medical problems. Now, the foster parents are collecting disability payments for him and he looks like he is starving. Kimberly Deese is fearful for her grandson's life. The family claims that no matter what hoops they jump through or what evidence they provide, Wake County CPS seems determined to sever all family connection to Malakai Deese and adopt him out. Heather's parental rights have just been terminated, and CPS has made it clear that they refuse to consider placement of Malakai with his maternal grandmother, without basis, and in violation of both state and federal law. The family hopes to appeal, but they have only until December 4 to do so. Ironically, grandmother Kimberly had just finalized her adoption of another grandchild only a month before Malakai was seized by CPS - in the same county. Yet, when it came to Malakai, the social worker refused to do a home study or consider placing the toddler with his grandmother.

Teenage Girl Speaks Out About Being Medically Kidnapped in Los Angeles

The week following Tammi Stefano's interview with Jewels Stein on the The National Safe Child show, she had Jewel's daughter Dakotah on the show to get her perspective on being medically kidnapped and alienated from her mother. This was the first time The National Safe Child show interviewed and published the perspective of a victim who is a minor, and Dakotah's mother Jewel gave her consent to allow Dakotah to appear on the show. Dakotah's inside perspective gives the public an incredible view of a corrupt system of doctors and social workers that destroys families, and she has a very powerful message she wants heard. Her story also gives hope to the hundreds of thousands other foster children currently trapped in such a corrupt system.

UCLA Medical Doctors and LA County Medically Kidnap Paramedic and Film Producer’s Daughter

Tammi Stefano of The National Safe Child Show recently interviewed Jewels Stein, a mother who had her daughter taken by Los Angeles County’s Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) following accusations of Munchausen by proxy by UCLA medical physicians. Jewels Stein is a paramedic with the Fire Department who has an extensive medical background. She works on movie sets, and she is currently producing a documentary. She raised four of her own children and two step children. On the day her 15 year old daughter was to be discharged from the hospital after a successful surgery that allowed her daughter to eat food again instead being fed by a tube inserted directly into her stomach, Jewels Stein watched in horror as they took her daughter away from her because she refused to let her be put on powerful psych drugs. She was escorted out of the hospital while still in her pajamas, and left on the street without even her car keys. This is her story that she wants the world to hear.

California Holds Medically Kidnapped Adult Daughter for 14 Years

Jeffrey and Elsie Golin have been fighting against the State of California and California’s San Andreas Regional Center (SARC) for nearly fifteen years to have their daughter returned to them. SARC is a community-based, private nonprofit corporation that is funded by the State of California to serve people with developmental disabilities and works with Stanford University. The Golins are fighting for their autistic daughter Nancy’s right to be able to return home to live with them, and fighting for the right to advocate for their daughter’s best interests. According to their main attorney, Dave Beauvais, there are two main issues that lie at the heart of this ongoing case. The first is the issue of the Golin’s losing all rights to act in their own daughter Nancy’s best interests and the second is the issue of whether a person who is disabled has the same protection under the U.S. Constitution as a non-disabled person does. The two issues the state brought as grounds for removing Nancy from their care were the fact that she wanders away and the fact that the Golins disagreed with the doctors at Stanford University about which medication was best to prevent Nancy’s seizures.

South Carolina Medically Kidnapped 4 Year Old Went Missing From Foster Care, Found After Police Search

The past few months have been a nightmare for the Headley family, but last Saturday night may have been the worst yet for the South Carolina family whose children were medically kidnapped this summer. While 4 year old Jack was under the care of the Child Protective System, he was reported missing by the foster mother. He was found in some bushes about 4 hours later, but the thought of what could have happened to their little boy has concerned family and friends asking for some answers. They don't understand how the state could take their child from them, and then allow him to go missing under their watch. An Amber alert was never issued, and family members question why. Failure to issue an Amber alert or to provide a description and photo when the child is a foster child unnecessarily put the lives of foster children in jeopardy. According to the FBI, in 76 percent of the murders of an abducted child, the child was murdered within 3 hours of the abduction. Time is of the essence in reporting missing children, and the first 3 hours are the most crucial. Do not children who have been taken into "protective" custody by the state deserve to have Amber alerts and accurate descriptions if they are missing? How does the state justify having less, not more, protection of those children in its care? Jack was removed from his own home and his own family out of alleged concerns for his safety, yet it was under the care of a state-provided foster family that he was lost.

Shocked Arizona Mother Finds GoFundMe Page for Medical Needs of Daughter Medically Kidnapped

We have previously covered the medical kidnapping story of Leanna Smith, who had her two daughters removed from her family and eventually adopted out due to allegations of "medical abuse" and Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. Leanna has been fighting in court for several years now to seek justice, and earlier this year her case was heard in the 9th Circuit Court. This week, Leanna found a GoFundMe page put up by the foster parents of her youngest child requesting funds for medical needs and to move out of their home which was infested with mold. Leanna wonders if CPS and the State of Arizona did any investigations with the foster parents as they have publicly admitted that her youngest daughter now has DRESS syndrome, severe rashes, and "serious damage to her liver." Leanna, who has had no contact with her daughter in several years, states: "I fear for my daughter's life. She may need a liver transplant. Every day now I read the obituaries looking for her name."

Accusations of Shaken Baby Syndrome in Tennessee Destroys Family – Lands Parents in Jail

On August 15, 2013, in Jonesborough, Tennessee, Joe Whitaker frantically spoke to 911 as he tried to save his seven month old son, Jaden. According to Joe, the ambulance raced into their driveway. A female Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) jumped out, grabbed Jaden from his arms, slammed the ambulance doors, and sped away. Joe stood in the driveway watching the ambulance pull away, confused with the events that just occurred. What happened? Where were they taking his son? Why did they leave without him? Seconds later, Charlotte Whitaker reached her house and saw Joe standing in the driveway; her heart jumped into her throat. Where was her son? Luckily, the second rescue truck was still in front of her house, and the driver told the terrified parents that their son was being taken to Johnson City Medical Center (JCMC) in Johnson City, Tennessee. Why would the ambulance leave the parents in the driveway? According to Charlotte, this is one of many incidences that would be twisted by CPS to aid them in falsely accusing the Whitakers of child abuse and taking their baby. This question became "Why didn’t Joe Whitaker get into the ambulance with his son?" rather than "Why did the rescue personnel leave the parents behind?" Later that day their other two children would be taken away from their school, never to return home again, while both parents would later be arrested and accused of "Shaken Baby Syndrome."

Massachusetts Prosecutors Withheld Exculpatory Evidence in Shaken Baby Case

In the Boston Globe, columnist Yvonne Abraham writes about how prosecutors in the Middlesex County, Mass., district attorney’s office withheld exculpatory evidence in the Shaken Baby Syndrome case against Irish nanny Aisling Brady McCarthy. These prosecutors didn’t just rely on bad science; they actively suppressed evidence that not only should have informed that their theories about these cases were flawed, but was ultimately the evidence that led to the accused getting freed. A just system would sanction them. If they aren’t punished, there’s little disincentive to do it again, or for other prosecutors who might be tempted to shortchange a suspect’s rights.