Chicago Psychiatric Hospital Investigated by Federal and State Authorities for Abuse of Children Under CPS Care

A psychiatric hospital in Chicago is being investigated by federal and state authorities for multiple reports of abuse of children in their care, many of whom are under state custody through the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). Although the following ProPublica article highlights one particular hospital, investigations by Health Impact News have found that the stories contained within this piece are repeated in psych wards, group homes, and juvenile detention centers all over the country. Many children who are able to tell their stories have told our reporters of similar horrors to the treatment suffered by the children in this story. Once they are hidden away behind the locked doors of these facilities, in state custody, with little contact with the people who love them, they often become victims of sexual assault, physical abuse, and drugging that they neither consent to nor want. They become invisible, hidden in the shadows, with their only hope of a voice being the very people with vested financial interests in keeping them silent about the abuse. It is not unlike slavery in many ways. It seems that every time that we talk to any former foster child that was forced into a psych ward, group home, or juvenile detention center, their stories of widespread sexual and physical abuse are the same. They are the rule, not the exception. The response is always the same: the children all report that no one listened to them. When anyone of them reported abuse by foster parents or in the facilities, they were told that no one would believe them. They are bullied or shamed into silence, left to suffer, while taxpayers pick up the tab to finance institutionalized abuse.

N.Y. Mother Fights for Medically Kidnapped 13 Year Old Son Being Forced to Receive Chemo Therapy Even Though He is Cancer-free

ABC7 in New York is reporting on the story of a Long Island mother who lost custody of her 13 year old son when she disagreed with doctors over his treatment. Kristin Thorne reports: "A mother on Long Island is fighting to have her son removed from chemotherapy treatment after he was given a clean bill of health by doctors. Candace Gundersen's son, Nick Gundersen, 13, is receiving court-ordered chemotherapy at NYU Winthrop Hospital in Mineola. He's now in the custody of Suffolk County Child Protective Services." Kristin Thorne also spoke with Nick from his hospital bed: "They basically took me away from my parents and that's unnecessary because they're trying to help me and they're not trying to kill me. I think that they should focus on other families that actually need help and whose children lives are actually in danger," he said.

Local Media in Peoria Illinois Exposes Medical Kidnapping of Young Child Due to Child Abuse Specialist

A recent 2-part Special Report by 25 News in Peoria, Illinois, examines the issue of innocent parents, who are falsely accused by doctors, whose children are medically kidnapped. Reporter Caitlin Knute says that one local hospital, OSF St. Francis, sees about 20 cases a month of child abuse, which also includes "neglect" cases as well. Reporter Tyler Lopez asks the question that Health Impact News has been asking even before our Medical Kidnap division was established in 2014: "But what if some of those abuse cases were misdiagnosed or the result of a medical condition?" When that happens, there is often no liberty or justice for these families. The 25 News report starts with the story of Baby Chandler, a story that follows the template of dozens of other stories that we have covered here at Health Impact News involving a child with broken bones who actually had a medical condition causing his bone fragility. Dr. Channing Petrak, Child Abuse Pediatrician, accused the parents of abuse, and he was taken from his mother by Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS).

Arizona’s Double Standards: Requirements Higher for Biological Parents to Keep Their Children at Home than for Foster Parents to Take Other People’s Children into Their Home

Arizona and other states have much stricter policies in place for children to stay with their families in their own homes, than standards placed on foster parents to receive children that are not their own into their homes. It would seem logical that the stricter standard would be placed upon those that taxpayers pay to care for children taken from their families, while some grace would be extended to biological families. After all, simply being removed from their homes, no matter the family condition, is in itself traumatic to children. Children have the innate biological, psychological, emotional, social, and spiritual need for their own families that doesn't go away when they are placed with other people. Even the kindness of a stranger is not as welcome to a child as the love of their own mother, father, and grandparents. Yet the opposite is true. The looser standard lies with those homes the children are placed into. Perhaps no story we have covered in the last 4 years illustrates this more clearly than the case of Devani in Arizona, a child taken from her family at the age of 2. Her mother was never charged with abuse, but the state put her into a foster home where she was raped as part of a pedophile pornographic ring. After her foster parent was arrested, she still did not go home, but was placed into a home where she was scalded so badly by hot water that all of her toes were amputated.

Arizona Attorney General Demands Health Impact News Take Down Story on Medical Kidnapping in Violation of 1st Amendment

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. 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. 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.

Former Nurse at Phoenix Children’s Hospital Speaks Out Against Medical Kidnapping of Children

A hallmark of a free people is the ability to think for ourselves, which includes the right to question, to seek out truth, and to hold opinions that are different from those of someone else. If, however, the person that parents question is a doctor, the cherished American value of this basic liberty may be squashed by a simple phone call to Child Protective Services, after which custody of the child is seized by the state. Medical kidnapping has become the go-to punishment for those parents who dare to question their children's doctors. With ancient religious fervor, medical "heretics" are seeing their families ripped apart. At a recent rally for families in front of Phoenix Children's Hospital, a former nurse spoke out about the abuses that she has seen at the hospital. She told the group: "I am in this field. I didn't go into healthcare to steal children!" Yet, that is the scenario that is being played out in Children's Hospitals every single day, all across America.

Arizona Foster Mother Found Guilty of Child Abuse after Scalding Young Devani

The Arizona woman accused of scalding her adoptive child causing third degree burns to 80% of her body resulting in the amputation of all 10 toes has been found guilty of 2 of the 3 charges brought against her. Samantha Osteraas of Tucson, Arizona, faces between 10 and 24 years in prison for hurting Devani, the little girl that the Arizona Department of Child Services placed into her care after removing her from a foster home where she was being abused in a pedophilia pornography ring. A Pima County jury of 9 women and 3 men deliberated for 8 hours before reaching their verdict on Friday afternoon, October 19, 2018. According to News 4 Tucson, Osteraas: "...was found not guilty for the first count of child abuse. However, the jury did find her guilty for the lesser charge of reckless child abuse. For the second child abuse count, she was found guilty." One of the court watchers who was present for the emotional trial said that the jury decided that she was not guilty of "negligent child abuse," which was the first count of abuse. They stopped short of saying that she burned Devani intentionally. They did, however, find that Samantha Osteraas was guilty of delaying treatment after the burns occurred.

Arizona Parents Falsely Accused of Child Abuse Lose Infant Son – Have 2-Day-Old Newborn Also Medically Kidnapped

Paxton Meissinger came into the world on Tuesday, October 16, 2018, weighing all of 7 pounds and 2 ounces. Like every newborn baby, he wanted and expected only one thing - the presence of his mommy. To an infant, the most important thing in the world is be surrounded by the love and warmth of the person whose heartbeat he has heard for as long as he had the ability to hear. In her arms, every need he has is met, from her milk and the nutrition and antibodies it provides to the reassurance of her warmth and love. The foundation for basic trust is laid as he hears the voices of both father and mother, and they respond to his communication. The first few weeks and months of life have been likened to a "fourth trimester," where baby humans are designed to remain still a unit with their mothers. However, for Baby Paxton, these basic human needs are no longer being met, thanks to the Arizona Department of Children's Services (DCS). When he was only 48 hours old, social workers took him away from his parents, Briana and Jordan Meissinger, claiming that this is "necessary to protect the child from suffering abuse or neglect." This is because Baby Paxton's brother was also taken away from his parents. He was sick after receiving multiple vaccines at age 2 months old, and a Child Abuse Specialist at Phoenix Children's Hospital accused the parents of abuse. The case is still being fought in court where other doctors disagree with the Child Abuse Specialist, but the fact that charges exist was enough for Arizona DCS to take newborn Baby Paxton away from his parents.

Trial Begins for Little Arizona Girl Placed with Pedophiles in Foster Care and Burned by Adoptive Mom

A woman who was approved by the State of Arizona to adopt a child out of the foster care system is on trial for child abuse. Samantha Osteraas faces 2 counts of child abuse for scalding a little girl entrusted to her care, causing 3rd degree burns to almost 80% of her body, causing all 10 of her toes to be amputated, and nearly costing the child's life. During the trial, which is expected to end this week, 7-year-old Devani took the stand and told a jury that Osteraas held her down in the bathtub with a pink towel, according to the Arizona Daily Star. She is only 7 years old, but the beautiful child known to family advocates as "the little girl in the blue dress" has been through more abuse than most of us can imagine. Devani was taken at the age of 2 from her parents by Arizona's Child "Protective" Services - the Department of Child Services (DCS), but she was never abused in her parents' home. Her horrors began after she was in the custody of the State of Arizona. Before she was adopted by Samantha and Justin Osteraas, she was placed by DCS into a foster home with a man who is now serving prison time for running a pornographic and pedophile ring out of his home.

Iowa Judge Blasts Corrupt Social Worker and CPS for Lying and Giving False Testimony to Kidnap Children

An Iowa judge recently reprimanded the Department of Human Services (DHS) after a social worker was found to have repeatedly lied to the court about parents in order to have their parental rights to their children terminated. According to the Associated Press (AP), District Associate Judge Adam Sauer criticized the testimony of social worker Chelsie Gray for being filled with "lies and misrepresentations." Judge Sauer dismissed the state's petitions to terminate parental rights on an Iowa couple's 4 children, finding that they had been "unfairly stripped of their parental rights." He also ruled that "referrals for new foster case placements shall stop immediately," because the original ruling was based upon false information. Unfortunately, as hundreds of thousands of parents have found, false testimony by social workers, and even doctors, is often standard fare when it comes to taking children from their families. We have found this in our own investigations of hundreds of cases, where allegations written by social workers or Child Abuse Pediatricians are filled with discrepancies and statements that are readily demonstrated to be incorrect. On the basis of false allegations, lies, and hearsay, without evidence, families are being ripped apart. They are victims of generational genocide, and the children are more likely to end up as victims of sexual assault, child sex trafficking, or death. Yet, the lack of due process and the corruption within the system is the rule, not the exception.

Former Kansas Gubernatorial Candidate Becomes Warrior Fighting Against State-Sponsored Child Kidnapping

Jennifer Winn ran for governor of the state of Kansas in 2014. Near the end of her gubernatorial campaign, a mother reached out to her and said that she needed to talk with her. She told Jennifer Winn that the state was taking children from families. Frankly, she sounded crazy to Jennifer, like a "conspiracy theorist." The woman didn't stop trying to talk to her. She persisted, blowing up her phone daily. It became clear that "she's not going to let up," so Jennifer agreed to have the woman come to her office. She was not prepared for what she heard. The mother brought in a detailed timeline of what had happened to her family, complete with transcripts and evidence to back up her side of the story. Jennifer carried the papers home with her that night and stayed up most of the night reading the woman's story. Based on a social worker's false allegations, the mother's children had been taken and placed into foster care. As Jennifer got deeper into the story she says: "I could not believe what I was reading. I was like Terri [LaPoint, who originally believed] 'Oh, this is just an isolated case.' I am going to expose this, and we're going to fix it, and we're going to get your kids. She came in. We did a video that day. I released that video, and in 24 hours, I had over 500 requests. In a week later, I had over 1,500 requests, and I was floored. I literally, like, for 2 days, I shut down and I cried, because I couldn't believe the stories I was reading. Everything about this agency that I believed was true was a lie. Everything. Children are being harmed. Not only are they being harmed, they're being drugged." A warrior had awakened. The truth of what Jennifer Winn was seeing caused something to rise up within her, and she has not been the same since. She recently spoke to a crowd gathered in Washington D.C. to protest the abuses of state-sponsored kidnappings.

Indiana High Court Accuses CPS of “Significant Violations of Due Process in Termination of Parental Rights”

Cracks are starting to be exposed in the foundation of the state-sponsored child kidnapping structure of Child "Protective" Services. Parents who have been fighting the system for their children have seen these gaping flaws all along, but for decades anyone with power to change it has turned a blind eye to their plight. Finally, it appears that the higher courts in one state are beginning to recognize that the system is, indeed, violating parental rights with alarming frequency. Appellate judges from the Indiana Court of Appeals recently sent a strong rebuke to the Department of Child Services (DCS), citing "significant violations of due process occurring in termination of parental rights cases throughout the state." Indianapolis NBC affiliate Channel 13 reports that the judges acknowledged that there is a pattern of "repeated violations" of parental and Constitutional due process rights by DCS. While the fact that the agency routinely violates parents' rights certainly comes as no surprise to anyone on the front lines of the battle, the admission by the appeals court and by DCS itself that it is happening comes as a shock, albeit a good one, to attorneys and parents alike. Could this be the beginning of the dominoes falling? Will other states take notice and follow suit?

Group of 4000+ Parents Takes on Minnesota CPS and Government Child Kidnapping and Trafficking

Earlier this year (2018) we reported that 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 parents are part of an organization called The Family Preservation Foundation, which also goes by the name Stop CPS from Legally Kidnapping Children. Recently, the group, which is reported to now represent over 4000 parents in Minnesota, garnered more local media coverage when a judge return a 1-year-old boy to his mother who had been allegedly placed into foster care for 3 months based on "false allegations of medical neglect." The return of Amanda Weber's child was seen as a victory for the Family Preservation Foundation: "The legal victory is symbolic for a coalition of parents and advocates seeking to change the state's child protection system. The group has argued that Minnesota's laws criminalize parents for what they consider to be routine parental discipline and have a disproportionate effect on black families."

Investigative Report in Kentucky Reveals Corruption Still Exists in Foster Care as Children Die or Go Missing

The corruption in Kentucky Child Protection Services and Foster Care has been reported on extensively here at Health Impact News since 2015. A new report aired on Wave 3 News by investigative journalist John Boel reveals that corruption in the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services is apparently ongoing, as one child was allegedly murdered by his foster parent after being taken away from his family, and another foster parent is blowing the whistle on the abuses of Kentucky foster care where children go missing due to lack of oversight. The current investigation began in 2017, when 4-year-old Hunter Payton died in foster care, and his biological parents questioned the story put forward as to the cause of his death, which was reported to be an accident. “They told us it was an ‘unlikely’ injury,” Hunter’s mother April Payton said. “It doesn’t happen. Something hit him hard.” He had only been in foster care for 3 months. During that time, the parents allegedly complained to the state about bruising on their son, and they were apparently told several different stories about how he died in an accidental fall. As John Boel reports: "Months after our report, Billy Embry-Martin, 33, was charged with murder. The lawsuit accuses him and his husband, Travis Embry-Martin, of 'violent punishment, physical abuse and denial of food.' Billy Embry-Martin is free on bond awaiting a December trial on the murder charge."

Alabama Senior Citizen Medically Kidnapped and Forced onto Drugs Against Family Wishes

Just as Child Protective Services and a judge have almost omnipotent, unchecked power to decide unilaterally that the relationship between a parent and a young child is not worthy of being preserved, Adult Protective Services and a probate judge have the same power to sever the relationship between an adult child and their elderly parent. Sometimes the relationship has endured for longer than the judge and social worker combined have been alive, yet with the stroke of a pen, a senior citizen can be completely torn away from their own children. The wishes of the elder can be completely ignored, and documents assigning power of attorney to a trusted adult child can become meaningless. Medical and financial decisions are placed into the hands of a court-appointed guardian who is often a stranger to everyone in the family. Nancy Scott, a retired English teacher from south Alabama, wrote to Health Impact News describing the medical kidnapping of her 102-year-old mother, who is also a beloved retired schoolteacher known to her former students as "Ms. Gregory." St. Vincent's Hospital and the Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) seized custody of Marian (Gregory) Leonard in February 2018. She is being held against her will, forced by a Jefferson County, Alabama, court into Hospice care, even though she has no terminal illness or disease. She is elderly, but her mind is sound. She is being drugged against her will and has told her daughter that she doesn't want the drugs. Nancy has always enjoyed a close relationship with her mother, but she has not seen her since midsummer. At that time, Ms. Gregory begged to go home. She told Nancy: "If you don't get me out of here, they're going to kill me, and they're going to kill you."

Was Texas Mom’s Baby who was Accidentally Vaccinated with Gardasil Medically Kidnapped for Medical Research?

When Anita Vasquez sought medical care for the reactions her baby girl was having after mistakenly being given the Gardasil vaccine at only 4 months old, she had no way of knowing that she was walking into a hospital that was working on vaccine development in collaboration with one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. She found herself tangled in what appeared to her to be a deep web of interests that were in direct conflict with her only goal, which was simply trying to get help for her baby. Instead of finding help, she was met with accusations that she had somehow caused harm. Doctors and social workers testified that Anita had Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (also known as "factitious disorder"), which means she was accused of making up her daughter's medical conditions when there were none. Anita is a licensed nurse by profession. The state of Texas recently terminated her parental rights to her daughter Aniya Blu. It was apparent to Anita from the very beginning that there was more going on than meets the eye. Evidence was hidden. Medical records were kept from her and her attorneys. Medical diagnoses of real problems were covered up. The deception continued throughout the ordeal with Child Protective Services, and it followed Anita into the courtroom. There were many facts of the case that Anita didn't learn about until just before the termination hearing. Even then, the evidence was ignored. Anita Vasquez has appealed the termination of her parental rights for her daughter, who was mistakenly injected at 4 months old with the Gardasil 9 vaccine intended for her older brother. Anita received a letter on August 31, 2018, from the Thirteenth District of Texas Court of Appeals noting that her appeal was accepted.

After Trip to Emergency Room Illinois Couple has all 4 Children Medically Kidnapped

Like many Americans, Mary Sweeney and Cedric Roberts believed that Child Protective Services was made up of "the good guys," the ones who protect children from bad parents who abuse their children. They didn't realize that a trip to the emergency room puts normal, loving parents at risk of losing their children. Mary wanted to make sure that everything was fine after a simple accidental injury, but the trip to the ER resulted in all 4 of their children being taken from them. It could have happened to anyone. The suburban Chicago couple spent the summer without their children, including infant twins, because a Child Abuse Pediatrician in another state has accused them of abusing one of their babies. The doctor never saw the baby in person. A fracture the doctor diagnosed ended up being a glare on her screen. There was no fracture. It was a mistake. Even so, Illinois Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) has not returned the children to their parents.

Parents Lose Custody of Disabled Adult Son for Questioning Psych Drugs

Medical kidnapping can happen to adults as well as children. Health Impact News has reported a number of adult kidnapping stories over the years. Some involve senior citizens. Others, like this one reported by ABC News in Raleigh, North Carolina, regarding 24-year-old, Ian Bankert, involves the seizure of adult children with mental illness or disability from their parents who have loved, raised, and cared for their children their entire lives. Doctors (mostly psychiatrists) and courts have the power to step in and take over the entire lives of such individuals, isolating them from their families and ultimately deciding every aspect of their care. Ian's parents became concerned about the doctors "overprescribing him with medication," a concern which is shared by many parents and patients, and watchdog groups. Doctors recommended "more medication and long-term care," but his parents, according to ABC11, "instead insisted that a good diet, exercise and faith could restore Ian's sense of self." Ian's story is another in a long list of cases where the financial and academic interests of one group - psychiatrists and public guardians - are pitted against the civil rights and familial interests of individuals and their families. The long arm of the state again overrides the decisions of parents who know and love their son and want what is best for him. They do not believe that locking him away from his life and loved ones and drugging him are the answer.

Grandmother Wrongly Accused of Shaken Baby Syndrome is Freed from Prison After 11 Years

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that a grandmother was freed from prison this month after Loyola Law School's Project for the Innocent became involved. Maria Mendez spent the last 11 years of her life, serving a 25-year sentence for the death of her 9-month-old grandson. She had been convicted of Shaken Baby Syndrome, but attorneys and law students who fight for people who are wrongfully convicted took up her case, pointing out medical evidence that was not considered by the court. Mendez was originally convicted based on the testimony of a Child Abuse Specialist. Dr. Carol Berkowitz is the Director of the Child Abuse Fellowship at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. At one time she served as the President of the American Academy of Pediatrics. She is part of the Helfer Society – an elite group of doctors involved with Child Abuse, and in 2014, she won the society's highest award. Despite her many accolades, Dr. Berkowitz failed to consider alternative explanations for the injuries sustained by the grandson of Ms. Mendez. The testimony that she gave reflects the junk science beliefs involved in Shaken Baby Syndrome. Other doctors disagree with her diagnosis, but she was the only doctor to testify 11 years ago.

Texas Mom Who is a Nurse Fights to Regain Custody of Daughter Taken Away After Gardasil Vaccine Injury

Social workers told a Texas mother that Monday was her last visit with her daughter. Aniya Blu Vasquez was medically kidnapped from her family after she became ill following a medical error in which her pediatrician injected her with the Gardasil 9 vaccine intended for her older brother. Aniya was just 4 months old at the time. A Texas court decided last month that the parental rights of her mother, Anita Vasquez, should be terminated, devastating the family and supporters alike. However, their story is not over. In a quirk of legalities, Anita Vasquez filed a Declaration of Recision of Signature/Contracts before the court was able to file the entry of judgement on the termination of parental rights. As a result, there will be another hearing on Monday, July 23, 2018, at the Victoria County Courthouse at 9 a.m. She says that there is substantial new evidence in her case that was not considered by the court. Anita asserts that the very basis upon which CPS seized custody of Aniya was fraudulent, and CPS knew it all along. Concerned citizens are rallying around the family that they believe is suffering a grave injustice.