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Trump Administration Continues Practice of Blocking Attempts to Investigate Elder Abuse – Adult Medical Kidnapping

Health Impact News reporter, Terri LaPoint, recently wrote a report explaining that in the United States today, over 1.3 million seniors are currently held under appointed guardians, representing over $50 billion in seized assets. That makes adult medical kidnapping a far more prevalent occurrence in the United States than child medical kidnapping, since the published figures of children currently in foster care number about 450,000. (See: Adults Medically Kidnapped: 3X More than Children in Foster Care – $50 BILLION in Assets Seized.) Today's guest commentary about elder abuse and adult medical kidnapping comes from Massachusetts Attorney Lisa Belanger, who has experienced first-hand, both through personal experience and through litigation, the injustices and crimes being committed against elders in the United States. Attorney Belanger is commenting on a recent article published in Law360 entitled: Trump Admin Stonewalling Atty’s Probes Into Elder Abuse.

Harvard-trained Beverly Hills Doctor Mom Still Fighting for Kids After 6 Years

Reporter Sara Tiano of The Chronicle of Social Change, an online news publication dedicated to solution-based news coverage of child welfare, juvenile justice, mental health and educational issues faced by vulnerable children, has written an investigative report about the case of Dr. Susan Spell, a Harvard-trained Beverly Hills California doctor who has been fighting to regain custody of her children for over 6 years. Health Impact News originally reported on Dr. Susan's case back in 2015, and Tammi Stefano of the National Safe Child Show first brought Dr. Susan's story to the public in LA County in 2014 by having Dr. Susan on her show. Tammi Stefano of the National Safe Child Show first brought Dr. Susan's story to the public in LA County in 2014 by having Dr. Susan on her show. The Chronicle of Social Change is reporting that: "In March, Los Angeles County paid a $150,000 settlement to a celebrity Beverly Hills doctor after social workers lied under oath and falsified evidence to take her four kids from her, amid a thorny custody battle. But despite the payout — and the help of top-notch private lawyers — Susan Spell, whose TV credits include Oprah, CNN, Good Morning America, and Dr. 90210, still doesn’t have her kids back."

Canada Supreme Court Orders New Trial for Non-vaccinating Parents Accused of Son’s Death – New Evidence Points to Cover-up of Medical Malpractice

The Supreme Court of Canada issued a stunning reversal this week in a case that could have far-reaching implications for parental rights. David and Collet Stephen were convicted last year of "failing to provide the necessaries of life" when their son Ezekiel died. On Tuesday, May 15, 2018, justices in the highest court in the land deliberated for only a few minutes before issuing their unanimous decision. The Court could have waited months to render a decision, but Chief Justice Richard Wagner said that the consensus was that it was "appropriate to release the decision as soon as possible." Thus they gave a rare verdict from the bench on the same day that arguments were heard. Justice Michael Moldaver read the decision, stating that they would: "allow the appeal, quash the convictions, and order a new trial." A great deal of new information has surfaced since the trial 2 years ago, and it is apparent that there has been a massive cover-up, involving doctors, hospital staff, government officials, and the media. Almost from the beginning, the pro-vaccine lobby has seemed intent on blaming Ezekiel's death on the lack of a vaccine. People involved on every level worked together to paint a false narrative of events.

Philadelphia Family Court Judge Exposed and Charged with Illegal Medical Kidnapping

A state appeals court has accused a Pennsylvania judge of “judicially created parental alienation” and a failure to provide due process when she kept a baby in “protracted foster care” after receiving no explanation for broken ribs and then terminated parental rights. The judge, Lyris Younge of Philadelphia Family Court, abused her discretion when she refused to place the child known as N.M. in the care of a grandmother, according to the May 4 decision by the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. Younge also refused to allow the child’s mother to be represented by two lawyers at once, and refused to allow introduction of expert medical reports that attempted to explain N.M.’s broken ribs, the court said. Judge Younge has a history of violating parental rights in her courtroom, but because family court records and rulings are kept confidential on a non-public docket—unless appealed—they do not draw scrutiny. How many other families has Judge Younge destroyed?

A Mother’s Day Message for Grieving Mothers – A Message of Hope

To the mother whose children have been medically kidnapped or taken from them by Child Protective Services, the idea of Mother's Day can seem like a cruel mockery. There is no greater grief in the entire world than to lose a child. How can there be hope today when the children you carried in your womb are not with you? You are a mother. Nothing will ever change that. No judicial decree, no act of a social worker, and no piece of paper can ever undo the fact that you are the mother of your children. Even if a judge writes on a piece of paper that your parental rights are terminated, no judge is powerful enough to ever stop you from being your child's parent. There is an eternal bond between parent and child that no force on the planet can take away from you or your child, no matter how much they may try. It is written in every cell of your child's body. It is written on their heart. You are part of their soul. Even if your baby was taken away from you at birth, you carried your baby in your womb and formed a bond that no one can ever replace. This isn't wishful thinking or empty words to try to comfort hurting people. It is science. It is psychology. It is Scripture.

Mother’s Day Reunion: Military Dad and Mom Reunited with Children 3 Years After Kansas Took Them Over Medical Cannabis

Shortly before Mother's Day 3 years ago, on April 26, 2015, the Department for Children and Families (DCF) in Kansas seized 5 children from Raymond and Amelia Schwab over false allegations. Now, just before Mother's Day 2018 - 3 years later - their nightmare is officially over. The children are home and the case against them is finally closed. The final closure of the case was not expected to happen for another 2 months, but the unexpected email arrived Thursday, May 10, 2018 to announce the good news. Even so, Raymond told Health Impact News that even this is not really a "win" because they lost so many years with their children. Those are years they can never get back. Health Impact News has previously reported that, under DCF care, at least one of the Schwab children was sexually assaulted, and others were abused. The parents want to encourage other parents who are fighting for their children: "We've just got to keep up the fight and hope that our story inspires people to never give up. Never quit. Never surrender." The part of fighting DCF to get their children home is indeed over. But the battle for families is not over by any means. Raymond and Amelia Schwab and Jennifer Winn have each stated that they intend to keep fighting for justice for all families.

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.

Refusing to Vaccinate Your Kids is Not Abuse

Last fall, when an exhausted new mom wanted time to consider vaccinations for her newborn, the infant was taken from her by the on-call pediatrician at a Portland hospital, who claimed "medical negligence." A caseworker from the state Department of Human Services, without a judicial review, had the child removed and allowed the attending nurse to vaccinate the child "with whatever they wanted to give" against the parents' permission. This happened even though Oregon allows parents to opt out of vaccinations. The mother was allowed to see her baby only for the purpose of nursing her and then escorted out of the hospital by police. Throughout this illegal nightmare, a DHS caseworker falsified reports and placed numerous roadblocks in the way of this family wanting to parent their newborn. Despite this, many Oregon families came forward to help them. With the aid of attorneys who offered to represent the family pro bono, the case was dismissed, with DHS conceding the woman was an excellent mother.