According to a Massachusetts judge, the parents of a Connecticut teenager did terrible things to their daughter.
First, they took her to the hospital seeking medical treatment for a bad case of the flu. Then, when state workers seized custody of the teen, the parents talked publicly about the state’s seizure of their teenaged child.
The state custody dispute boils down to a disagreement over a Boston hospital’s rather abrupt rendering of a novel mental diagnosis – somatoform disorder – that conflicted with a prior Tufts University diagnosis of a mitochondrial disorder.
The Boston hospital alleged medical child abuse – which can mean something as simple as taking a child to the doctor too much.
According to her father, the Boston Children’s Hospital said the girl’s problems were “all in her head.”
The state’s Department of Children and Families sought to bring contempt of court charges against the teen’s father for speaking out about his daughter’s plight. Barred from talking to her parents except during short weekly visits, the girl smuggled written messages hidden in origami artwork she gave to her parents.
A video posted on Facebook shows the girl begging the judge to let her go back to her parents.
“I know you can do it. Please, let me go home right now,” the girl pleads in the video.
*You will need to be logged into Facebook to view the video: www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=451918311612093
Read more at: justiceforjustina.com and A Miracle for Justina Facebook page.
State Custody Decisions Often Controversial
It was not the first time the Boston hospital had accused parents of child abuse when hospital staff did not like parents’ decisions for their children’s care. Media reports say Boston Children’s Hospital five times in 18 months lobbed complaints against parents who disagreed with the hospital’s diagnosis.
Read more about the Boston Children’s Hospital controversy at the Boston Globe: http://www.bostonglobe.com/
Nor was it the first time hospital staff have brought state agencies into disputes about medical care for children. In an unrelated Sacramento case, California Child Protective Service workers burst into a family’s home escorted by police to seize an infant over a medical disagreement with hospital staff.
The parents in that case had taken the child to another hospital for a second opinion that contradicted the first hospital’s claim the child needed emergency heart surgery. The parents were later exonerated of any wrongdoing. Their plight prompted to a statewide audit of California’s Child Protective Services agency.
The Sacramento parents recorded video as police barged into their home to seize the child:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr1lD0CwpBU
If you have been accused of child neglect or child abuse in Oklahoma for your sincere effort to provide your child the best care, or if your child has unfairly been taken into state custody, contact an Oklahoma child custody attorney immediately. The Tulsa child abuse defense attorney has experience battling Oklahoma Child Protective Service over state custody issues.
Strategy Session: Tulsa State Custody Attorney
To schedule your initial strategy session with a Tulsa state custody attorney, call Wirth Law Office at (918) 879-1681 or e-mail us your question using the form at the top of this page.
