Stories

Jack & Christy chat with Tasha and her attorney, Valentina Villalobos, A mom in South Florida who has another story of medical abuse of power. Tasha and her husband had their 8 year old son and newborn twins removed after a child abuse pediatrician declared a diagnosis of abuse, despite the children having numerous medical issues that pointed towards diagnosis of brittle bones.

Despite the fact that numerous doctors (7) since the removal have reviewed the case and medical records and determined that Tasha has hEDS and that her twins also have clear signs of it - her kids remain living apart from their parents. The doctors that DCF used to determine the fractures were caused by child abuse had very little experience and were not experts in brittle bone disease. The genetics and bone disease doctors that Tasha asked to review the cases are some of the most experienced in the country - but as we are seeing in these situations with child abuse pediatricians - the judge sided with the CAPs instead of the actual experts. Despite the fact that Tasha reached out to a founding father of child abuse pediatrics who found numerous errors with the accusing CAPs diagnosis, the judge sided with the opinion of a rookie doctor.

Her twins were not only diagnosed with brittle bone disease by genetic and bone experts, but they also had their fractures dated to both birth and prenatal. Additionally, injuries happened again two separate times after removal. Not only did this proof not create a u-turn from DCF, but they TPRed the children. This means they would not be able to return to their parents and would be expected to be adopted. The case is still under appeal and everyone is hoping to finally hear the good news that the family has been waiting for.

To help Tasha's family here are some things that you can do to make a difference:

Jack & Christy chat with Tasha and her attorney, Valentina Villalobos, A mom in South Florida who has another story of medical abuse of power. Tasha and her husband had their 8 year old son and newborn twins removed after a child abuse pediatrician declared a diagnosis of abuse, despite the children having numerous medical issues that pointed towards diagnosis of brittle bones.

Despite the fact that numerous doctors (7) since the removal have reviewed the case and medical records and determined that Tasha has hEDS and that her twins also have clear signs of it - her kids remain living apart from their parents. The doctors that DCF used to determine the fractures were caused by child abuse had very little experience and were not experts in brittle bone disease. The genetics and bone disease doctors that Tasha asked to review the cases are some of the most experienced in the country - but as we are seeing in these situations with child abuse pediatricians - the judge sided with the CAPs instead of the actual experts. Despite the fact that Tasha reached out to a founding father of child abuse pediatrics who found numerous errors with the accusing CAPs diagnosis, the judge sided with the opinion of a rookie doctor.

Her twins were not only diagnosed with brittle bone disease by genetic and bone experts, but they also had their fractures dated to both birth and prenatal. Additionally, injuries happened again two separate times after removal. Not only did this proof not create a u-turn from DCF, but they TPRed the children. This means they would not be able to return to their parents and would be expected to be adopted. The case is still under appeal and everyone is hoping to finally hear the good news that the family has been waiting for.

To help Tasha's family here are some things that you can do to make a difference:

Jack & Christy chat with Tasha and her attorney, Valentina Villalobos, A mom in South Florida who has another story of medical abuse of power. Tasha and her husband had their 8 year old son and newborn twins removed after a child abuse pediatrician declared a diagnosis of abuse, despite the children having numerous medical issues that pointed towards diagnosis of brittle bones.

Despite the fact that numerous doctors (7) since the removal have reviewed the case and medical records and determined that Tasha has hEDS and that her twins also have clear signs of it - her kids remain living apart from their parents. The doctors that DCF used to determine the fractures were caused by child abuse had very little experience and were not experts in brittle bone disease. The genetics and bone disease doctors that Tasha asked to review the cases are some of the most experienced in the country - but as we are seeing in these situations with child abuse pediatricians - the judge sided with the CAPs instead of the actual experts. Despite the fact that Tasha reached out to a founding father of child abuse pediatrics who found numerous errors with the accusing CAPs diagnosis, the judge sided with the opinion of a rookie doctor.

Her twins were not only diagnosed with brittle bone disease by genetic and bone experts, but they also had their fractures dated to both birth and prenatal. Additionally, injuries happened again two separate times after removal. Not only did this proof not create a u-turn from DCF, but they TPRed the children. This means they would not be able to return to their parents and would be expected to be adopted. The case is still under appeal and everyone is hoping to finally hear the good news that the family has been waiting for.

To help Tasha's family here are some things that you can do to make a difference:

Jack & Christy chat with Shelby, A mom in Georgia who has similar story of medical abuse of power. Shelby is one of dozens of moms in Georgia who had her child removed after a child abuse pediatrician declared a diagnosis of abuse, despite the child having diseases explaining the injuries.

The Whiting Family (Shelby and Damoni) was so excited to welcome a beautiful baby girl, Anariah, in February of 2023. The pregnancy has some concerns, like finding out that their daughter could be born with Alpha Thalassemia, since they were both carriers of it, and some concerns about the baby's movement, growth, blood flow, and heart rate. But when Anariah was born, the doctors expressed no concerns and sent her home. Shelby was on maternity leave from Active Duty Navy and brought her daughter in to the doctor when she saw some dots near her eye. That is when a CPI case was initially opened when someone mistook it for a black eye, but was resolved when the CPI and the child's pediatrician confirmed it was not a black eye but a big bite. Shortly after, Damoni heard a pop in an arm when changing a onesie. The child seemed fine so they kept an eye on it. A week later the child got fussy and was not able to use the arm the same so they went right into the doctor. This was the beginning of a horrible nightmare for the Whiting Family, which resulted in a trainee child abuse pediatrician (Dr Rebecca Rodriquez-Pou) at Wolfson's hospital, declaring fractures and Anariah was removed from her parents at 9 weeks old and placed in a foster home.

Even after being in foster care the baby continues to make popping noises, according to her foster family. But the case managers and doctors have said Anariah does not need to get further scans and that popping is normal in young babies.

The Whiting Family has received their daughter's medical records and hired doctors to evaluate their daughter to determine why these fractures may have happened. Anariah's records show that she is diagnosed with Alpha Thalassemia (which can cause fractures when bone marrow expands inside the bone), and Hemoglobin Barts. The medical experts have diagnosed Anariah, based on her scans, with poor mineralization of bone which can also be a cause of fractures and indicate metabolic bone disease. Shelby has also found that she has had low vitamin D and even after being medicated with higher doses of vitamin D, a year later her vitamin D remains low. Her mother also has issues with vitamin D in her body, which implies a genetic cause. Low vitamin D can often indicate bone diseases that can result in fractures.

The single doctor (Dr Rodriguez-Pou**) who diagnosed child abuse has a license coded as a trainee doctor. The Whiting Family has hired a number of doctors with lots of experience who have confirmed that this was not a case of abuse.

Despite all of these diagnoses, Anariah remains in foster care, and her TPR trial is scheduled for May 14 of 2024. We need to raise our voices up for the Whiting Family and make sure DFCS knows that we are watching them. TPR would be a great injustice to this family and Anariah.

Looking into these Georgia Families, there are several similar cases where families are facing serious charges and the loss of their children, and Georgia DFCS is not doing the necessary investigations before determining that abuse is taking place.

To help the Whiting Clarke family and others affected in Georgia here are some things that you can do to make a difference:

** Of note is that Dr Rodriguez Pou works in the same facility as Dr Barbara Knox.

Jack & Christy continue their chat with Jennifer, A fostermom in Georgia who is helping the Hernandez family and many other families going through similar stories of medical abuse of power.

Matt & Taki Hernandez noticed a swollen leg on their infant and brought her to the dr who referred her to CHOA and within two hours (before sufficient testing could be run), CHOA called in a child abuse pediatrician who had both children removed from their parents' custody for abuse and soon charges were filed on Taki. Despite the infant having signs of prenatal Ricketts or possibly other conditions that could cause things like low vitamin D and cupping of the ribs - once the child abuse pediatrician declared it child abuse - a trajectory began that has done everything possible to destroy this family.

Looking into CHOA, there are several similar cases where families are facing serious charges and the loss of their children, and Georgia DFCS is not doing the necessary investigations before determining that abuse is taking place.

To help the Hernandez family and others affected in Georgia here are some things that you can do to make a difference:

A mini episode with a continued conversation about the Hernandez story. We chat about the consequences of child abuse pediatricians doubling down even in the face of diagnoses explaining injuries - and the consequence of that is the destruction of a family - versus the slap on the wrist they may get if they admitted there could be a reason other than child abuse.

A mini episode with a continued conversation about the Hernandez story. Jennifer shares how the agency who trained her to coparent had great concerns when she tried to coparent, and also how the agency would take Taki's breastmilk and dispose of it without giving it to her child or informing her that they would not e doing that.

A mini episode with a continued conversation about the Hernandez story. Jennifer shares how a therapist supervising Matt Hernandez visits exclaimed that he is a perfect parent and she has no concerns for him. She also found it odd that noone told her any issues to watch for with Matt, despite him being indicted by a grand jury for child abuse and pending trial..

A mini episode with a continued conversation about the Hernandez story. Jennifer shares how the agency would force Matt to lie about why Taki was not present at visits to the girls, and how the agency lied in court about vetting relatives and fictive kin for placement.

Jack & Christy chat with Jennifer. A fostermom in Georgia who is helping the Hernandez family and many other families going through similar stories of medical abuse of power.

Matt & Taki Hernandez noticed a swollen leg on their infant and brought her to the dr who referred her to CHOA and within two hours (before sufficient testing could be run), CHOA called in a child abuse pediatrician who had both children removed from their parents' custody for abuse and soon charges were filed on Taki. Despite the infant having signs of prenatal Ricketts or possibly other conditions that could cause things like low vitamin D and cupping of the ribs - once the child abuse pediatrician declared it child abuse - a trajectory began that has done everything possible to destroy this family.

Looking into CHOA, there are several similar cases where families are facing serious charges and the loss of their children, and Georgia DFCS is not doing the necessary investigations before determining that abuse is taking place.

To help the Hernandez family and others affected in Georgia here are some things that you can do to make a difference: