MedicalKidnap.com

[CrazyLurkerLady]

I know this site has been brought up in threads of various fundie families (Rembis, Naugler, etc), but I'd like a space to talk about the site itself and the lesser-known cases it features.

Brief intro for those unfamiliar: Medical Kidnap is a website purporting to share stories of families who have been "torn apart" when their children were "kidnapped" for medical reasons. Typically it's stuff like refusing to vaccinate, not taking perfectly healthy children to the doctor, living off-grid, faith healing, etc. The stories often follow a specific format - the children are 100% happy, healthy, and loved, a neighbor or medical professional reports them to CPS for some unknown reason, CPS comes and takes their kids away immediately without any proof of the allegations, kids are split up into various foster homes and all are immediately abused, and the parents do every single thing asked of them but CPS keeps changing the requirements/timelines/rules so they can never get everything done and pursues TPR so they can get the boatloads of cash the government gives them for putting kids up for adoption. 

Aaaaaaand DISCUSS!

[feministxtian]

I can see where this shit is overstepping by certain social service departments. I went through HELL when my mother was with us. I couldn't afford to hire a nurse to care for her, I couldn't afford to quit my job to take care of her...I went round and round with them and finally told them that unless they were willing to pay me what I was making (at the time about 47k/yr) that they could STFU and get the hell out of my house. Her "friends" were the ones that kept calling...so I told them that they were welcome to come over and care for her during the day while I was at work...not a SINGLE one did. 

[Jess]

I think it's disturbing how many people think this is a reliable news site. Due to privacy laws they only ever get the parents side of the story and never seem report anything negative. Yet a lot of people post to this site like it's a real news report. 

[RosyDaisy]

I'm not a doctor, but this sounds like delusional bullshit and persecuted syndrome.

[NachosFlandersStyle]

I recall reading about this on another forum, and someone pointed out that some of these cases have a lot of the hallmarks of Munchausen by Proxy. Kids with a ton of vague problems that doctors "just don't understand" or diagnoses that "western doctors refuse to take seriously." CPS steps in because doctors "didn’t agree" with their course of treatment. Now the kid absolutely must be returned, because they're not getting the treatment they supposedly need while they're in state custody. If you search for mentions of Munchausen on the site there are several posts about how the syndrome is TOTALLY MADE UP by doctors who just want to steal your children. The whole thing is creepy enough, but the thought that some of these parents are actually the ones making their children sick is chilling.

[nickelodeon]

HSLDA used to (still does?) send out brochures with this kind of story in 'em allll the time, in order to illustrate the necessity of their services. Mostly they made homeschoolers paranoid and hostile toward their neighbors, doctors and CPS. I guess this site serves that purpose now.

[ILoveJellybeans]

Its funny how whenever there is a story about how social workers are evil baby snatchers who will take your kids for something very insignificant and tiny, so far, every time it has turned out that things are way worse than the parents stated. Its never homeschooling, its that the 12 year old cant read but also the house is uninhabitable and smells of cat pee. Its never because theyre Christian, its because they beat their kids and turn a blind eye to their pastor molesting them. Its never because they don't believe in vaccines, its because their kid almost died and they didn't take them to the hospital, and use dangerous "treatments" on their kids to cure their illnesses. Its almost as if the parents are lying about their situation to make themselves look like the victims, instead of their poor children.

 

If it was just something small, the kids would be still in their homes, removing is only a last resort when things are so terrible the kid needs to live somewhere else until things are fixed or the parents have been given the opportunity to change, but have failed to do so within time limits set. They don't get money for putting kids up for adoption, in fact, it costs the state money to care for the kids, and there aren't enough adoptive parents, especially for older kids, as most people want a baby or toddler.

[Glasgowghirl]

These people annoy the crap out of me, while social services and medical experts can get it wrong. In the majority of these cases it's down to the parents neglect. Not treating a child's medical condition, when you can easily treat it is abuse and in too many cases the child ends up seriously ill or dead. 

[ViolaSebastian]

A common theme in cases like these is a failure to show up for the kid's appointments. It's incredibly common for parents to just stop coming to check-ups and treatments. If a parent does that, the doctor and staff have no choice but to report them for medical neglect.

[SuchABlessing]

And then you have the Rembis family who claim their kids were medical kidnap victims and are suffering horribly in foster care. They claim their "baby" isn't being given his seizure medicine and that they can't even visit him in the hospital. (In truth, the kid is 15 years old and they were kicked out after visiting hours were over) They say the government is out to get them because they have so many children and for their religious beliefs, 

Meanwhile, they forget to mention:

their kids were actually picked up by CPS because they were found eating from dumpsters and the toddlers were found roaming outside alone 

Upon investigation, CPS noted the children lived in filth and there weren't even enough beds for all of them

the parents were given very clear cut changes to make to their lifestyle that would let them regain custody. Things like having a job, having a place to live that is inhabitable. The Rembis' have done NOTHING that was requested. 

The parents seem to be loving their child-free lifestyle. They're now going on vacations together (while telling the kids that they can't come along bc CPS said so). Their FB page hardly ever mentions the kids but there's plenty of footage from a recent Jesus concert they attended....

 

 

 

[CrazyLurkerLady]

1 hour ago, ViolaSebastian said:

A common theme in cases like these is a failure to show up for the kid's appointments. It's incredibly common for parents to just stop coming to check-ups and treatments. If a parent does that, the doctor and staff have no choice but to report them for medical neglect.

I don't think it's that simple. A parent just ending appointments could be anything from switching doctors to the kid got better to moving across the country. Every time my kids have changed doctors or moved out we've decided to stop treatment (like when we decided to go med free for my son's ADHD for a while) we've just stopped making appointments and that was the end of it. I've never once even been called to follow up, much less had someone call CPS on me. Not making an appointment is not an indicator of neglect. Now if the parent makes some kind of statement to the staff that they've decided to treat cancer with prayer or diabetes with essential oils before stopping appointments, that's another matter.

[NachosFlandersStyle]

15 minutes ago, CrazyLurkerLady said:

I don't think it's that simple. A parent just ending appointments could be anything from switching doctors to the kid got better to moving across the country. Every time my kids have changed doctors or moved out we've decided to stop treatment (like when we decided to go med free for my son's ADHD for a while) we've just stopped making appointments and that was the end of it. I've never once even been called to follow up, much less had someone call CPS on me. Not making an appointment is not an indicator of neglect. Now if the parent makes some kind of statement to the staff that they've decided to treat cancer with prayer or diabetes with essential oils before stopping appointments, that's another matter.

I think this is about cases where CPS is already monitoring the family and the parents have been told they must do x, y, and z to prove that they are addressing the problems... and then they just don't show up.

[imokit]

Not making an appointment because plans have changed is fine, but if your kid is sick and the hospital makes appointments for you and you consistently fail to show up and don't explain why (eg that you've found another doctor/kid is better etc) then it becomes neglect and indicates a referral.

It depends on why an appointment is needed and how much communication and concern there is.  But in some cases it does warrant a referral. 

[Soulhuntress]

2 hours ago, imokit said:

Not making an appointment because plans have changed is fine, but if your kid is sick and the hospital makes appointments for you and you consistently fail to show up and don't explain why (eg that you've found another doctor/kid is better etc) then it becomes neglect and indicates a referral.

It depends on why an appointment is needed and how much communication and concern there is.  But in some cases it does warrant a referral. 

Communication is a good idea.