Governor McCrory - Protect Family Values: Stop Letting State Agents Rip Families Apart Due to Medical Ignorance!

While family values groups applaud North Carolina governor Pat McCrory’s support of the controversial “bathroom bill,” a real and urgent family values concern is being all but ignored by his administration. Across the state, children and parents are being cruelly abused - unnecessarily torn apart - by state agents who refuse to learn about medical conditions they and their accomplices insist are evidence of child abuse.

According to a study published in the British Medical Journal and found in the National Institute of Health’s database, bone fractures are common in children and "[m]ost …fall into the 'unexplained' category.” Nevertheless, Greensboro parent Holly Atkins was told by her department of social services (DSS) and district court that unless she can explain how her 11-month old suffered a leg fracture, BOTH her children would be adopted by strangers.

In other words, the state has shifted the burden of proof to require Holly to prove that she has NOT abused her child — even though North Carolina laws [NC GS 7B-506 (b) for one] say the burden of proof is on the accuser.

Even though Holly's research has led her to reliable explanations, she says she's been denied access to her son’s medical records. According to Holly, she also has not been allowed to have him evaluated by experts who can confirm her suspicions, including that the Zantac her son was prescribed for months after birth can cause brittle bones and that because she suffers from Ehlers-Danlos — a genetic condition that causes brittle bones — her son may as well.

To make matters worse, a Fox 8 High Point news report reveals that the state rejects funding that would put children with other relatives while accused parents fight a juggeraut composed of social workers, judges, attorneys and paid medical accomplices to prove their innocence of child abuse. Instead, it's common for children to be placed with total strangers — a move that generates thousands of dollars in federal funds, but can cause lifelong psychological and emotional problems, according to child experts and the state's Department of Health and Human Services.

Other than x-ray fractures found when concerned parents have rushed their children to the emergency room, there is no indication whatsoever that either Marty Peele, Holly Atkins, or Kacie and Raymond Hernandez abused their babies in any way. Nonetheless state agents have not only refused to return the children stolen from these seemingly innocent parents, state courts have also issued gag orders preventing them from discussing their cases. Holly was just reportedly informed that her children were removed from her parents' home because Holly exercised her First Amendment right and told her story to Medical Kidnap! Documents Holly shared on Facebook suggest that the state was far more concerned with keeping Holly quiet than with the care the children were getting from their grandparents!

A few parents say they have been promised an internal investigation within the state agency, which is already under criminal investigation by the Department of Justice over several issues.


This issue is incredibly personal for me. I myself am a victim of the state's deeply flawed child welfare system. I was not allowed to care for my grandson after his mother suffered multiple skull fractures. I am writing this petition to highlight cases of serious abuse of family rights by North Carolina caseworkers and courts across the state. Will you help me?

Fight for real family values. Sign this petition to insist that Governor McCrory order an independent investigation of these egregious violations of parents' and children’s rights!

Governor McCrory:


I am deeply concerned by allegations of serious abuse of family rights by North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services caseworkers and by courts across the state. If you truly believe in family values, I urge you to commission an independent review of the agency's practices in removing children from their families. 


[Your Comments]



Holly Atkin’s case is just one case in North Carolina in which parents have been accused of abuse or neglect because caseworkers have refused to learn about or consider conditions that can cause brittle bones, rare conditions like chemical sensitivities or prevalent conditions like traumatic brain injury.


According to Ehlers Danlos Syndrome.org, “Brittle bones are a severe problem with EDS, caused by low bone density” EDS.org also notes that “Sadly children that have EDS are often not properly diagnosed at a young age. Therefore their parents are typically accused of child abuse…“


However, Holly’s and especially Marty Peele’s cases have gotten widespread publicity and support from experts documenting the mothers’ suspicions about their children’s fractures being linked to EDS and other causes. Therefore there’s no excuse, in the absence of any evidence to show otherwise, for state agents to continue to deprive these loving, caring parents of their children.


State agents in Holly’s case have further overstepped their authority by taking Holly’s children from their grandparents after Holly went to the press with her story. Now it’s reported that the Hernandez couple have been placed under a gag order and can no longer post updates on their Facebook page about their son RJ.


Children are suffering because of these practices. Imagine the trauma Holly’s daughter Baylie has needlessly suffered. She is the oldest child and had no health issues while under Holly’s care. First, she was taken from the mother she loves and the security of her home, and thenremoved from the home of her loving grandparents and the school she attended after 15 months.

Holly says she wasn’t even told about the school change ahead of time and was only told about the removal from her parents’ home at the time her children were being transferred to foster care. Holly is understandably in shock and reports that DSS admits they took this action not because of any risk to the children while in the grandparents’ care, but because Holly took her case to the press.


EDS.org says “Surprisingly EDS isn’t too uncommon, about 1 in every 5,000 children born will have EDS. That’s why it’s negligent for the NC department of Social Services, an arm of the state’s Department of Health, to act with such ignorance regarding this and other disorders that deservie proper treatment - not to be mistaken for child abuse.


To completely disregard official state recommendations meant to prevent children from suffering harm due to unnecessary removals from their biological families is also in direct contradiction of the state's manual for local DSS caseworkers  And it's just as negligent for DHHS to make these recommendations without ensuring that they are carried out at the local level.


Family law experts consider terminating parental rights "the death penalty of family law,' and it certainly has no place in a case where caseworkers and the courts have refused to allow evidence of medical diagnoses that contradict their assumptions of abuse or neglect.


If North Carolina insists on imposing and threatening so many "death sentences" on parents in the state, it should at least allow parents to exercise their parental and constitutional rights to defend themselves against false and ignorant accusations — even if that means going to the press when they’ve exhausted all other alternatives to obtain justice.

[Your comments here]


Entire families are threatened by these widespread and egregious violations of family, human and constitutional rights. I strongly urge you to commission an independent investigation to account for these abuses and develop an action plan to ensure that no child is wrongy torn from his or her loving family.


Thanks for your time.

[Your name]

Update #17 years ago
Medical Kidnap provides more evidence that supports Holly's & Marty's theories about why their babies suffered bone fractures. A doctor in SC notes both vitamin D deficiency & the mother's use of Prilosec during pregnancy as factors in Mackenzie Walls' fractures. Please keep pressure on McCrory to investigate & stop all unwarranted child removals! http://medicalkidnap.com/2016/05/05/south-carolina-baby-with-metabolic-bone-disorder-medically-kidnapped-and-harmed-in-state-care/
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