In July of 2021, “John” was out shopping for his youngest son’s birthday when he received a panicked call from his wife. Police officers and a child welfare worker were at their home to take away their autistic son. The social worker claimed that the Christian family’s refusal to affirm the autistic boy’s newfound sexual identity was child abuse.
John raced home in time to record a video of the harrowing encounter.
“I’m going to take the child with me,” Edwina Nimley, a casework for the Maryland Department of Human Services, can be heard saying in a video of the incident reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation. Though the boy refused to go with her, Nimley tried again. “You’re afraid of me? You have nothing to be afraid of. The police is here but you have to go. This is the law,” Nimley said in the recording. “I need to talk to you separately from your parents. I need to take him to a safe place, separate from your parents.”
John’s son, who was 16 at the time, remained with his parents that July day, but John’s battle to keep his son was just beginning. Unknown to the Christian family at the time, Prince George’s County, Maryland, had adopted a radical transgender affirmation program that views Christian parents as unsafe and harmful.
About a month after Nimley’s police-escorted visit, John received a letter saying the child welfare case was closed. But less than six months later, they would lose custody after refusing to affirm their son as a transgender girl.
“It sounds like a movie. It really does,” John told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
African-American, devout Christians, and military veterans, “John and Jane” have had their lives turned upside down, and have found themselves pitted against state officials dead set on removing kids from “non-affirming” parents and a legal system aimed at punishing Christian families. It turns out that Prince George’s County, MD, was one of the first counties to put the force of law, and its welfare bureaucracy, on the side of radical gender ideology.
‘Non-Affirming’
In 2017, Prince George’s County Department of Social Services (PGCDSS) became one of the first child welfare programs in the country with an AFFIRM unit, a program that rejects a male-female understanding of sex and instead teaches social workers, children, and families to proactively impose gender confusion on the county’s children.
PGCDSS described the program in their August 2019 newsletter writing,
“AFFIRM works with young people in the foster care system whose families have trouble accepting their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression or who experience bullying in school or other forms of abuse. The program gives youth coping skills and teaches parents and caregivers how to validate and support their children’s LGBTQ identities and experience.”
Under a $10 million Biden-Harris research grant, the county devised social services interventions that aimed to “overhaul” child welfare systems and develop programs which force parents to “affirm,” and fix in place, gender dysphoria and confusion that is overwhelming likely to be transient. Their research and programs have served as a nationwide model and are being recommended by the Biden-Harris administration.
On June 3, 2021, John’s son, “John III,” had a counseling session at a nonprofit community center that is LGBTQ “affirming.” The following day on June 4, 2021, the Doe family had their first encounter with the Maryland child welfare system when Nimley showed up at their home alleging the family may have been abusive in their treatment of John III’s supposed gender identity. The allegations bewildered the family as they had never seen evidence of their son expressing an alternative sexual identity. The parents, who have since moved out of the county, say they still do not know who first reported them to Maryland’s Child Protective Services (CPS) division and opened a child welfare case on their family.
A few weeks later, Nimley asked for another meeting to complete the investigation. Despite having “a bad feeling about it,” the parents met with Nimley and her supervisor at their home on July 28, 2021. After the family allowed Nimley’s supervisor to perform a safety assessment, the child welfare workers left their home.
And this is where we came in at the top of the article: Later that day, Nimley returned with several police officers and an emergency order to remove their son, alleging their home was “unsafe.”
Lose Your Religion
Following the recommendation of their son’s counselor on November 9, 2021, John and Jane took John III to Children’s National Hospital for help following a suicide attempt.
It was the last day they would ever have custody of their son.
The Does did no then know, but would later learn, that Children’s National Hospital had a Gender and Autism Program for autistic and neurodivergent youth the director of which, Dr. John Strang, is a rabid gender ideologue. Strang is a co-author of the World Professional Association of Transgender Health’s (WPATH) clinical guidance, which recommends gender-distressed children receive sex-change drugs and surgeries.
At the hospital, John and Jane were informed of their son’s alleged gender dysphoria and told they must affirm his new female gender identity. But as Christians of the evangelical Protestant faith, the Does would not cave in to the hospital’s demand that they affirm their son’s cross-gender identity. “They didn’t like the fact that we wouldn’t go along with what they were recommending,” John told the DCNF of the hospital’s reaction.
Children’s National Hospital filed a series of emergency holds preventing John III from leaving the facility and demanded the parents treat him as a girl, initiate sex-change interventions, and “convert to the ‘new Christianity’ by engaging in faith-conversion sessions” with the hospital’s non-binary, transgender chaplain, Lavender Kelly, according to a lawsuit filed by John and Jane Doe. Chaplain Lavender Kelly demanded that the Does stop reading certain passages of the Bible that affirm traditional sexual values and gender.
“We are Bible believers and you are telling me I can’t talk about Adam and Eve? Abraham and Sarah? The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit? Essentially I can’t read my Bible,” said John.
During a family meeting at the hospital, the Does were told to use their son’s “chosen” female name and new pronouns; the emotional pain John felt upon hearing a Children’s National Hospital staff member refer to his son’s real name as his “dead name.”
“I share the same name with both my father and my son, and she spoke death over it. I was devastated to hear those words come out of her mouth. I followed up by asking, ‘What is a dead name?’ She barked, ‘It’s her legal name.’
When the Does tried to transfer their son to another facility, one that did not push radical gender ideology, the request was blocked by child welfare services. They had sent the court a letter outlining accusations of neglect against him and his wife, with the recommendation that their son not be returned to their care.
Before John III was discharged from the hospital, a case was filed in the family court; the judge asked John Doe if he would use his son’s new female name and female pronouns. “I said ‘no.’ And that was all [the magistrate] needed to hear.” The magistrate ruled against the parents, and on Dec. 20, 2021, John III entered the Maryland Foster Care System.
Parents On Trial
John and Jane soon found themselves fighting for their son in the Prince George’s County family court system. They were brought before the same magistrate judge as part of a Children in Need of Assistance (CINA) case, a family court proceeding in Maryland meant to determine safe, permanent placements for children who have been abused or neglected by their parents or guardians, as well as children with a mental disorder or developmental disability.
The magistrate judge again ruled against the Does, and the case was then sent to a higher court. CPS pulled out of the case, saying their was no evidence of abuse. The CPS attorney gave one of the greatest closing arguments in our favor as parents that I had ever heard,” John said.
During this court proceeding it was discovered that John III had again attempted suicide while in the care of his “affirming” foster mother, (called Miss Jane Doe in court records) so whatever was causing John III’s suicidal ideation, it was not his Christian parents, because he did the same thing in the home of his “affirming” foster mother.
Also while under the care of foster mother “Miss Jane Doe,” a single woman with a criminal record of assault, John III began posting sexually provocative photos online. The Does then filed an 8-page CPS complaint against Miss Jane Doe. When Miss Jane Doe died “suddenly and without explanation” [probably vaxxed], John III was not returned to his parents but was instead sent to live with Children’s National Hospitals’ non-binary chaplain, Lavender Kelley.
In August 2023, John and Jane were cleared from the accusations of abuse and neglect, when CPS “ruled out” their previous allegations, which means that the reported the abuse, neglect, or sexual abuse did not occur. But the judge nevertheless ruled that John III had a “mental disorder” and would remain in the Maryland foster system.
John and Jane’s lawsuit described their emotional distress as “[s]o severe that ‘no reasonable man’ could be expected to endure it. . . . Sleep disturbances, nightmares, loss of appetite, inability to concentrate, anxiety, and other conditions arising from the theft of their child,” reads the lawsuit.
The family has had to spend tens of thousands of dollars fighting the allegations of the child welfare system and the financial strain forced them to sell their business. But the financial losses are incomparable to their greatest loss: the loss of their son.
Taxpayer Funding Helped Weaponize Child Welfare Systems Against Traditional Parents
This tragedy began with a partnership between cultural Marxist non-profits outside the government, funded by Marxist activists within the federal government.
In 2016, a 10-million-dollar grant was awarded to the University of Maryland School of Social Work by the Children’s Bureau, an agency within the federal Department of Health and Human Services. The award funded the creation of the cumbersomely-monikered National Quality Improvement Center on Tailored Services, Placement Stability, and Permanency for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Two-Spirit Children and Youth (QIC-LGBTQ2S).
Prince George’s County Department of Social Services was one of four social services agencies nationwide chosen to implement, develop and evaluate the LGBTQ-affirming child welfare interventions under the grant.
Several of the interventions devised by the QIC-LGBTQ2S group teach that parents and caregivers who do not affirm a child’s gender dysphoria are “unsafe,” a remarkable inversion of reality. These interventions included trainings to help convince parents to embrace their child’s gender confusion and assist religious families in reconciling their faith with LGBTQ affirmation.
In other words, the federal government is paying radical Marxists to convince parents to adopt a more liberal form of Christianity, and jettison the kind of Christianity that accepts Christ’s statement that “But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and the two shall become one flesh.” The interventions can now be found on the National SOGIE Center website.
The cultural Marxists encourage parents to used preferred pronouns, take children to LGBTQ events, and support the permanent sexual mutilation of their children. “Rejecting” behaviors of “non-affirming” parents can include not allowing a child to participate in LGBT support groups, using religion to reject a child’s sexual orientation or gender identity, and refusing to use a child’s chosen name or pronouns. Some activists believe “rejecting” behaviors correlate to a higher risk of serious health problems, such as suicide and depression. The Daily Caller News Foundation has written an in-depth report on the QIC-LGBTQ2S research interventions.
Prince George County’s Work With Taxpayer-Funded Trans Group And Human Rights Campaign
Funded by the federal grant, Prince George’s County worked with both the QIC-LGBTQ2S research group and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), an LGBTQ activist group that strongly supports child sexual mutilation through both surgery and puberty blocking drugs. The county served as a research site for the AFFIRM Youth, AFFIRM Caregiver, and the Human Rights Campaign’s All Children – All Families (ACAF) programs, which offers agencies materials and trainings “to create an LGBTQ-affirming agency.” The program offers a series of free online training webinars for child welfare agencies such as “Stories of Life Beyond Binary Gender,” “Promising Practices with Trans & Non-Binary Parents,” and “Supporting Trans & Gender-Expansive Youth.”
For years, PGCDSS worked very closely with the radical Marxist Human Rights Campaign, as described by Alison Delpercio, former director of the All Children-All Families program, in a 2019 article. “For years now, the HRC has worked side-by-side with Prince George’s County Department of Social Services as the department implements LGBTQ-inclusive policies and practices,” Delpercio told The Prince George’s Sentinel. “This partnership deepened when the department became an implementation site for the Quality Improvement Center for LGBTQ2S youth in foster care.”
In 2019, the HRC posted a video on social media highlighting the partnership between PGCDSS and HRC. The video features Gloria Brown Burnett, who became the director of Prince George’s County social services department in 2009, and is currently the deputy secretary of operations for the Maryland Department of Human Services.
Lauren Wethers-Coggins was the AFFIRM Youth and Family Specialist for Prince George’s County and is currently their AFFIRM program coordinator. She explained how the program teaches caregivers to “actively challenge homophobic, bi-phonic, and transphobic beliefs.”
“The whole purpose of affirmative caregiving is to work to counter those negative impacts of anti-LGBTQ trauma, to build affirming connections, rebuild affirming connections. It teaches caregivers to use affirming language, to actively challenge homophobic, bi-phobic, transphobic beliefs and to model LGBTQ affirming behaviors to their young people.”
The Prince George’s County AFFIRM program has garnered national praise, winning a National Association of Counties Achievement Award and was prominently featured in the 2019 Human Rights Campaign All Children – All families report. In 2023, PGCDSS was one of only six public child welfare agencies nationwide to be given the “Innovative Inclusion” title by the Human Rights Campaign, the highest tier of recognition.
It’s been almost three years since John’s family lost their son after refusing to affirm him as a girl. During that time, the transformation of Maryland’s child welfare system has continued on its trajectory. On Nov. 15, 2023, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed a statewide policy requiring child welfare agencies to provide affirming care to LGBTQ youth. The policy links to the QIC-LGBTQ2S interventions and HRC All Children – All Families program labeling them as “additional LGBTQIA2S+ youth and families resources.”
On April 30, 2024, the Biden-Harris administration finalized a similar policy requiring child welfare agencies to be LGBTQ affirming. Public records revealed that behind-the-scenes, QIC-LGBTQ2S researchers huddled with the Biden-Harris administration to help inform the policy.
Source article by Megan Brock of the Daily Caller
Comment:
If you have young children, or are planning to have children, you do not want to live in a “blue” or Democrat-controlled state (which, to repeat myself, is a Marxist controlled state). In their minds, your children belong to them, and in the Leftist jurisdictions, they have the power to make what is in their minds into reality.
You will try to fight back, but you will be financially ruined as you go to hearing after hearing, and pay your lawyers hundreds of thousands of dollars. As a private citizen, unless you are Elon Musk or Donald Trump, you do not have the resources to go against the state or federal government, which have practically infinite resources. In the end, it will not make any difference. You’ll be bankrupt and you’ll never get your kids back. That’s the reality of America in 2024.
Eventually, if Democrats/Marxists keep being elected to office, it will not make any difference what state you live in. Rebellion against the created sexual order is the number one priority of the Democrat Party by far—shockingly, even their sacred rite of the murder of the unborn is not a very close second—and they will eventually impose it on all states. Even the most vigorous red state governors and attorneys general, like Ron DeSantis of Florida and Ken Paxton of Texas, will have to buckle under eventually, or start a new civil war.