Praying for Kidnapped Children

How much do you pray? Or a better way to ask this is who and how and what do you pray for or about?  I don’t really expect an answer but lately my heart has been drawn to pray for medically kidnapped children.

In fact, most of my prayers of late bring me to tears whether I cry driving down the road to Ann Arbor real estate appointments or before I go to sleep. I weep for all the pain that people are going through. Sometimes I don’t really know HOW to pray because I don’t know all the details of everything people have asked for in their prayer requests.

The scripture that comes to mind, “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes FOR us with groanings to deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” Romans 8:26-27

A few years ago I started to see a multitude of prayer requests on Facebook, (my favorite social network). I caught myself saying I was praying or would pray and I was NOT. That still small voice spoke to me, “you hypocrite”.

So I stopped saying, “praying for you”, UNLESS I was.

Medical Kidnapping

Fourteen months ago I found a story about Justina Pelletier on Facebook and joined that group and twitter feeds, made calls to the Gov of Mass and DCF, prayed, and cried a lot.  I couldn’t fathom the travesty of justice this precious child went through. Boy were my eyes opened. Justina’s case became a springboard for me to see what was really going on out there with our Foster Care and Child Protection Services.

Now not a day go by that I don’t hear of  children being taken from their parents for medical reasons. Not only children being medically kidnaped but taken for frivolous reason from loving homes. I started to ask, how can this be happening?

Some of situations that I have been praying for the last year that are breaking my heart are:

Isiah Rider Is a 17-year-old Missouri resident who was taken away from his mother at the age of 16 by Illinois child protective services – DCFS – while in Lurie Children’s Hospital for medical treatment. All his mom wanted was a second opinion and they were referred to a different hospital in ILL because the hospital in Missouri couldn’t find a cure for his pain.

The Ringo family from Bellingham, WA who have a more holistic in their approach to life and health, preferring natural alternatives, like herbs and diet changes, to medicinal treatments.

The Stanley Family in Arkansas had and continue to have their seven homeschooled children in foster care because they too lived a holistic lifestyle and the dad supposedly used a substance not approved by the FDA. The children never took it and they had no idea there was a controversary on MMS. Now what is really weird to me, as one of my friends here in Michigan has Lyme disease, and the same day I found the Stanley’s story, my friend called and asked me if I had ever heard of MMS.

I said no I had not.  She told me her MD, (notice I said MD had prescribed it for her. I had just texted her back after doing some quick research on it and told her it seemed fine to me if taken as prescribed.

Since then I have another friend in another state who informed me her MD had prescribed it to her. So NOW the Stanley’s have lost custody of their kids over a substance that is being prescribed by MD’s? The Stanley’s said they would get rid of it as the dad had only tried it and they used it for their garden.

I don’t get it.

Recently a couple who live in Brighton,MI (right down the road from me)  is going through a tragic situation where the father was convicted of abusing his 11-week old daughter. Joshua and Brenda Burns, who waited 7 years to have their baby, she being a nurse at my local hospital and him a pilot with Delta because the baby Naomi slipped off her daddy’s lap and he caught her with his hand. That is called negligence for protecting their baby…catching her before she hit her head on the coffee table.

Josh is to be sentenced this week, their pastor set up a web-site for them, the prosecution could find no one to testify against Josh’s character in all of Brighton, MI? Yet now DCF is harassing the mother, who was cleared.

I sure an glad my children are grown, Jamie was so accident prone we nicknamed him Rambo Jamo Pup. How can this be happening?

Another tragic case, that I have been praying for and reached out to NotDeadYet is the is the Verzosa Family of Kissimmee, Florida. So what was the Verosa families crimes?

The mother has a slight intellectual disability. (Whatever that is…) So now their 6 children are in foster care and the parents are devastated. If the mom needs support, get her some help. DON’T take her children away. Yes, this situation has brought me to tears many nights now.

I could literally go into many cases in the State of Arizona, which appears to be making money off these kids being taken from their families, you would not believe it. But I will mention only one family in AZ that I have been praying for and that is Kayla and Hannah Diegel. 

My plan in the next few weeks is to post more on my thoughts of WHY this is happening. What is systemically wrong with DCF’s?  WHY they are taking more children from loving families who are just trying to get help for their children who have medical issues.

There are families having kids taken away for FRIVOLOUS reasons. (home-schooling, not vaccinating, seeking a second medical opinion, diaper rash, home-births, not giving psychotropic drugs, two doctors disagreeing on a diagnosis for their children and on and on.

Please, subscribe by email on the right column if you want to follow along and find out how this can be happening in our nation. Mainly join me in praying for these families IF you are moved as have been. 

A few nights ago I was standing in the kitchen and started telling Christa and Allyssa about the family in Brighton and I just completely broke down. They don’t understand HOW I can be so broken up over this family with everything we as a family have gone through.

Hey, I don’t either!

***Full disclosure, I am not against DCF, CPS or Social Workers (my degree is in social work) and I know they are overworked and understaffed.  I know there are very dedicated one’s who truly want to help protect abused children. (physically, sexually, emotionally) My advocacy is that systemic changes must be changed and changed quickly***

New update, read how Judge Whelan in San Diego County ruled against CPS for taking children and violating many laws. I am still reading his entire ruling but good case law present here. This is getting too long, I will post more later.