A family in Glasgow, Montana reportedly lost custody of their daughter after they expressed disapproval for her gender transition, according to a report from Reduxx.
The family is reportedly accusing the state’s child protective services of “kidnapping” their 14-year-old daughter, “Jennifer,” after she claimed to identify as a “boy.” The parents, Krista and Todd Kolstad, told the outlet that their minor daughter would be sent to Canada.
In August 2023, Krista, who is the Jennifer’s stepmother, said that they received a call that Jennifer had expressed suicidal ideations at school.
“She had always had problems at school,” Krista told the outlet. Previously, the parents had pulled their daughter from one school district and enrolled her in another due to bullying. Krista added that she also had “some undiagnosed mental health concerns, including attention-seeking behavior.”
That same day, Montana and Child Family Services arrived at the home out of the blue to do an inspection (via Reduxx):
Krista had been preparing dinner at the time, and invited the case worker to tour the residence despite both her and her husband being distressed by the sudden appearance.
During the interview with CFS, Jennifer claimed to have consumed toilet bowl cleaner and painkiller medications that day in an effort to commit suicide. Krista says that it had immediately struck her as being highly unlikely, as not only did Jennifer not have access to either substance unmonitored, but that Jennifer had expressed no symptoms of imminent illness that day.
Despite their doubts about the veracity of Jennifer’s claims, Krista and Todd agreed to take Jennifer to the local hospital on an emergency basis. While there, blood work returned that Jennifer had not consumed any toxic substances.
TERRIFYING. CPS showed up to this family’s home and took their 14-year-old daughter away after the parents opposed her gender transition.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 29, 2024
The state took custody of the teen and the parents weren’t allowed to see her. They were also excluded from her medical care and she was… pic.twitter.com/CCWUXp50F9
Notes taken at the hospital mentioned that Jennifer identified as a “male” and wanted to be called “Leo.”
Krista and Todd pushed back on this, requesting that their child be called by the name on her birth certificate.
“We were very clear to the emergency room staff as well as [CFS] that this goes against our values, morals, and our religious beliefs,” Krista said. “They told me to call their lawyer if I have an issue as they will do what the patient tells them.”
Jennifer was placed on 24/7 watch for her safety. Reportedly, a hospital aide placed outside her door would regularly talk to the teen about so-called “gender-affirming care.”
“I came one day and she was talking about having top-surgery and being non-binary,” Krista told the outlet. When Krista told the on-duty doctor, he brushed off her concerns.
“He told me, ‘why are not you more concerned that your daughter is trying to harm herself, then what [the aide] is talking about?'” Krista said of the doctor.
Overall, Krista said that Jennifer’s hospital stay was riddled with hospital workers trying to undermine the parents’ authority. During this time, Child and Family Services told the parents that Jennifer would benefit from specialized residential care for counseling and treatments. This is when the possible of their daughter being moved to Wyoming was presented.
“They told us that there were 6 facilities in Montana, but that there was also a facility in Wyoming. And at that point, because we were already in such a state from the hospital disrespecting us and our wishes, we immediately looked up Wyoming’s laws on transitioning minors,” Krista says. “It looked to us like kids could go ahead and have procedures done and have hormones without parental consent.”
On August 22, Todd and Krista were informed that their daughter would be moved to Wyoming (via Reduxx):
“They called and told us that a bed had opened up in Wyoming and that Jennifer needed to go. [The Doctor] said ‘she has to go. she’s not doing any good here,’ and we were really blown away,” Krista recounts. “No one talked to us about the the name of the facility — we had no one to answer our questions. We told them we wanted our questions answered before we accepted the bed.”
Ten minutes later, Child and Family Services arrived at the Kolstad residence with police.
“They showed up at our home to serve us with papers to take Jennifer out of our care,” Krista says. “They told me the reason was that we were ‘unable or refusing to provide medical care.’ That’s just not true.”
Jennifer was moved to Wyoming the next day. Her parents were not allowed to see her during the move and could only communicate with her through a counselor. On Sept. 25, Jennifer was returned to Montana and placed in a Youth Dynamics group home.
“They called it ‘temporary legal custody,’ which means they have the say over where she is at, but we are supposed to be able to have the say over everything else. But that was not upheld. There were incidents of her getting vaccines we did not consent to, we were not told the name of the Doctors involved, and she was allowed to shave her head,” Krista explained to the outlet.
On Jan. 19, a court decided to hand custody of Jennifer to Child and Family Services.
“We were told that letting Jennifer transition and live as a boy was in her ‘therapeutic best interest’ and because we aren’t willing to follow that recommendation, the court gave CFS custody of Jennifer for six months,” Krista says. “CFS is now going to place Jennifer in the care of her birth mother in Canada, who has never really been apart of her life. The judge said to us ‘you need to expect that reunification with your family may not be what you are expecting.'”
Reportedly, Jennifer’s biological mother, Christine, lives in Kitchener, Ontario with her husband. Christine reportedly left Jennifer with Todd after she was born and has not been involved in her upbringing (via Reduxx):
Of the five children Christine and Todd had together, only one had lived in Canada with Christine prior to aging out of her care. While living with Christine, the boy exhibited severe behavioral problems to a point where Christine approached Krista and Todd for help.
In one conversation, Christine admits to regularly checking homeless encampments and police records in anticipation she would one day find her son in jail.
“Our family has been destroyed by this. We have little to no contact with Jennifer and our rights as her parents have been trampled on,” Krista said. “We will continue to fight. We will never give up on our daughter and for what we believe is morally right. We will continue to tell our story, even though we are currently in contempt of court, and try to keep other families from going through this. Our greatest fear is that our daughter is now going to become a victim of this system and eventually take her own life.”
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