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Maryland family loses custody of 16-year-old boy who says he is trans
The parents said their autistic son, then 16 and the eldest of three boys, had never previously shown any desire to become a woman until he was admitted to hospital.
A military family who lost custody of their autistic son after they refused to transition his gender are suing a major DC hospital.
The family said their boy had never shown any desire to become a girl until, at 16, he was hospitalized for self-harming after a bitter breakup with his girlfriend in 2021.
Staff at Children's National Hospital informed the family that he wanted to be female and should be referred to using she/her pronouns going forward, the suit claims.
His army veteran parents, from Prince George County in Maryland, rejected the suggestion, saying their son was 'impressionable' due to being autistic.
They have accused the hospital of starting a 'full-on campaign to transgender this child' and accused staff of 'mental re-programming', saying their son had been forced to write letters to friends disavowing his previous male identityAbove is a picture that the family shared with DailyMail.com on condition of anonymity. The eldest son is shown on the far left, with his mother's arm wrapped around him in a loving embrace. Everyone is smiling and happy in the picture, after the second son had graduated.
According to the lawsuit, the hospital used its emergency policies to keep the boy in its units and reported the parents to child protection services.
The boy was then moved into foster care and hasn't been back to the family home since. What followed has been a two-year legal battle for custody over the teen, who is now 19 and remains in foster care.
The parents, who are in their 40s and African-American, say their son was at risk because his condition means he is vulnerable to social manipulation.
They have spoken exclusively to DailyMail.com but want to remain anonymous to protect their estranged son's privacy.
The boy's father revealed how they had to sell their thriving business and four-bedroom family home to cover legal costs.
The father said: 'This has been devastating. It drained so much money, there is no money left.
'It changed our entire way of life, with the loss of a child and then with the loss of our income.'
Karl von Batten, a committee member for the DC Republican party who is supporting the parents, said the case was personal to him because he also has an autistic son.
Mr von Batten said: 'To me, this is personal. My son is autistic, and if you tell him you are a penguin he will tell me he is a penguin.
'I am very upset by what they have done in this case, there seems to be no safe-guarding. I don't want this to happen to my boy or any other child with autism.'
The family is seeking up to $100million in damages and cover for their legal costs.
Pictured above is hospital Chaplain Lavender Kelley, who is believed to be currently caring for the child. The individual says online that they do not have a gender
The lawsuit says the child is currently living with the hospital's 'non-gendered' chaplain, Lavender Kelley, who regularly posts online about trans issues.
In one post on Facebook from 2022, Kelley said they supported transitioning children without their parents' consent — saying they were 'drained' from arguing with families.
The suit adds that, since being removed from the care of his parents, the youngster has appeared in provocative and sexµally suggestive poses on Instagram.
It is unclear whether the 19-year-old has received any sëx change treatments like feminizing hormones or gender reassignment surgery.
The lawsuit was filed in the Maryland District Court, accusing Children's National Hospital of eight counts including negligence, inflicting intentional emotional distress and discriminating against someone based on their religion.
It has since been sealed by a judge, and is now in the Fourth Circuit US Court of Appeals.
In a statement, the hospital told DailyMail.com that the case had been withdrawn by the parents lawyers. Representatives for the parents lawyers denied this.
Children's National is ranked the fifth best pediatric hospital in the country, and treats around 223,000 patients every year — including those with gender dysphoria.
It also runs a 'Gender and Autism Program', which says it helps young children with autism to understand their gender.
Amos Jones, who is representing the family, previously said: 'This is the craziest case I've ever had. I don't know why there are people who think this makes sense. But I guess lots of people agree with this in Washington DC now.'
He also had a second autism assessment in August, but at this meeting the foster mother removed him — claiming it was not necessary, according to the lawsuit.
The foster mother then died unexpectedly, with the boy believed to have been moved into the care of Ms Kelley, according to the lawsuit.
He turned 18 years old in March 2023, meaning he is now an adult and does not have to return to his parents if he does not wish to.
In the court filings, his parents accused the hospital of a 'cruel, abrupt, and intentional interruption of two fit parents' fundamental rights to parent their minor son'.
'[We] had never known of [our] son's purported desire or plan to change genders,' the documents read.
'Rather than treating [us] as patrons with legal and dignitary rights, the defendant... treated the parents as though they had harmed their son, even though the parents had never endangered their child and had home-schooled him to college entry at fourteen years old.'
They added: 'At Children’s National, it is as if all critical reasoning toward the child was suspended, and there was no investigation into the extent that the child was lying.'
The parents have requested a trial by jury.
The parents said their autistic son, then 16 and the eldest of three boys, had never previously shown any desire to become a woman until he was admitted to hospital.
A military family who lost custody of their autistic son after they refused to transition his gender are suing a major DC hospital.
The family said their boy had never shown any desire to become a girl until, at 16, he was hospitalized for self-harming after a bitter breakup with his girlfriend in 2021.
Staff at Children's National Hospital informed the family that he wanted to be female and should be referred to using she/her pronouns going forward, the suit claims.
His army veteran parents, from Prince George County in Maryland, rejected the suggestion, saying their son was 'impressionable' due to being autistic.
They have accused the hospital of starting a 'full-on campaign to transgender this child' and accused staff of 'mental re-programming', saying their son had been forced to write letters to friends disavowing his previous male identityAbove is a picture that the family shared with DailyMail.com on condition of anonymity. The eldest son is shown on the far left, with his mother's arm wrapped around him in a loving embrace. Everyone is smiling and happy in the picture, after the second son had graduated.
According to the lawsuit, the hospital used its emergency policies to keep the boy in its units and reported the parents to child protection services.
The boy was then moved into foster care and hasn't been back to the family home since. What followed has been a two-year legal battle for custody over the teen, who is now 19 and remains in foster care.
The parents, who are in their 40s and African-American, say their son was at risk because his condition means he is vulnerable to social manipulation.
They have spoken exclusively to DailyMail.com but want to remain anonymous to protect their estranged son's privacy.
The boy's father revealed how they had to sell their thriving business and four-bedroom family home to cover legal costs.
The father said: 'This has been devastating. It drained so much money, there is no money left.
'It changed our entire way of life, with the loss of a child and then with the loss of our income.'
Karl von Batten, a committee member for the DC Republican party who is supporting the parents, said the case was personal to him because he also has an autistic son.
Mr von Batten said: 'To me, this is personal. My son is autistic, and if you tell him you are a penguin he will tell me he is a penguin.
'I am very upset by what they have done in this case, there seems to be no safe-guarding. I don't want this to happen to my boy or any other child with autism.'
The family is seeking up to $100million in damages and cover for their legal costs.
Pictured above is hospital Chaplain Lavender Kelley, who is believed to be currently caring for the child. The individual says online that they do not have a gender
The lawsuit says the child is currently living with the hospital's 'non-gendered' chaplain, Lavender Kelley, who regularly posts online about trans issues.
In one post on Facebook from 2022, Kelley said they supported transitioning children without their parents' consent — saying they were 'drained' from arguing with families.
The suit adds that, since being removed from the care of his parents, the youngster has appeared in provocative and sexµally suggestive poses on Instagram.
It is unclear whether the 19-year-old has received any sëx change treatments like feminizing hormones or gender reassignment surgery.
The lawsuit was filed in the Maryland District Court, accusing Children's National Hospital of eight counts including negligence, inflicting intentional emotional distress and discriminating against someone based on their religion.
It has since been sealed by a judge, and is now in the Fourth Circuit US Court of Appeals.
In a statement, the hospital told DailyMail.com that the case had been withdrawn by the parents lawyers. Representatives for the parents lawyers denied this.
Children's National is ranked the fifth best pediatric hospital in the country, and treats around 223,000 patients every year — including those with gender dysphoria.
It also runs a 'Gender and Autism Program', which says it helps young children with autism to understand their gender.
Amos Jones, who is representing the family, previously said: 'This is the craziest case I've ever had. I don't know why there are people who think this makes sense. But I guess lots of people agree with this in Washington DC now.'
He also had a second autism assessment in August, but at this meeting the foster mother removed him — claiming it was not necessary, according to the lawsuit.
The foster mother then died unexpectedly, with the boy believed to have been moved into the care of Ms Kelley, according to the lawsuit.
He turned 18 years old in March 2023, meaning he is now an adult and does not have to return to his parents if he does not wish to.
In the court filings, his parents accused the hospital of a 'cruel, abrupt, and intentional interruption of two fit parents' fundamental rights to parent their minor son'.
'[We] had never known of [our] son's purported desire or plan to change genders,' the documents read.
'Rather than treating [us] as patrons with legal and dignitary rights, the defendant... treated the parents as though they had harmed their son, even though the parents had never endangered their child and had home-schooled him to college entry at fourteen years old.'
They added: 'At Children’s National, it is as if all critical reasoning toward the child was suspended, and there was no investigation into the extent that the child was lying.'
The parents have requested a trial by jury.
Maryland family loses custody of 16-year-old boy who says he is trans
The parents said their autistic son, then 16 and the eldest of three boys, had never previously shown any desire to become a woman until he was admitted to hospital.
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