By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Saturday, June 17, 2017, investigative journalist and family rights activist, Terri LaPoint, addressed the Shelby County Republican Women in their monthly meeting.
Shelby County Republican Women President Dawn Ray said that Terri writes for Health Impact News and that Terri has a Bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology, is a trained midwife, has been married for 25 years, and has four children.
LaPoint said that medical kidnapping a threat to all families. LaPoint warned that child protective services is a threat to all families. They can take a child simply because you missed a doctors appointment.
LaPoint said before she got into this she thought DHR (Department of Human Resources) only went after really bad people druggies and terrible people. That was proven wrong.
LaPoint said that social media has made a big difference in bringing attention to cases where child protective services is in the wrong.
LaPoint claimed that in the Baby Braelon case in Shelby County DHR tried to take the baby away from a teen rape victim. In another case DHR took all of a family’s children simply because a doctor reported that their six year old child was too short. The Mother eventually got them back, but only after a long and costly legal fight.
LaPoint said that there was more information at her website: https://medicalkidnap.com
Medical kidnap is a division of Health Impact News
LaPoint said that doctors and nurses call child protective services on parents, sometimes just because they dislike the parents. If a child gets too many broken bones medical personnel often report the family to child protective services, when it could just be brittle bones disease which is due to low vitamin D. LaPoint said that authorities sometimes also accuse of abuse with ‘shaking baby syndrome.’ “There has yet to be a single witness to the crime.” We have examples of babies who were shaken that have no symptoms; then there are babies with symptoms and no evidence of abuse. One of the top neurologists in England realized that we are messed up in the science. They took her medical license
Terri LaPoint said, “Doctors are not God; but they often think they are,” and when parents start doctor shopping to find a better doctor, often the angry doctor will report the family to child protective services.
LaPoint said that the State used to do medical testing on prisoners. Now they do their medical testing on foster children. People are afraid to speak out against child protective services for fear of retaliation.
LaPoint said that, “Some cases we choose not to go to where the evidence indicates that they may be bad parents or are drug users.”
LaPoint said that she suspects much of this happens because of the demand for children for adoption. Children who are truly loved are “marketable” they are easily adopted the buying selling and marketing of children.
LaPoint recommended the book: Medical Kidnapping: A threat to Every Family in America.
LaPoint said that children in foster care are six times more likely to be abused or raped and it is even worse in group homes. Typically a home life that is not perfect is better than sending a child to foster care.
Alabama State government spends an enormous amount on DHR. In 2016 Alabama DHR received $58.7 million from the State General Fund; but received another $1,843 million in earmarked dollars (outside of the Legislative budgeting process). In 2017 DHR’s general fund appropriation was $61.2 million and the agency received an incredible $1,926 million in earmarked funds. In 2018 the Bentley administration requested $82 million with another $1,933 million for the agency. DHR is more costly than the Alabama Department of Corrections.
LaPoint said that child protective services does not need a warrant to take a child. LaPoint said that one DHR agent actually told her, “The constitution does not apply in family court. They think they are above the law.” LaPoint said, “Lets apply the Constitution and the Fourth Amendment to family court. Apply the rule of law. For example, hearsay evidence is admissible in family court but not in criminal court.
LaPoint concluded that, “Freedom of the Press is not in the Constitution to report on some politician’s sex life; it is to hold the government accountable.”
Shelby County Republican Women Chairman Dawn Ray said, I have looked over the years and have had difficulty finding another place to meet. There has been a lot of chatter about dissatisfaction with the time that we meet. Ray said that members with opinions about changing the meeting time and place need to contact her.
