The Republican governor of Montana voiced support for Montana authorities’ decision to remove a child from their parent’s care, possibly referencing a coinciding case that saw the removal of a 14-year-old girl from the home of parents who refused to affirm her decision to be a boy.
“To give them their best shot at reaching their full potential, children deserve to grow up in happy, healthy homes with loving families,” Gov. Greg Gianforte began in a post on X. “Sadly, this ideal is not always realized. Unfortunately, our society finds children whose life, health, and wellbeing are at serious risk from abuse and neglect, and only as a last resort, should they be removed from their home.”
Though he didn’t specify, the statement coincides with the case of Todd and Krista Kolstad, in Glasgow, Montana, who first told their story to Reduxx about how the state’s Child and Family Services (CFS) socially transitioned their daughter in 2023 without their consent.
“Upon hearing recent allegations related to a child welfare case, I asked Lieutenant Governor Kirsten Juras—an experienced attorney, constitutional conservative, mother, and grandmother—to review it,” Gov. Gianforte said. “Consulting with the director of DPHHS [Department of Public Health and Human Services] and personally examining the case documents, Lieutenant Governor Juras has concluded that DPHHS and the court have followed state policy and law in their handling of this tragic case.”
Gov. Gianforte went on to refer to his signing of Senate Bill 99 in April 2023, which he said “prohibits medical and surgical treatments to treat minors with gender dysphoria and also prohibits the use of taxpayer resources for such treatments.”
Despite the banning of gender-altering treatment for minors, the Kolstads reported medical officials permitted the social transitioning of their daughter by allowing her to identify as a boy.
After she was admitted for suicide ideation, hospital staff encouraged their daughter and criticized the parents for failure to affirm her decision.
According to Ms. Kolstad, her stepdaughter, whom she named “Jennifer” to protect her identity in the story, had always suffered from mental health issues, which included attention-seeking behavior.
After their school called and told them that Jennifer was expressing suicidal thoughts, CFS came to their home later that evening to carry out an inspection, she said.
Jennifer told CFS that she had consumed toilet bowl cleaner and painkillers in an attempt to commit suicide, which later proved to be false, Krista and Todd reported.
Hospital Staff Supports Gender Transition
Still, Jennifer was taken to the emergency room, where no toxic substances were found in her body, they said.
However, according to the report, hospital staff affirmed Jennifer’s decision to be called “Leo” and that they refused to listen to what the Kolstads wanted.
“We were very clear to the emergency room staff as well as [CFS] that this goes against our values, morals, and our religious beliefs,” Ms. Kolstad told Reduxx. “They told me to call their lawyer if I have an issue, as they will do what the patient tells them.”
Ms. Kolstad said that Jennifer was placed on suicide watch with an aide outside of her door who would speak to her about “gender-affirming” care.
“I came one day, and she was talking about having top surgery and being non-binary,” Ms. Kolstad said. “She took her complaint to the on-duty doctor, who dismissed her. He told me, ‘Why are not you more concerned that your daughter is trying to harm herself than what [the aide] is talking about?’”
CFS began to discuss sending Jennifer to a facility in Wyoming, where medical and surgical gender-altering procedures are allowed, even though there were available mental health facilities in Montana.
“They told us that there were six facilities in Montana but that there was also a facility in Wyoming,” Ms. Kolstad said. “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. It looked to us like kids could go ahead and have procedures done and have hormones without parental consent.”
‘Temporary Legal Custody’
The parents refused to sign off on her transfer to the facility, so CFS came to their home with the police and took Jennifer.
“They told me the reason was that we were ‘unable or refusing to provide medical care,’” Ms. Kolstad said. “That’s just not true.”
In August 2023, Jennifer was transported to Wyoming to a facility where the parents were only permitted to communicate with Jennifer through a counselor.
During the move, Krista and Todd Kolstad weren’t allowed to see Jennifer, but CFS took her to see her friends, to whom Jennifer told she was being taken away because she was “crazy and trying to kill herself.”
“I feel this was a lapse in judgment by [CFS], a violation of HIPAA, and a miscarriage to Jennifer, as she is only 14,” Ms. Kolstad said. “What if, when she is 17, this incident is behind her, and she is in a good place mentally? This is a very small town, and they have just let her brand herself as the ‘crazy kid’ who tried to kill themselves.”
Upon her return to Montana in September 2023, Jennifer was placed in a CFS youth facility under “temporary legal custody,” where she was given vaccines to which the parents didn’t consent and permitted to shave her head.
The court-ordered six to nine months in CFS custody became permanent in January 2024, according to the parents, and now CFS has placed Jennifer with her biological mother in Canada, whom Ms. Kolstad said has “never really been a part of her life.”
“The judge said to us ‘you need to expect that reunification with your family may not be what you are expecting,’” Ms. Kolstad said.
Based on a copy of a statement from a counselor Reduxx embedded in the story, Jennifer and her sister have both described their biological mother as an abusive and unstable person who worked from home as an online sex worker and frequently committed acts of domestic violence against her children.
‘Trampled’ Parental Rights
Ms. Kolstad said that she and Mr. Kolstad now have “little to no contact with Jennifer” and that their rights as parents “have been trampled on.”
Despite their being ordered by the judge not to discuss the case, they chose to bring it into the limelight and tell their story, Ms. Kolstad said.
“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,” Ms. Kolstad said. “Our greatest fear is that our daughter is now going to become a victim of this system and eventually take her own life.”
‘Insufficient’
Critics of Gov. Gianforte’s statement on X pointed out that he had vetoed House Bill 37 in May 2023, which would have required warrants for the CFS to remove children from homes.
Christopher Rufo, author of “America’s Cultural Revolution,” called Gov. Gianforte’s statement “insufficient.”
“If Montana state employees forcibly removed a child from her parents, placed her in medical custody, and then facilitated her migration out of state for a child sex-change procedure, those employees should be investigated and punished under law,” Mr. Rufo posted on X.
Because Montana is a state with a Republican supermajority, parental rights should be protected, he said.
“If the reported allegations are wrong, the governor should say so clearly—following the allegations from the child’s parents, the public has a right to know whether or not they are disputed by the state,” Mr. Rufo said.
The governor’s office has not responded to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.
From The Epoch Times