Girl Seized from Family in Medical Dispute In Grave Danger

Kayla Diegel is in Foster Care against her will and the will of her family and reportedly needs serious medical attention she is not receiving. Image Source A Miracle for Two Sisters Facebook Page.

Health Impact News Editor

In a medical kidnapping case in Arizona of two sisters that we reported on last Thursday, one of the girls, 12 year old Kayla Diegel, is reportedly in grave danger and in need of serious medical help she is not receiving from foster care. For the background on this tragic story of two sisters being seized by Phoenix Children’s Hospital and Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) over a medical dispute, see:

10 and 12 Year Old Sisters Seized from Family by Hospital in Phoenix.

The mother of the two girls was ordered by the court to remove all pictures and stories of the two girls from her Facebook Page and social media last week. She complied, but friends and advocates of the family copied all of the information before it was removed, and reported it on Facebook at the A Miracle for Two Sisters Facebook Page.

After Health Impact News reported on the information of this medical kidnapping story last Thursday Oct. 2nd, the court reportedly ordered the mother, Melissa Diegel, to have us take down our story. This was the email we received from Mrs. Diegel on Friday October 3rd:

The court has ordered that I contact you and ask you to to remove information regarding my daughters case.

Sincerely, Melissa Diegel

We did not take down the story, and many other websites and news organizations are now reporting on it. The mother never gave us the information to begin with. It is all on the Internet now.

The information on the A Miracle for Two Sisters Facebook Page reveals that 12 year old Kayla is in need of immediate medical attention, as is her sister Hannah. A Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for the two girls reportedly resigned from the case over ethical concerns about how the girls were being treated in foster care. Kayla in particular was losing weight due to the fact that her feeding tube had been removed. She has a condition called “Gastroparesis,” which is a partially paralyzed stomach. She cannot take in enough nutrients by mouth, and needs the feeding tube. She has reportedly lost 25% of her body weight.

The CASA case worker noticed that the foster care parents were not using the feeding tube, and she felt that the foster care family was not equipped to meet the girls medical needs. This was reportedly the foster parents first time for caring for children in the foster care system.

The CASA case worker reportedly had developed a bond with the girls, and was concerned that they missed their mother so much and was not bonding with their new foster parents, whom were heard frequently yelling at the children. Kayla reportedly also had bruises on her arm due to malnutrition.

Therefore, the CASA case worker reportedly requested that the girls receive “safe-harbor” therapy without their foster mother present, but DCS declined her request. Frustrated, the CASA case worker reportedly resigned from the case due to ethical concerns.

Health Impact News has learned that the group ParentalRights.org is looking into the case to decide if they can help the family, as the children could be in grave danger, and all visitation rights of the parents have been revoked. There is not even a new court hearing scheduled until next year.

The advocacy group representing the A Miracle for Two Sisters Facebook Page has asked the public to contact Arizona Governor Janice Brewer to ask her to intervene and return these girls to their mother. You can reach Gov. Brewer here: http://www.azgovernor.gov/Contact.asp

They are also asking the public to contact the two candidates F. DuVal and D. Ducey who are running for to replace Governor Brewer, along with Congressman Franks who is the representative of the district the girls live in, on their Facebook Pages:

We have tragically reported of other cases around the country where children were removed from families by child protection services for medical reasons and placed into foster care homes where they were abused and sometimes even died. We don’t want this happening with Kayla and Hannah! Please pray for them and let your voice be heard!

We will continue to bring updates on this story as they develop.

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Published on October 8, 2014