New Illinois Bill Would Require 6th Graders in Public, Private, and Religious Schools to Get the Gardasil HPV Vaccine

A new proposed bill would require some Illinois students to get the HPV vaccine. The bill was filed by Rep. Robyn Gabel, D-Evanston, on Feb. 11. HB 4870 amends the Communicable Disease Prevention Act. A synopsis for the bill states, "the Department of Public Health shall adopt a rule requiring students, upon entering the sixth grade of any public, private, or parochial school, to receive the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and requiring confirmation that the student has completed the series of HPV vaccinations upon entering the ninth grade of any public, private, or parochial school. Provides that the Department shall adopt the rule in time to allow students to receive the vaccination before the start of the school year beginning in 2022. Effective January 1, 2021."

New Illinois Law Making Marijuana Legal to Result in over 700,000 Pardons of Convictions of 30 Grams or Less

As 2020 started last week, Illinois' new law legalizing marijuana went into effect. Illinois became the 11th state in the U.S. to make marijuana legal for recreational use, and the first one to do so via legislation rather than a ballot initiative. On Dec. 31, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced that he was issuing 11,017 pardons to people with low-level marijuana convictions. Vaidya Gullapalli, writing for The Appeal, states that these pardons by the Illinois governor "are a reminder of the scale of marijuana arrests," which target Black people and Latinos in a much larger proportion than the rest of the population. Since the "war on drugs" began in the 1970s, the U.S. has incarcerated a larger proportion of their population than any other developed nation in the world. Illinois offers a snapshot of the magnitude of this problem, as The Appeal reports: "All told, state officials estimate that a total of 116,000 convictions involving 30 grams or less of marijuana are eligible for pardons under the new law, reported CBS News. The process is not automatic, but state officials have sought to make it as close to automatic as possible. There are also an estimated 572,000 marijuana arrests that will be expunged over the next five years. People may also apply for expungements of convictions for marijuana possession over 30 grams, putting the total number of possible pardons at over 700,000."

Recording Surfaces of Illinois Department of Health Planning to Medically Kidnap Newborns from Parents Who Refuse Vitamin K Shot at Birth

Earlier this year (2019) the Chicago Tribune reported on a federal lawsuit where parents sued several doctors at three hospitals and DCFS for medically kidnapping their newborn infants simply for refusing the Vitamin K shot at birth. Megan Fox, writing for PJ Media, has published a recording from an April 12, 2018 meeting of the Perinatal Advisory Committee (PAC) that operates under the Illinois Department of Public Health. In the recording, health officials that apparently include doctors and possibly nurses who are authorized to give the Vitamin K shot to newborns, discuss how they can work together with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to take custody of newborn babies from parents who refuse the Vitamin K shot at birth. The members of the Health Department basically conclude that since it is DCFS policy to mandate the Vitamin K shot, that medical professionals have the authority to take custody of the child and administer the Vitamin K shot over the objections of the parents, even without DCFS involvement. Such "custody" can be as little as only "2 minutes," the time it takes to give the shot. So basically Illinois Health Department officials decided in a meeting that they had authority to take a child away from the parents, without DCFS involvement, without parental approval, and with no court or judge's order to take custody, and forcibly inject the newborn child with the Vitamin K shot.

Illinois Parents Sue Doctors, Hospitals, and DCFS for Medical Kidnapping After Refusing Vitamin K Shot at Birth

In the moments after Angela Bougher gave birth last winter, she and her husband, a suburban Chicago pastor, were eager to hold their new baby girl. But as Bougher was being treated in the delivery room, the couple contends, a nurse picked up the infant to administer a vitamin K shot, a common practice in maternity wards across the country to help a baby’s blood-clotting ability in case of emergency. The Boughers said they are not “anti-vaxxers” or against any procedure they believe to be medically necessary, but they didn’t think the shot was in that category. They had agreed to sign a waiver confirming their wishes that the new baby — their fifth child — not receive vitamin K, based on their beliefs that God’s creation isn’t automatically deficient or flawed at birth. But instead of offering them a form, the Boughers allege, the nurse announced she was reporting the couple to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and left the room with the newborn. On Monday, the Boughers and several other parents filed a sweeping federal lawsuit accusing the agency, its current and former leaders, a number of doctors and three hospitals of violating their constitutional rights just after the births of their children.

The Next Mandatory Vaccine Battleground: Homeschool Children

As we have frequently reported here at Health Impact News, legislative efforts are underway in many states to remove parental choice for childhood vaccines, with new proposed bills removing religious and philosophical exemptions to childhood vaccines which are mandated as a requirement for school attendance. In general, the public is opposed to removing parental consent to vaccines, and most bills seeking to remove parental authority have been met with stiff opposition and been defeated at the state level. One bill that was successful, was SB277 which was passed in California in 2015 removing the religious and philosophical exemptions to vaccines. Today, the only option parents in California have to get an exemption to vaccines as a requirement for school attendance, is to get their doctor to sign a medical exemption. However, the pro-pharmaceutical lobby in California has not been satisfied with the results of SB277, and are now going after doctors who write medical exemptions for vaccines. Most doctors in California now fear writing medical exemptions to vaccines as they would risk losing their license to practice medicine in California. Parents who now want to protect their children from the dangers of the CDC vaccine schedule, either by refusing certain vaccines or following a different vaccine schedule, are left with almost no options. As a result, many parents are choosing to homeschool their children to escape the mandatory vaccine mandates. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that the vaccine extremists, who believe that ALL vaccines are safe for ALL children ALL the time, by force if necessary, are now targeting homeschool children. Several states are proposing new laws that would require homeschool families to allow government-represented medical professionals to come into their homes to approve them as home schools, including checking the children's medical records to ensure they are following the CDC vaccine schedule.

Local Media in Peoria Illinois Exposes Medical Kidnapping of Young Child Due to Child Abuse Specialist

A recent 2-part Special Report by 25 News in Peoria, Illinois, examines the issue of innocent parents, who are falsely accused by doctors, whose children are medically kidnapped. Reporter Caitlin Knute says that one local hospital, OSF St. Francis, sees about 20 cases a month of child abuse, which also includes "neglect" cases as well. Reporter Tyler Lopez asks the question that Health Impact News has been asking even before our Medical Kidnap division was established in 2014: "But what if some of those abuse cases were misdiagnosed or the result of a medical condition?" When that happens, there is often no liberty or justice for these families. The 25 News report starts with the story of Baby Chandler, a story that follows the template of dozens of other stories that we have covered here at Health Impact News involving a child with broken bones who actually had a medical condition causing his bone fragility. Dr. Channing Petrak, Child Abuse Pediatrician, accused the parents of abuse, and he was taken from his mother by Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS).

After Trip to Emergency Room Illinois Couple has all 4 Children Medically Kidnapped

Like many Americans, Mary Sweeney and Cedric Roberts believed that Child Protective Services was made up of "the good guys," the ones who protect children from bad parents who abuse their children. They didn't realize that a trip to the emergency room puts normal, loving parents at risk of losing their children. Mary wanted to make sure that everything was fine after a simple accidental injury, but the trip to the ER resulted in all 4 of their children being taken from them. It could have happened to anyone. The suburban Chicago couple spent the summer without their children, including infant twins, because a Child Abuse Pediatrician in another state has accused them of abusing one of their babies. The doctor never saw the baby in person. A fracture the doctor diagnosed ended up being a glare on her screen. There was no fracture. It was a mistake. Even so, Illinois Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) has not returned the children to their parents.

Illinois Wants to Use Taxpayer Funds to Advertise Dangerous Flu Shot to School Children

Illinois legislators will take up a bill this week (April 17, 2018 at 3:00 PM) that uses taxpayer funds to advertise the dangerous flu shot to school children. Given the fact that Illinois laws already require school children to visit their doctors before attending school where their family physician can educate them on matters like vaccination, and that the CDC does NOT include the flu shot in their schedule of required vaccines, this proposed bill in Illinois can only be explained as an attempt to expand the market for the seasonal flu shot at the expense of Illinois school children, but to the benefit of Big Pharma. The annual flu shot is, by far, the most dangerous vaccine in the United States, accounting for more than 80% of all injuries and deaths compensated by the federal Vaccine Court.

2 Years After Isaiah Rider Medically Kidnapped: “They Destroyed Our Whole World”

It has been almost 2 years since Isaiah Rider was released from Illinois DCFS custody after being medically kidnapped. Like many families who are reunited after the trauma of dealing with Child Protective Services, Isaiah and his mother, warrior-advocate Michelle Rider, largely withdrew from social media and the public eye. The horrors they had experienced took a toll and they have needed time to heal. They recently shared their story with a reporter from KWIR, a publication whose audience is largely LGBT. Michelle Rider says that she wants their story to be told as a warning for parents. Reporter Gretchen Rachel Hammond writes: "Although not LGBT themselves, Michelle and Isaiah fear for both gay and straight couples who take a child to a hospital like Lurie for help and suddenly find themselves catapulted into a hell they could never have imagined." In the opening of the series, Hammond makes this statement: "As an increasing number of LGBT couples choose to adopt, the story of one of the most disturbing and bizarre cases of DCFS removing a child after hospital doctors claim Medical Child Abuse serves as a warning." The public may not be aware that the LGBT community contributes to the demand for children to adopt. The Rider article series by KWIR serves as a cautionary tale that the children offered up for adoption to LGBT couples, and to anyone else seeking to adopt, are not always "poor abused children in need of a forever home." Adoptive and foster parents are not always told the truth about the children who are placed with them. Far more often than not, the children were taken from families who love them, who never abused them, and who have been falsely accused of hurting their children. Social worker whistleblowers have told us that they are encouraged to seize children who are "adoptable." Adults wishing to adopt children increase the demand, whether they are LGBT couples unable to conceive on their own, infertile couples, couples with good intentions who want to help children, Christian and religious families seeking to care for "the needy and the orphan," or even pedophiles. No matter the motive, whether good or bad, each serves to create the demand for children. As that demand increases, more children are being taken from innocent families in order to supply the commodities (children) to meet the demand. It is simple economics.

Chicago Boy Medically Kidnapped for 20 Months Back Home – Family Strives to Overcome Trauma

It has been two years since "Baby Malik" was returned to his family. It has been a long journey of helping him to overcome the harm from being taken by Child Protective Services and Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago, but his grandmother Lakisha Tanna says that they can finally "function like a normal family again." Malik just started K-5 kindergarten. He is doing well now, but that didn't happen overnight. He was out of his family's custody for 1 year, 8 months, and a day. All that time in the custody of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) had a lasting impact on him, and it wasn't good. He came home with a great deal of insecurity, afraid to let Lakisha out of his sight. There were times that Lakisha was afraid that he would never come home, and times that she feared for Malik's very life. She thanks God that he is safe now. The public attention brought to their story by Health Impact News made a big difference, she believes. As long as DCFS and Lurie Children's Hospital were able to operate in secrecy, there was no accountability and they were able to do whatever they wanted with Malik, including perform multiple experimental surgeries on him without his family's consent. To this day, Malik's story remains one of the most horrific stories we have ever covered of medical abuse under Child Protective Services custody. Because our readers became involved in making phone calls and writing letters, holding the hospital and DCFS accountable, Malik was finally returned home.

Isaiah Rider Chicago Court Hearing Monday – Supporters Pray They Will Let the 18 Year Old Go Free

There will be a court hearing in Chicago regarding the case of 18 year old Missouri resident. Even though he is now an adult, Cook County DCFS, their child protective system, still retains control of his life. Supporters are calling for Illinois to "Free Isaiah Rider!" They invite the press and supporters to attend the hearing, which takes place on Monday, March 21, 2016, at 1:30 pm, at 1100 S Hamilton, Chicago, Illinois, at the Juvenile Court in the courtroom of Judge Nicholas Geanopoulos. Supporters have been very frustrated with the fact that Isaiah Rider is now an adult, but the Illinois DCFS will not free him to live his life. Isaiah himself has pleaded, to no avail, for the system to let him go. He wants to be able to live his life without their interference.

Isaiah Rider is 18 Now, but Illinois Maintains Custody of Medically Kidnapped Missouri Teen

Illinois continues to "terrorize" Missouri resident Isaiah Rider and his family, even after he turned 18 last August. The family had hoped that they would leave them alone, but that has not happened. Their story has not been in the news lately, but their medical kidnapping story is anything but over. Isaiah's mother, Michelle Rider, thought that things would settle down after an appellate court said that Illinois DCFS should not be involved after Isaiah's 18th birthday. They thought their nightmare with the Child Protective System was finally over. However, they have learned that the Cook County Juvenile Court, with the same judge and same players, continues to hold hearings about Isaiah. Usually he and his mother are not informed or invited to these hearings, some of which are off the record, even though it is their lives that are being decided by this entity. Michelle has learned that the state of Illinois continues to receive federal Title IV-E money for her son. Could this be the reason why Illinois won't let go of their case?

Report: Illinois DCFS Needs Total Overhaul

Beset by failures in leadership and in treatment of the state's most vulnerable children, Illinois' Department of Children and Family Services is hammering out a reform plan after a panel of court-appointed experts determined the agency needs a top-to-bottom overhaul if it hopes to improve the safety and well-being of the thousands of youths in its care. The report concluded that too many children who are wards of the state are shuffled from placement to placement and forced to wait months for services. The result, the experts wrote, was an erosion of the children's "already pronounced distrust in the system." The beleaguered agency also suffers from an "absence of responsibility and accountability" when it comes to ensuring the children receive the help they need, according to the report.

Illinois Governor Vetoes Bill For DCFS Services Past 18 – Does This Mean Isaiah Rider Could Go Free?

Advocates for Missouri teen Isaiah Rider's freedom are cautiously optimistic following the news that Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner vetoed a bill on Friday. The bill would have extended DCFS services to young adults between the ages of 18 and 21. According to the Chicago Tribune, the bill sent to Rauner's desk "would require that foster care cases remain open until wards reach the age of 21, instead of 18." He vetoed the bill on August 21, calling it an "unfunded mandate" which"places a significant financial burden on the department, particularly because the department would not be eligible for matching federal funds for all these services." Representative Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago, sponsored the bill and is vowing to fight back. She made this chilling statement in response to the veto: "We made a decision to make them wards of the state. That means we're their parents." Isaiah has made it clear on numerous occasions that he neither wants nor needs the government of Illinois to be his parents. Isaiah turns 18 on August 27. Advocates are hopeful that Governor Rauney's veto signals Isaiah's freedom, but are afraid to celebrate just yet, until there is confirmation from the Governor's office that the Missouri family's nightmare journey with Illinois DCFS is over.

Homebirthed Newborn Medically Kidnapped at Illinois Children’s Hospital

The date was May 23, 2012. It was a beautiful midwife-assisted homebirth: a planned water birth and lotus birth. Mother Dontia, father Armondo, big brother Deon, and new baby sister Asaliah, were all happy and doing great after the birth. However, concerns regarding redness around the umbilical cord at Asaliah’s navel caused mom to seek medical treatment on June 8, 2012, at the OSF St. Francis Children’s Hospital in Peoria, Illinois. Little did Dontia know that this seemingly unassuming trip to the E.R., seeking help for her baby’s infection, would reportedly end up completely destroying her life by removing both her 11 year-old son and her newborn baby from her custody, violating what she claims is her constitutional right to religious freedom, and later, while still in the midst of fighting CPS for her medically kidnapped children, sending her into a life of hiding and secrecy to protect the life of her third unborn child. Deon is now 14, Asaliah is now 3, and her third child (un-named to conceal her identity and protect her from being seized), is now 2. Dontia has not seen or spoken to Deon in three years, nor has she had visitations with Asaliah since she fled Illinois, unable to bear the loss of another child. Dontia and her third child remain in hiding today. This is her story.

BREAKING – Illinois Social Worker Threatens to Arrest Teen Isaiah Rider When He Turns 18

In a stunning new development on the Isaiah Rider case, a social worker from Illinois told Isaiah Wednesday that if he were to decide to move out on his own when he turns 18 next week, he would be arrested. Missouri resident Isaiah Rider is not a criminal, nor is he in any way incompetent. Far from it. He is a good student with ambitions of becoming a doctor in the future. But another state is controlling his life, and a caseworker from the state of Illinois DCFS (Child Protective Services) is making it clear that there will be serious repercussions for Isaiah when he becomes a legal adult if he tries to escape the control of DCFS. The Rider family is reeling from this new revelation.

Medical Terrorism: KC Teen Isaiah Rider Will Remain in Illinois Custody After He Turns 18

Isaiah is not free to live his life as he wants, and if the Illinois DCFS has their way, he will still not be free when he turns 18. In his own state of Missouri, he was legally an adult at age 17, but Illinois retained custody of him. He needs your help. DCFS has allegedly repeatedly denied permission for medical treatment for Isaiah. Part of the reason for DCFS involvement in the first place was the Riders' frustration that Lurie Children's Hospital wasn't actually helping Isaiah with his pain. After they told Michelle that there was nothing else they could do, Michelle sought a second opinion, trying to find real medical help for him. Isaiah was medically kidnapped and put into foster care. It was while Isaiah was in a Chicago foster home that he was raped, and had guns and knives drawn on him. He has stated repeatedly that, though his mother has never abused him, he has suffered a great deal of emotional abuse and trauma at the hands of DCFS and Lurie Children's Hospital.

Judge Rules that Baby Malik Taken at Chicago Hospital is to Go Home

Lakisha Tanna is ecstatic. She has been fighting Illinois DCFS for her now 3 year old grandson Malik Mitchell for more than a year and a half. The family has been desperately concerned for his well-being and his very life, because they believe that Lurie Children's Hospital has been conducting human experiments on the little boy. In a court hearing on Tuesday, July 7, 2015, the judge reportedly said that, "This case has been going on too long. It is past time for Malik to go home." Malik is going home.

Are Illinois Lawmakers Supporting Big Pharma in Push to Mandate More Children Vaccinated?

When one looks at the current FIVE new bills being proposed in Illinois to mandate and increase vaccinations for children, one has to wonder who is really profiting from these proposed new laws?? If you live in Illinois, do you believe that you need a new law in your state to protect DENTISTS from any liability due to injuries resulting from vaccines when they give them away FREE in public clinics?

Family Defense Center in Illinois Documents Medical Ethics Violations in Medical Kidnappings

The Family Defense Center’s mission is to advocate justice for families in the child welfare system. The Family Defense Center works on cases of wrongly-accused families who are targeted as a result of Hotline calls to child protective services. The Center is able to represent only a tiny fraction of the wrongly accused family members in medically complex cases, and resources like the Center provides are not available to the vast majority of family members who encounter the child protection and medical care establishment in these cases. Unfortunately, we see little sign that the child protection and medical care establishment are addressing in a meaningful way the harmful impact of erroneous child abuse reports that have resulted from questionable ethical practices that this Paper documents. Physicians have an ethical responsibility to mitigate damage to families. Yet, in no case handled by the Center has this responsibility been met by the medical community; after exoneration, no family has received any offer of assistance or healing by any of the physicians who have caused them injury.