Montana 14-year-old moved to Canada after gender identity custody dispute, parents say

GLASGOW, Mont. (TND) — A 14-year-old staying in Wyoming for gender transitioning treatment has allegedly been relocated to Canada without their parents’ consent, the parents told The National Desk (TND).

Krista and Todd Kolstad say they lost custody of their child this month after a trip to the hospital for suicidal thoughts revealed the teen had the desire to change genders. The child was later taken from the parents by Montana Child and Family Services (CFS) and relocated to a residential treatment facility in Wyoming specializing in gender therapy.

Our public defenders have just kind of told us to ‘be quiet, keep your head down, play nice and let your daughter finish this program,’” Krista said. “When it started to become clear that wasn’t what was happening and we spoke out, custody of our daughter was taken from us at that point.”

Since then, the parents say officials have used their child’s treatment against them, claiming to have received no word of what was happening to their child. The couple claims they received notice Monday that their teen had been relocated across the border to stay with their birth mother.

“We got a call last night that they took her to Canada. We got a call after the fact.” Krista said. “All we were told was ‘your daughter is now in Canada with her birth mother.’ That was it, not how did she get there, when did she get there, none of that.”

The Kolstads say they feel completely left out of the decisions being made regarding their child’s care.

They have a complete agenda. We have no voice, no voice in court,” Todd said. “They just gag ordered us and threatened jail time.”

The parents say they have only been given small details about their child’s treatment and that their teen is continuing to be transitioned and referred to by a different name and pronouns.

“They’ve had since August until now to completely brainwash and transition our child. She’s not the same now,” Todd said.

READ MORE |'Framed as a bigot': NY father loses custody of son after questioning gender transition

The parents say they believe they have strong legal footing to reverse the decisions given the supposed illegality of the situation.

The laws do not allow that,” Todd said. “The reason they get away with it is because the state has unlimited money to do this. It’s costed hundreds of thousands in attorney fees to fight with them and they can play pretty evil about it.”

The Kolstads' claims are receiving strong pushback from local and state officials. Valley County Attorney Dylan Jensen said in a statement Tuesday that the state moved to dismiss the Kolstads' case, but the Kolstads opposed the motion.

Had the motion been granted, Todd Kolstad’s legal rights as a parent would have remained fully intact, and the State of Montana would have no more involvement in his relationship with his child. Mr. Kolstad, and his wife, objected to dismissal and requested the State remain involved," Jensen said. "Any statement made otherwise is false and inaccurate."

In a statement to TND last week, a spokesperson for Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte said the state generally "does not remove minors from homes to provide gender transition services or use taxpayer funds to pay for those services while a minor is in the custody of the state."

"Furthermore, the Governor has asked his Department of Public Health and Human Services to codify a formal policy and/or develop a regulation to clarify and ensure the definition of abuse or neglect does not include a parent’s right to refuse to provide gender transition services to his or her minor child," the spokesperson added.

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