Kolstad Family Faces Imminent Arrest Amid Legal Battle After Losing Custody of Daughter in Gender Transition Dispute
Krista and Todd Kolstad have been informed that they will be arrested upon returning to Montana, the family’s spokesperson told The Gateway Pundit.
This news comes amidst allegations that Governor Greg Gianforte (R-MO) is orchestrating a smear campaign against the family, accusing them of being unfit parents after they refused to send their 14-year-old daughter out of state for mental health care.
The Kolstad family has been in the spotlight after their daughter, Jennifer, who now wished to be called “Leo” and use male pronouns, was taken into state custody.
The Gateway Pundit previously reported that their daughter was transported to Wyoming, a state with different laws regarding the medical transition of minors, by the Montana CPS for treatment of her sudden onset “gender dysphoria,” despite the parents’ express disapproval.
In August 2023, police informed the Kolstads of a text message from their daughter claiming she was suicidal. They were notified by police that their daughter had allegedly ingested drain cleaner and taken an overdose of ibuprofen.
The hospital found no evidence of drain cleaner and ibuprofen, which was later confirmed by a negative toxicology report. Despite this, Jennifer was admitted for observation.
“The hospital continued to call our daughter Leo, even though she’s a minor, and after I stated it’s against our wishes, our religion, and our core family values, the hospital told me to call their lawyer if I have an issue, as they will do what the patient tells them,” Krista Koldstad said in a video.
“I said to them, according to State Bill 99, they may not under the law provide transgender care nor transition our child. Their response was, they are not providing surgery or hormones, so they’re operating in the gray area of the law. I further explained that my understanding of the law was a minor is a minor, and there’s no difference between a four-year-old and a 14-year-old, and we prefer to be called by her birth name,” she added.
A hospital aide discussed “top surgery” (elective double mastectomy) with the girl, leading to a complaint from Krista Kolstad.
“The hospital put our daughter on 24-hour supervision because this was a suicide threat. The hospital placed an aide outside her door who began talking about having top surgery and how she identified as nonbinary. I objected and reported it as inappropriate to the doctor on duty. At that point, I was told, why are you not more concerned that your daughter is trying to harm herself than what the aide is talking about?”
Montana CPS and hospital staff consistently dismissed the Kolstads’ concerns and authority as parents. Despite their willingness to provide mental health care, their daughter was eventually transported to Wyoming for treatment.
Nurses repeatedly dismissed her as “just the stepmom” and undermined her parental authority. Krista has been in her daughter’s life since she was about seven years old when she married Todd in 2017.
The Kolstads agreed to inpatient care and counseling to address their daughter’s historic mental health issues but expressed concern at the idea of sending her to Wyoming, which has no laws against “transitioning” children.”
After a last-minute notification of an available bed in Wyoming, and without the parents’ consent, CPS and police presented a court order taking custody of the girl, citing the parents’ refusal to provide medical care. Communication with their daughter was cut off.
Following her transport to Wyoming, the Kolstad’s daughter was subjected to social transition measures like chest binding and is now under consultation for birth control to halt her menses, actions that align with a model criticized as a fast track from social to medical transition.
The Montana Child and Family Services (CFS) petitioned the court to fully revoke their custody of Jennifer and arrange for her transfer to her biological mother in Canada, who has been an absent parent for the past seven years.
“We were told that letting Jennifer transition and live as a boy was in her ‘therapeutic best interest’ and because we aren’t willing to follow that recommendation, the court gave CFS custody of Jennifer for six months,” Krista told Reduxx.
“CFS is now going to place Jennifer in the care of her birth mother in Canada, who 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.’”
On January 19, 2024, a judge completely revoked the Kolstads’ custody rights for refusing to support their child’s transition, further instructing them to remove an online video detailing their plight.
Todd and Krista are now under a gag order with the threat of contempt of court for even speaking.
The Kolstad defied the court order, reposted the video, and communicated with the media, driven by worries about their family’s situation. Although a contempt of court hearing was scheduled for January 29, the Kolstads requested a postponement so they could travel out of state and care for a gravely sick relative in Ohio, according to Reduxx.
The attorney for the Kolstad family submitted a legal filing to the Montana Supreme Court to remove the gag order placed on them and to avoid their detention.
While the Kolstads are presently in Ohio tending to an ill relative, they have been informed that they face arrest upon their return to Montana, seemingly as retribution for their public criticism of the state’s Child and Family Services Division.
UPDATE
Moments ago, the First Amendment lawyer representing the Kolstad family filed a case at the Montana Supreme Court seeking to strike down their gag order and keep them out of jail.
The Kolstads are currently in Ohio caring for a sick family member, but were told they… pic.twitter.com/M8FEGHEFNO
— REDUXX (@ReduxxMag) February 5, 2024
The couple is now accusing the Governor’s office of allegedly being involved in efforts to discredit them publicly.
Gov. Gianforte implied that Jennifer was taken from Kolstad’s home for valid reasons.
Hi Greg!
I reviewed the Child and Family Services petition in this case too.
The ENTIRE argument that CFS relied upon that the child was “abused” / “neglected” was based on the fact the parents didn’t want her sent to a Wyoming-based residential treatment facility due to… pic.twitter.com/BfcCikbZzb
— pagliacci the hated (@Slatzism) January 30, 2024
The documents from CFS, as reviewed by Reduxx, consistently indicate that the reason for removing Jennifer from Kolstad’s custody was their hesitation to permit her “on-demand” transportation to Wyoming.
In a statement released by the Kolstads, they express gratitude towards those who have shared their story and highlight their primary goal of being reunited with their daughter. They claim to have learned of their impending arrest for allegedly violating a gag order related to their case and accuse the Governor of attempting to sabotage their legal fundraising efforts.
Moreover, the statement alleges that Governor Gianforte’s senior advisor, Travis Hall, has been tasked with portraying the Kolstads as abusive in the media. This narrative, the Kolstads argue, is unfounded and relies on a previous, unrelated incident involving Todd Kolstad that was swiftly resolved.
The Kolstads maintain their innocence, stating that the Child and Family Services (CFS) petition does not accuse them of abuse but rather focuses on their hesitation to send their daughter to Wyoming.
They assert that no evidence exists to suggest they have ever neglected or failed to love their children, accusing the Governor, certain politicians, and media outlets of using insinuations to attack their character without substantial proof.
As the legal battle unfolds, the Kolstads vow to continue fighting for their daughter’s return, emphasizing their transparency and willingness to share documents with the media.
They condemn the use of vague and misleading allegations against them, insisting on their commitment to their family’s well-being.
Read their statement below:
“We are so grateful to everyone who has reported on and shared our family’s story over the last week. Our top priority is to be reunited with our 14-year-old daughter who was recently taken from us by the state of Montana because, after agreeing to in-patient care for her underlying mental health issues, we refused to let her be sent across state lines to Wyoming where they lack laws against youth “transition.”
We recognize that it is a common ploy for powerful people to embarrass and shame regular citizens in hopes that they will shut up and go away. We just never expected that we would be on the receiving end of such a tactic from our own Governor.
While we had hoped that coming forward would have prompted Governor Gianforte to help our family, he instead seems to be hellbent on punishing us for calling attention to our plight and, by extension, humiliating his administration.
On Friday, we learned from a credible source that we are to be arrested upon return to Montana, presumably for breaking the gag order pertaining to our case. We also learned that, in addition to his plans to interfere with our legal fundraising efforts, Governor Gianforte has tasked his senior advisor, Travis Hall, to smear us in the media as abusive parents.
Some media outlets and detractors are already forwarding this narrative, relying on a 2021 incident unrelated to our children in which Todd was arrested on a false charge that was almost immediately dropped. The arresting officer is facing litigation from multiple residents in Glasgow, including us, for misconduct.
One would think, if we were abusive parents, that the CFS petition to the court demanding we hand over our daughter would have detailed this extensively. But it didn’t. It couldn’t. Because no such abuse had ever occurred. That’s why the only issue CFS forwarded to the court was our reluctance to send our daughter over state lines to a very uncertain fate before a single question of ours had been answered.
There is no case anyone can make that we have ever neglected to care for or love any of our children. That’s why Governor Gianforte, trans activist politicians like Zooey Zephyr, and cowardly media outlets like the Montana Free Press are resorting to claims of “privacy,” vague suggestions, and slippery language to imply rather than prove that we were unfit to be parents.
Because they can’t prove it. But we can prove the opposite. We have been nothing but transparent, offering up every document we have to media for review. We have allowed our family to be raked over the coals on an international scale, with every detail of our life being put under the microscope because we have nothing to hide or be ashamed of.
We love our daughter, and we will keep fighting to bring her home.
No comments