Montana officials have kidnapped a teenage girl from her parents to facilitate her gender transition in a different state, circumventing Montana’s laws that prohibit gender transition for minors.
Todd and Krista Kolstad have found themselves entangled in a legal and emotional battle for their 14-year-old daughter after Montana CFS took actions tantamount to kidnapping.
Krista and Todd shared their ordeal with Reduxx, revealing that their child had been removed from their care and is currently being relocated to Canada.
The Kolstads’ ordeal began in August 2023 when they were told Jennifer had expressed suicidal thoughts at school. Krista, Jennifer’s stepmother, mentioned that Jennifer had always faced difficulties at school, including bullying, and had undisclosed mental health issues.
A case worker from Montana Child and Family Services (CFS) conducted a home inspection. During this visit, Jennifer alleged to have ingested harmful substances in a suicide attempt, a claim later proven to be false by toxicology tests.
The situation intensified at the hospital, where Jennifer was admitted for her suicidal thoughts. The hospital staff, recognizing Jennifer’s desire to be addressed as “Leo”, a male, clashed with the Kolstads’ insistence on referring to their child by her birth name.
Krista Kolstad explained, “We were very clear to the emergency room staff as well as CFS that this goes against our values, morals, and our religious beliefs.” The hospital’s stance on social transitioning, which was a grey area in Montana law, further complicated matters.
“The hospital put our daughter on a 24-hour supervision because this was a suicide threat. The hospital placed an aide outside her door who began talking about having top surgery (elective double mastectomy) and how she identified as non-binary. 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 CFS and hospital personnel consistently disregarded the Kolstads’ concerns and parental authority. Despite their willingness to arrange mental health care, their daughter was eventually transferred to Wyoming for treatment.
Nurses repeatedly dismissed Krista, referring to her as “just the stepmom,” and undermined her parental authority. Krista has been a part of her daughter’s life since she was about seven years old when she married Todd in 2017.
The Kolstads consented to Jennifer receiving specialized residential care for treatment and counseling. However, they became alarmed when Jennifer was abruptly transferred to a facility in Wyoming, fearing the state’s more relaxed laws on gender transitioning for minors. Their concerns were disregarded, and shortly thereafter, Montana Child and Family Services (CFS) arrived with police to present documents removing Jennifer from their custody, citing their refusal to provide medical treatment.
“I explained that we had concerns with Wyoming… It was our understanding that Wyoming has no laws against minors being given hormones or surgery without parental consent. We stated this as soon as Wyoming was brought up in our daughter’s hospital room on August 19th.”
“On the night of August 22, 2023 we received a phone call from the hospital saying that a bed had opened up in Wyoming and our daughter needed to go. We were confused because earlier in the day we were told she was next in line for a bed in Billings. My husband and I were not told the name of the facility, only that we had to accept the bed. We stated we had some concerns regarding Wyoming state laws and how they were different than Montana’s state laws and further questions we needed answered before agreeing to Wyoming,” Krista recounted.
Jennifer was eventually brought back to Montana but was placed in a Youth Dynamics group home under temporary legal custody of CFS. The Kolstads encountered difficulties in maintaining their parental rights, as incidents occurred where Jennifer received vaccines and underwent social transition measures such as chest binding and is currently being considered for birth control to stop her menstrual cycle without their parental consent. These actions align with a model that has been criticized for fast-tracking individuals from social to medical transition.
Further complicating the case, the Kolstads’ daughter might be relocated to live with her biological mother in Canada, who has been absent for the past seven years. It’s worth noting that this is where Dr. Wallace Wong, a psychiatrist known for his controversial approach to treating “trans” kids in foster care, practices.
On January 19, 2024, a judge completely revoked the Kolstads’ custody rights due to their refusal to support Jennifer’s transition, and ordered them to delete an online video of Todd and Krista detailing their ordeal.
Todd and Krista are currently subject to a gag order, facing the possibility of contempt of court for any form of communication.
Below is the video that the court wants deleted:
The state of Montana has kidnapped a teenage girl from her parents to transition her gender in another state, subverting Montana’s laws against gender transition for minors. pic.twitter.com/XIw8OFhXAr
— Canadian Patriot (@PPC4Liberty) January 29, 2024
The Kolstad family is currently trying to raise funds for a private attorney to reclaim custody of their daughter, and donations are being sought through a GiveSendGo campaign. Please consider donating HERE.
“Todd and I love our daughter beyond words. We are not naive and understand that we have an adolescent girl, who has struggled with mental health issues most of her life, on our hands. The system has not helped our daughter. Instead, the system has taught her how to weaponize the system itself to receive what she wants. We do not believe the system has tried to treat her mental health issues, instead, has forcefully focused on the transgender component and on forcing us into doing things against our family values, religious beliefs, and core moral beliefs,” Krista explained.
“Much damage has already been done to our family.”
