State of Montana Takes Custody of Daughter After Transgender Claim

A Montana family has reportedly lost custody of their teenage daughter after expressing opposition to her identifying as the opposite sex.

A family is accusing Montana’s child protective services of “kidnapping” their teenage daughter after she began to identify as a “boy,” according to a report by Reduxx.

Krista and Todd Kolstad of Glasgow, Montana, told the outlet that their daughter had been taken from them and is now going to be sent to Canada.

Krista explained that the ordeal started in August 2023, after the family received a call that their 14-year-old daughter, Jennifer, was talking about suicidal ideas at school.

“She had always had problems at school,” Krista said, noting that she and Todd had previously transferred Jennifer from one school district to another in response to bullying issues, in an effort to give her a “fresh start.”

In a video, Todd echoed Krista’s sentiments, stating, “Our 14-year-old daughter has struggled for quote some time in school from bullying,” adding, “We have had many meetings over the years with the school systems, trying to address these issues.”

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Todd went on to explain that in August 2023, he and Krista received a call from the local city police.

“We were informed that our 14-year-old daughter was texting a friend that she had met at a school track meet, saying she wanted to kill herself,” he said. “We took this threat seriously and spoke to our daughter.”

Later that evening, a case worker with Montana Child and Family Services (CFS) showed up at the family’s home to speak with Jennifer and do an inspection. The case worker was invited into the house, and noted in her paperwork that it was “clean, well-stocked with food, and with no immediate dangers,” Todd said.

Krista and Todd said they then allowed the case worker to speak with Jennifer alone, but warned her that the 14-year-old has “had issues with telling lies for quite some time.”

During her interview with CFS, Jennifer claimed that she had consumed toilet bowl cleaner and painkiller medications hours earlier in an effort to commit suicide.

The Kolstad family said that this was highly unlikely, given that Jennifer did not have access to those substances, and had never shown or expressed any symptoms of imminent illness that day.

They nonetheless agreed that Jennifer could go to a hospital just in case there was an issue present. At the hospital, Jennifer’s bloodwork returned no evidence that she had consumed any toxic substances.

“Once at the hospital, our daughter began demanding that she be called ‘Leo,’ ‘he,’ and ‘him.’ We explained that this is in her history, but not something we would agree to as her parents,” Todd said. “The hospital staff ignored our requests, as did [CFS].”

From there, Jennifer was kept at the hospital for further observation.

While transgender-related medical procedures were prohibited in Montana, the hospital continued to call Jennifer “Leo” and refer to her as a boy, saying that they were operating in a “gray area” of the law, Krista said.

The hospital then placed Jennifer on 24/7 watch due to the alleged suicidal threat, and an aide was kept outside her door “who began talking about having top surgery and how she identified as non-binary,” Krista added.

When Krista objected to this, a doctor dismissed her concerns, asking her, “Why are not you more concerned that your daughter is trying to harm herself, then what the aide is talking about?” she said.

Krista went on to describe the experience in the hospital as what appeared to be constant efforts by staff to undermine her and Todd’s parental authority, even down to giving Jennifer junk food after Krista had asked them not to.

In one example, a nurse yelled down the hallway, “Get this young man a banana split dessert” — referring to Jennifer — after Krista had suggested that the 14-year-old have something healthy for lunch.

At one point, the Kolstads and CFS agreed that Jennifer should receive treatment and counseling from a specialized residential care. But then the possibility of moving the 14-year-old to Wyoming was mentioned, Krista said.

The Kolstads looked up Wyoming’s laws on transitioning minors and became concerned after they saw that it appeared children could get transgender-related medical procedures without parental consent. Then, hours after being assured that Jennifer was next in line for a bed at a Montana-based facility, they received a call that she would be sent to Wyoming instead.

“They called and told us that a bed had opened up in Wyoming and that Jennifer needed to go,” Krista said. “No one talked to us about the the name of the facility — we had no one to answer our questions. We told them we wanted our questions answered before we accepted the bed.”

Police and CFS arrived at their home ten minutes later to collect Jennifer so that she could be shipped out of state.

“They told me the reason was that we were ‘unable or refusing to provide medical care.’ That’s just not true,” Krista said.

To make matters worse, Todd and Krista were not allowed to speak to Jennifer directly while she was in Wyoming. They had to relay their communications through a counselor instead.

A month later, Jennifer was sent back to Montana and placed in a Youth Dynamics group home, where she has remained ever since. Then the court reportedly decided to hand custody of Jennifer over to CFS at a January 19 hearing.

“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 said.

“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,” she added. “The judge said to us, ‘You need to expect that reunification with your family may not be what you are expecting.'”

Jennifer’s birth mother, Christine, reportedly left her child with Todd after she was born, and has never been involved in her daughter’s care since.

Krista, who has been in Jennifer’s life since the child was 7, said Christine “has never called to see how [Jennifer] is. She’s never sent her anything. Nothing.”

Only one of the five children Todd and Christine had together had lived in Canada with Christine before aging out of her care, Reduxx reported. While living with Christine, the boy had exhibited severe behavioral problems, prompting Christine to contact Todd and Krista for help.

In one conversation, Christine reportedly admitted to checking homeless camps and police records on a regular basis, anticipating that she would find her son either on the streets or in jail.

“Our family has been destroyed by this,” Krista said. “We have little to no contact with Jennifer and our rights as her parents have been trampled on.”

“We will continue to fight,” she added. “We will never give up on our daughter and for what we believe is morally right. We will continue to tell our story, even though we are currently in contempt of court, and try to keep other families from going through this.”

“Our greatest fear is that our daughter is now going to become a victim of this system and eventually take her own life,” Krista said.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X/Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.