Save Chris and Finn
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My nephew Finn was medically kidnapped by corrupt authorities in British Columbia. The abuse he has suffered at the hands of the government is causing him permanent harm. On behalf of my sister, Chris L., who has always been a great mother to her son Finn, we are launching this page to raise $18,250 for a legal fund so Chris, as a single mom with a disability, can afford the lawyers she needs to get Finn back.
In the six months since he was taken, Finn – previously a bright, engaging, athletic kid – has suffered a mutilated hand, has endured severe abuse and negligence, has been rotated through six foster placements, has been hospitalized on multiple occasions, and has suffered through several surgical procedures to repair injuries sustained directly as a result of the government’s negligence.
Finn was a sweet and energetic 11-year-old boy, who loved to hang out with his friends, ski, mountain bike, skate board, ride his scooter, do stunts with his yoyos, teach his dog Maggie tricks, play ice hockey, and read books. All this in spite of being diagnosed at an early age with Late Stage Lyme Disease. Chris carefully followed the Lyme treatment prescribed by experts in the field of tick borne illnesses, which kept Finn’s Lyme symptoms in check. Having earned her M.D. from Yale and having dealt with her own debilitating case of Lyme Disease (the disease often hits families in a cluster), Christine was the perfect caregiver.
Unfortunately, Finn started having behavioral problems. Seeking the best possible intervention, Chris took him to a clinic for an evaluation. It was there last February that the government denied him the evaluation and just took him. They forcibly separated mother from child and claimed custody of Finn, a brand of state-sponsored kidnapping known as medical abduction.
The British Columbia Ministry of Child and Family Development (MCFD) decided Chris should not be allowed to see that her son’s Lyme Disease was treated, because Canada has decided Late Stage Lyme Disease does not exist – the only major country on Earth to maintain such a backward stance. The court report MCFD filed in order to seize Finn is full of lies, chief among them the claim that there’s “no medical evidence” that Finn has Lyme Disease, when both his diagnosis and positive test results are clear in his medical records.
There was no other allegation of abuse or neglect made against Chris. MCFD literally seized her son because she was following the advice of licensed medical professionals overseeing the treatment of Finn’s Lyme Disease. MCFD maintained Chris was inventing or imagining her son’s illness, even after evaluations by both a respected psychiatrist and a well-known psychotherapist determined that MCFD’s claim was baseless nonsense.
Finn counts every single day he’s away from his mother on a special calendar. Through tears, Finn said on recorded phone calls, “I was taken away from my mom 181 days ago and I don’t understand why… Nothing makes sense… I’m miserable... I don’t feel safe whatsoever... I’m scared of everything-- where I’m at, why I'm here, the ways I’ve been treated-- everything.”
Chris is a U.S. citizen living in Canada. As a single mom with a disability and unable to work full-time anymore, Chris has had to rely on the limited services provided by a legal aid agency. But the MCFD bureaucracy is impenetrable. Chris has only one hope of getting Finn back where he belongs and ending their nightmare before it’s too late: hiring a paid legal firm with the expertise to bring justice. But we can’t afford it without help.
Finn cries himself to sleep most nights. So does his mother. The only thing they’re allowed to share any more is their despair.
There’s only one way this story can end well – by reuniting Chris and Finn as soon as possible.
And there is only one way to make that happen – by engaging a serious legal team – to sue for custody and expose the government’s terrible abuse.
And only with your help can we afford that.
With $18,250, we can retain the best attorneys and then bring this small, vulnerable family back together again. Every donation counts. If 1,000 people give $18.25, we reach our goal! No gift is too small – or too big! – to make a real difference.
Please, please help us bring Finn home! A son belongs with his mother.
Sincerely,
Marcy Lerner, Finn’s Aunt, Chris’s sister
The details are heart-breaking. To learn more about Finn’s mutilation and his mother’s life-saving efforts, keep reading. We’ll keep you updated! Thank you for listening and for caring.
---
After his latest foster parent wrecked Finn’s most prized possession, his mountain bike, Finn was left unsupervised to fix it himself. These specialized bikes have razor-sharp disk brakes, and in the past Chris had always made sure that a qualified bike mechanic made repairs – not an inexperienced 11-year old child on medication. The predictable happened: Finn’s left index finger was severed at the knuckle.
After several excruciating surgical procedures, we still don’t know if Finn’s hand will ever be whole. Following the initial surgery, foster parents engaged Finn in physical activities forbidden by the surgeon because of how vulnerable the newly replanted finger was, and then the foster parents lied about it. When the finger predictably failed to heal, another surgery was required.
This is when Chris – a doctor herself who was allowed to attend one of Finn’s follow up appointments – told the surgeon about a serious staph infection on Finn’s big toe. The surgeon agreed that it could be responsible for the finger infection. Untreated staph infections may lead to serious complications, even death. MCFD agents were well aware of the infection, but even at Chris’s urging they refused to have it treated by a physician, instead dousing the toe with vinegar. We are talking about staphylococcus, a flesh-eating bacteria which can lead to sepsis, amputation, and death. Thanks to his real mother, Finn’s foot, and perhaps his life, were saved from more MCFD negligence.
In the custody of MCFD, one of Finn’s foster guardians introduced the 11-year-old to smoking pot while he was over-medicated on a cocktail of sedatives and anti-psychotics. His once healthy diet was replaced by a steady stream of junk food, causing Finn to gain 30 pounds in a six-week period. At another placement, Finn was forced to ride in a car when it was known the driver was drunk and high. At that same placement (where he currently resides), A 180-pound foster “mother” threw Finn on the concrete walk and sat on him while he struggled for breath and screamed for help for almost 10 minutes. Finn also had to sleep for weeks on a filthy couch so that a mentally-ill drifter could have the spare bedroom. This man, who repeatedly berated the child as “a bad kid”, was so unstable that he killed himself while living with Finn. Social distancing mandates were constantly violated, even though Finn is immunocompromised. These things are illegal and were so cruel and dangerous for Finn. Throughout, he was not allowed to see any of his friends, had to quit hockey and skiing, and was completely denied his education so that he must now repeat seventh grade.
Finn is in pain, confused, angry, desperate, and just wants to be back with his mom. He keeps running away from his rotation of placements, and more than once has put his life at risk traversing highways and remote forests in the middle of the night trying to reach home.
But it gets even worse. When Chris went to a follow-up appointment about Finn’s hand, a meeting she had permission to attend, the MCFD agent transporting Finn demanded that she leave. Terrified of having to face another painful unbandaging of his mutilated hand without his mother to comfort him, Finn begged the agent to let her stay and even jumped on the agent to stop him from removing his mom. The agent, a full-grown man, flipped Finn so violently onto his back that the wind was knocked out of the child’s lungs. Then the agent proceeded to literally strike the limp and immobile boy in his chest. Like any mother would, Chris intervened and elbowed the man off Finn to protect her son from further assault.
MCFD used the incident to deny any further visitation or even phone contact between mother and son. Finn is now not even allowed contact with me and the rest of his extended family. He’s all alone, cut off from everyone close to him. It has become a campaign of psychological and physical torture.
Throughout this sad ordeal, Finn and Chris have had their human rights systematically denied in flagrant violation of the law, but there is no quick remedy or accountability in the Canadian system – even when a child’s life is repeatedly placed at risk by his state caretakers.
Helen Ward, President of Kids First Parents Association of Canada, points to MCFD’s pattern of targeting single moms for medical child abduction, and advocates for Chris and Finn. She says, “MCFD has a horrific record of breaking the law, harming children and their families and doing so with impunity.” Finn’s case is an extreme example of such abuse – so extreme that the Ombudsman has launched an unprecedented investigation into MCFD’s handling of this ongoing tragedy. You can see Kids First’s press release on the investigation here .
To have her son back and to see justice, Chris and Finn need the best legal representation possible. Please help!
In the six months since he was taken, Finn – previously a bright, engaging, athletic kid – has suffered a mutilated hand, has endured severe abuse and negligence, has been rotated through six foster placements, has been hospitalized on multiple occasions, and has suffered through several surgical procedures to repair injuries sustained directly as a result of the government’s negligence.
Finn was a sweet and energetic 11-year-old boy, who loved to hang out with his friends, ski, mountain bike, skate board, ride his scooter, do stunts with his yoyos, teach his dog Maggie tricks, play ice hockey, and read books. All this in spite of being diagnosed at an early age with Late Stage Lyme Disease. Chris carefully followed the Lyme treatment prescribed by experts in the field of tick borne illnesses, which kept Finn’s Lyme symptoms in check. Having earned her M.D. from Yale and having dealt with her own debilitating case of Lyme Disease (the disease often hits families in a cluster), Christine was the perfect caregiver.
Unfortunately, Finn started having behavioral problems. Seeking the best possible intervention, Chris took him to a clinic for an evaluation. It was there last February that the government denied him the evaluation and just took him. They forcibly separated mother from child and claimed custody of Finn, a brand of state-sponsored kidnapping known as medical abduction.
The British Columbia Ministry of Child and Family Development (MCFD) decided Chris should not be allowed to see that her son’s Lyme Disease was treated, because Canada has decided Late Stage Lyme Disease does not exist – the only major country on Earth to maintain such a backward stance. The court report MCFD filed in order to seize Finn is full of lies, chief among them the claim that there’s “no medical evidence” that Finn has Lyme Disease, when both his diagnosis and positive test results are clear in his medical records.
There was no other allegation of abuse or neglect made against Chris. MCFD literally seized her son because she was following the advice of licensed medical professionals overseeing the treatment of Finn’s Lyme Disease. MCFD maintained Chris was inventing or imagining her son’s illness, even after evaluations by both a respected psychiatrist and a well-known psychotherapist determined that MCFD’s claim was baseless nonsense.
Finn counts every single day he’s away from his mother on a special calendar. Through tears, Finn said on recorded phone calls, “I was taken away from my mom 181 days ago and I don’t understand why… Nothing makes sense… I’m miserable... I don’t feel safe whatsoever... I’m scared of everything-- where I’m at, why I'm here, the ways I’ve been treated-- everything.”
Chris is a U.S. citizen living in Canada. As a single mom with a disability and unable to work full-time anymore, Chris has had to rely on the limited services provided by a legal aid agency. But the MCFD bureaucracy is impenetrable. Chris has only one hope of getting Finn back where he belongs and ending their nightmare before it’s too late: hiring a paid legal firm with the expertise to bring justice. But we can’t afford it without help.
Finn cries himself to sleep most nights. So does his mother. The only thing they’re allowed to share any more is their despair.
There’s only one way this story can end well – by reuniting Chris and Finn as soon as possible.
And there is only one way to make that happen – by engaging a serious legal team – to sue for custody and expose the government’s terrible abuse.
And only with your help can we afford that.
With $18,250, we can retain the best attorneys and then bring this small, vulnerable family back together again. Every donation counts. If 1,000 people give $18.25, we reach our goal! No gift is too small – or too big! – to make a real difference.
Please, please help us bring Finn home! A son belongs with his mother.
Sincerely,
Marcy Lerner, Finn’s Aunt, Chris’s sister
The details are heart-breaking. To learn more about Finn’s mutilation and his mother’s life-saving efforts, keep reading. We’ll keep you updated! Thank you for listening and for caring.
---
After his latest foster parent wrecked Finn’s most prized possession, his mountain bike, Finn was left unsupervised to fix it himself. These specialized bikes have razor-sharp disk brakes, and in the past Chris had always made sure that a qualified bike mechanic made repairs – not an inexperienced 11-year old child on medication. The predictable happened: Finn’s left index finger was severed at the knuckle.
After several excruciating surgical procedures, we still don’t know if Finn’s hand will ever be whole. Following the initial surgery, foster parents engaged Finn in physical activities forbidden by the surgeon because of how vulnerable the newly replanted finger was, and then the foster parents lied about it. When the finger predictably failed to heal, another surgery was required.
This is when Chris – a doctor herself who was allowed to attend one of Finn’s follow up appointments – told the surgeon about a serious staph infection on Finn’s big toe. The surgeon agreed that it could be responsible for the finger infection. Untreated staph infections may lead to serious complications, even death. MCFD agents were well aware of the infection, but even at Chris’s urging they refused to have it treated by a physician, instead dousing the toe with vinegar. We are talking about staphylococcus, a flesh-eating bacteria which can lead to sepsis, amputation, and death. Thanks to his real mother, Finn’s foot, and perhaps his life, were saved from more MCFD negligence.
In the custody of MCFD, one of Finn’s foster guardians introduced the 11-year-old to smoking pot while he was over-medicated on a cocktail of sedatives and anti-psychotics. His once healthy diet was replaced by a steady stream of junk food, causing Finn to gain 30 pounds in a six-week period. At another placement, Finn was forced to ride in a car when it was known the driver was drunk and high. At that same placement (where he currently resides), A 180-pound foster “mother” threw Finn on the concrete walk and sat on him while he struggled for breath and screamed for help for almost 10 minutes. Finn also had to sleep for weeks on a filthy couch so that a mentally-ill drifter could have the spare bedroom. This man, who repeatedly berated the child as “a bad kid”, was so unstable that he killed himself while living with Finn. Social distancing mandates were constantly violated, even though Finn is immunocompromised. These things are illegal and were so cruel and dangerous for Finn. Throughout, he was not allowed to see any of his friends, had to quit hockey and skiing, and was completely denied his education so that he must now repeat seventh grade.
Finn is in pain, confused, angry, desperate, and just wants to be back with his mom. He keeps running away from his rotation of placements, and more than once has put his life at risk traversing highways and remote forests in the middle of the night trying to reach home.
But it gets even worse. When Chris went to a follow-up appointment about Finn’s hand, a meeting she had permission to attend, the MCFD agent transporting Finn demanded that she leave. Terrified of having to face another painful unbandaging of his mutilated hand without his mother to comfort him, Finn begged the agent to let her stay and even jumped on the agent to stop him from removing his mom. The agent, a full-grown man, flipped Finn so violently onto his back that the wind was knocked out of the child’s lungs. Then the agent proceeded to literally strike the limp and immobile boy in his chest. Like any mother would, Chris intervened and elbowed the man off Finn to protect her son from further assault.
MCFD used the incident to deny any further visitation or even phone contact between mother and son. Finn is now not even allowed contact with me and the rest of his extended family. He’s all alone, cut off from everyone close to him. It has become a campaign of psychological and physical torture.
Throughout this sad ordeal, Finn and Chris have had their human rights systematically denied in flagrant violation of the law, but there is no quick remedy or accountability in the Canadian system – even when a child’s life is repeatedly placed at risk by his state caretakers.
Helen Ward, President of Kids First Parents Association of Canada, points to MCFD’s pattern of targeting single moms for medical child abduction, and advocates for Chris and Finn. She says, “MCFD has a horrific record of breaking the law, harming children and their families and doing so with impunity.” Finn’s case is an extreme example of such abuse – so extreme that the Ombudsman has launched an unprecedented investigation into MCFD’s handling of this ongoing tragedy. You can see Kids First’s press release on the investigation here .
To have her son back and to see justice, Chris and Finn need the best legal representation possible. Please help!
Organisator
Marcy Lerner
Organisator
High Falls, NY
