Fight for Justice - Reunite Kevin Plantan and his Daughter

This is a story of two prisoners. A father and his daughter.

Dad Kevin Plantan spent 10 months in jail, fighting for justice for a non-existent crime. He is out of prison now and his “criminal” record has been expunged. His daughter has spent the last five years—and counting—imprisoned in silence by the people closest to her.

Kevin and his daughter have not been allowed to see each other in over four years. Of all the incomprehensible things in their story, this is the most heartbreaking. But you can help Kevin keep up the fight so that the injustices he and his daughter have suffered will never happen to another family living with autism. And you can help reunite Kevin and his daughter.

Their Nightmare

Kevin’s daughter is a beautiful soul with stunning auburn hair and bright blue eyes like her dad. She became his heart and soul from the moment she was born. At first, she was growing and learning like a neuro-typical child. She was hitting all her developmental and speech milestones, speaking in short sentences, climbing trees, watching and learning Spanish words from Dora the Explorer. But at two and a half years old, she started losing these abilities. She was diagnosed with regressive autism and became non-verbal.

(There is much more to the story, covering the years from her diagnosis to Kevin’s arrest. There are many layers and it is best heard from Kevin himself. Kevin has connected with another wrongfully imprisoned person, Amanda Knox, through her work with The Innocence Project . Kevin shared his story with Amanda on her podcast, Labyrinths. Listen wherever you get podcasts or watch on YouTube.)

On January 8, 2021, Kevin was—this cannot be stressed enough—WRONGFULLY arrested after ZERO investigation by the police and was later indicted on charges of raping and sodomizing his daughter, who was 13 at the time of his arrest.

Kevin was arrested because of one single piece of “evidence” - the testimony of his non-verbal daughter. This “testimony” was in the form of a typed letter. This letter was typed with another person, a therapist, holding his daughter’s hand. The therapist was using a technique known as facilitated communication. This form of “helping” those with autism to communicate began in the 1990s and was soon scientifically debunked, in part because of the work of Dr. Howard Shane and Dr. James Todd, but it continues to be used by unscrupulous individuals today…to saddening, and sometimes disastrous, effect.

In December 2020, one month before Kevin’s arrest, the speech-language pathologist at Oak Knoll Middle School in Hanover County, Virginia again identified the method being used in his daughter’s home as facilitated communication and the resulting IEP (Individualized Education Program), a legally binding document, included these following passages:

"Based on the communication observations and home visits, the communication method utilized by the parent and private home help of adult supported, hand under hand typing is identical to the unsupported communication method of Facilitated Communication (FC).”

“Lauren Whitlock, Hanover County Public Schools Speech Language Pathologist, shared that as a licensed member of the American Speech- Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), it is her ethical responsibility to inform members of the IEP team of the following(1): Decades of scientific research on FC have established with confidence that FC is not a valid form of communication; Messages produced using FC do not reflect the communication of the person with a disability;...”

Again, all of this was in writing in a legal document at his daughter’s school BEFORE his arrest based solely on a claim made through facilitated communication.

In November 2021---after ten excruciating months spent in jail, mostly in the “hole” (solitary confinement, a choice Kevin made for his own survival given the heinous crimes he was accused of) staring down four life sentences---after ten months of the relentless efforts of Kevin, his friends and family, and expert testimony by Dr. Howard Shane and Dr. James Todd---the charges against Kevin were dismissed by the judge when his daughter's mother refused the double-blind test developed by Dr. Howard Shane. The criminal charges against Kevin were dropped, but...

But Kevin is still not allowed to see his daughter.

Domestic Relations District Court in Hanover County, Virginia, has continued to uphold a restraining order stopping Kevin from seeing his daughter based solely on the manufactured “evidence” obtained through facilitated communication. This is the same “evidence” that was eventually discredited, debunked, and thrown out during Kevin’s criminal case in 2021. Kevin’s record was expunged.

Kevin needs money to continue his legal battle. He needs money—or pro bono legal work from lawyers who truly want to be a voice for those with autism, especially non-verbal autism. To this day, many children with non-verbal autism and their families are being exploited by licensed therapists who practice facilitated communication.

How this complete mess—this complete ineptitude of law enforcement and of the criminal and family court systems—have brought this suffering to Kevin and his daughter is truly astonishing. The story is complex but the solution is simple. Simple but not easy.

Kevin needs to appeal the domestic relations court decisions to the higher Circuit court. Kevin is out of money. He had to spend all he had, plus thousands from family and friends, fighting the criminal case against him. This is not to mention that he has been ordered to continue to pay his wife’s legal fees and an amount of child support based on his 2019 salary before he was wrongfully imprisoned. Child support that covers, partly, the cost of occupational therapists who his daughter’s mother still employs to practice facilitated communication with her daughter and for a psychologist to “treat” her for the made-up crimes Kevin was charged with. And he still has not seen his daughter nor does he have any voice in her care.

His Daughter Today

Kevin’s daughter turned 18 in January 2025 and lives with her mother and her mother’s husband. At the end of 2020, right before Kevin’s arrest, Kevin’s ex-wife pulled their daughter out of the Hanover Public Schools. These schools rightfully DO NOT ALLOW facilitated communication in their classrooms because it has been shown 100% of the time in double-blind tests that the words expressed are those of the facilitator and not of the child with autism.

Mother continues to employ private therapists to use facilitated communication with his daughter. For much of the day, one of these therapists is holding her hand to “assist” her in typing her wants, needs, and thoughts. But what gets typed are not her thoughts, needs, or desires. She is being handled like a puppet.

His daughter was making great progress communicating using scientifically proven methods and technology that allowed her to select images from an iPad or Velcro board completely unassisted. Kevin’s daughter is living in this world where she is not free to communicate on her own or see her dad. She is the one in prison still.

Kevin Today

Kevin’s successful career of 18 years disappeared with the pandemic and for most of 2021 he was unjustly imprisoned. Now 54, like many of those not wrongfully imprisoned, he has had trouble finding work at his pre-pandemic level. That, coupled with the amount of child support he pays monthly (again, based on the high salary he was earning before being wrongfully imprisoned) has forced him to declare bankruptcy. But he is scraping together every cent he can to prepare for this legal fight. All funds he collects from this effort will go toward his legal and other expenses as he fights this injustice and gains the right to see his daughter again. He needs to be an advocate for her care and education---using scientifically-backed methods that allow her to communicate freely and not under the control of someone else. Kevin wants to make sure the injustices he and his daughter have suffered will never happen again to a family living with non-verbal autism.

Despite his unimaginable circumstances, Kevin is carrying on with fortitude and patience. He is making it through this time just like he got through prison—drawing on his infinite love for his daughter. He knows she loves him and he knows he will see her again. Some beautiful day Kevin will hug his daughter again.

Please contribute to Kevin’s fight if you are able. Thank you.

There are many totally free ways you can help, too. Just a little time from many people will make a big difference.

Learn more about Kevin’s story.

And learn how facilitated communication is still being practiced to disastrous consequences for those with autism and their families.

From Kevin and his daughter and everyone who loves them, thank you.