The family of Justina Pelletier, the teenage girl at the center of a national parental rights dispute, vows to pursue legal action against the state of Massachusetts for what they say was essentially an abduction of their daughter.
Earlier this week, Massachusetts Juvenile Court Judge Joseph Johnston signed the order for Justina to go home following a 16-month dispute between her family and state officials. Lou Pelletier said in a text message, “This battle has been finally won. The WAR will not be won until we stop this from happening to ALL CHILDREN!!”
Pelletier, said, “It’s an unbelievably emotional day… I’m still shellshocked. It has been 16 months of torture, but finally justice is being done.”
The first order of business for the family is to get Justina well and evaluate her after her treatment, or lack therof, by state officials. In her sixteen months under the “care” of the state, Justina Pelletier’s health deteriorated from being a vibrant figure skater to being confined to a wheelchair, unable to walk on her own. Pelletier says his daughter has “no feeling at all below her hips” and is now confined to a wheelchair.
In a picture, right, her father is shown having to carry her into their home.
Next, they are considering legal action. The Pelletiers are pursuing legal action against the Massachusetts officials who took custody of Justina.
“There’s going to be a Justina law,” because hospitals are “taking kids, using DCF to be their little wing man,” Pelletier said. “I’m going to be the guy that’s going to change that.”
Asked whether officials from the Connecticut Department of Children and Families had contacted him, Pelletier said the agency is “not in the picture, never wanted to be in the picture, will never be in the picture … no more government agencies.”
“They’re all gone, the case is shut down, the case is closed,” Liberty Counsel attorney Staver said.
Although the recent focus has been on getting Justina home, Staver said Liberty Counsel would continue to work with the family and weigh possible legal action against Massachusetts medical and state officials.
Lou Pelletier told MailOnline that he will not mince words now that he is no longer gagged and Justina is home.
“I am still very angry at the psychiatrists, Boston Children’s Hospital, and the Department of Families and Children for putting Justina through this. My daughter was used as a lab rat, a cruel experiment.
They tried to gag me, to prevent me from telling what was going on. Can you imagine what would have happened to Justina if I hadn’t gone public?
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Her condition has deteriorated terribly since she was taken from us. She’s no longer doing jumping jacks and ice skating, she is paralyzed.”
Staver, in an email to LifeNews, said “the joy of Justina’s homecoming is dampened by a harsh reality. This young women has endured a torturous ordeal forced upon her by a powerful state agency which has left her physically and emotionally handicapped.”
“If you were in the Pelletier’s shoes, you would doubtless wage an aggressive legal fight to obtain justice. That’s exactly what we did, and we are continuing to do, on the Pelletier family’s behalf,” he added. “This case has opened our eyes to a much larger problem of government agencies overreaching across the nation. Parental rights are being violated!”
