There’s going to be a big rally on Mother’s Day, May 9th, in Calgary to bring home Noah Kirkman. I urge everyone who can to attend. Anyone who can’t be there should take any form of peaceful action they can think of to let Oregon DHS authorities and Judge Lenard know that they need to let this boy go back to his parents.
For those of you who haven’t read about Noah either on this blog or elsewhere, the facts of his case will disturb anyone who believes that states should butt out of family life whenever possible. What’s happened is about as blatant an exercise of naked state power as you can imagine.
Two years ago, John Kirkman, Noah’s stepfather, traveled to Oregon to spend some time out of Alberta’s winter. In Oregon, a police officer apprehended then-10-year-old Noah for riding his bicycle without a helmet. He may have also been seen on the property of an industrial park. Whatever the case, the police picked up Noah and turned him over to child welfare workers. Investigating the case they found that Noah’s mom, Lisa Kirkman had once been arrested for a short time for her advocacy of medical marijuana and that Canadian child welfare authorities had a case file on Noah.
As to the latter, in Canada, when a child has been diagnosed with ADHD as Noah has, he’s eligible for services from the state. So the fact that there’s a file on Noah is not as sinister as the State of Oregon apparently believes it is.
Into the bargain, apparently the fact that John Kirkman is Noah’s stepfather and the only dad he’s had since he was two years old means that he “has no parental authority” in Oregon.
The upshot? Noah has spent the last two years shuttling from foster home to foster home – four in all. That’s not because John and Lisa aren’t perfectly fit parents; they are. It’s not because the State of Oregon isn’t spending a lot of its tax money uselessly on foster care for a child who doesn’t need it; it is. It’s because the State of Oregon, like so many other states in so many other situations has arrogated to itself far too much power to intervene in parental care of children. It decided to take Noah Kirkman on what look to be the slimmest of pretexts. And when a state decides to take your child, woe be unto you. It won’t be easy to get him/her back.
So John and Lisa are holding a rally, the particulars of which are below.
I’d like to add, that, while the United States may have some pretty strange ideas about child custody, we also have some pretty expansive ideas about what you can sue for. In Florida, there’s a lawsuit going on right now in which William Dunn has sued the state’s child welfare agency for failing to adequately investigate claims of child abuse against him and thereby keeping his child out of his care.
John and Lisa Kirkman, let me suggest you contact an attorney in Oregon who’s willing to sue the state under its Tort Claims Act.
BRING NOAH HOME MOTHER”S DAY FAMILY RALLY
Sunday, May 9, 2010 2pm-3pm
Starts: Harry Hays Building
220 – 4th Avenue S.E.
Calgary, Alberta T2G 4X3
Ends: United States Consulate General Calgary
615 Macleod Trail S.E. ?
Calgary, Alberta ?T2G 4T8
Noah Kirkman is a 12-year-old Canadian child who was taken into custody by the Oregon Department of Human Services while on summer vacation at his stepfather”s in 2008. Noah has been moved through four foster care placements and three schools in Oregon. Noah”s mother, Lisa Kirkman, and his entire family in Calgary have been fighting to have him returned.
Noah”s family and supporters will be holding a peaceful, family rally in Calgary on Mother”s Day. The rally begins at the Harry Hays Federal building with a statement by Lisa Kirkman pleading with Prime Minister Harper to intervene. Participants will then proceed to the nearby US Consulate where Lisa will make another statement, demanding of President Obama Noah”s immediate return to Canada by American authorities.
WEAR YELLOW or a YELLOW RIBBON along side thousands of supporters around the world doing the same for Noah and the 400 Canadian children held abroad awaiting their return to Canada. YELLOW is the color of HOPE and LIGHT and signifies THOSE WHO AWAIT THE HOMECOMING OF THEIR LOVED ONES.
RETURN NOAH KIRKMAN TO CANADA NOW Facebook group: