If you’re a regular reader of the Victory Girls blog, you know that we’ve been following the case of Justina Pelletier, the Connecticut teen held by Massachusetts’ Department of Children & Families (DCF) after visiting Boston Children’s hospital for an illness. Justina was under the care of doctors at Tufts who were successfully treating her for mitochondrial disease, their diagnosis, to which she responded well. The doctors at Boston’s diagnosed her instead with a psychosomatic disorder caused by stress, and then accused her parents of child abuse for providing her unnecessary treatment, prompting DCF to intervene.

While Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick continues to ignore the pleas of Justina’s parents, supporters of Justina continue to call for her release.

Tuesday afternoon a group of advocates led by Personhood USA, sponsors of The Free Justina Project, will hold a rally on the steps of the Massachusetts Statehouse to demand Justina’s release. The group has gathered donations of hundreds of stuffed animals, one of Justina’s favorite things, and the rally will include Justina’s family, state legislators, as well as Rev. Patrick Mahoney, spokesperson for the Pelletier family. They will also discuss the now-pending legislation that, if passed, says Rev. Mahoney, would require Justina’s immediate release from state care, where her health has seriously declined in the 436 days she’s been under its watch.

“There is pending legislation that calls for her release and also demands DCF give an accounting of how much public money is being spent on Justina’s care. With DCF under investigation and pleading for more funding, why are potentially millions of dollars of taxpayer funds being spend on Justina?”

Good question. Because they’re covering up their incompetence, perhaps? Or worse? You can ready the pending legislation here.

Further, DCF’s role in the significant decline of Justina’s health was again brought into question last week when it was reported that Justina penned a note to her parents pleading for help and writing that she’s being “hurt.” The Blaze acquired this photo:

Meanwhile, Massachusetts Governor Patrick said this about why Justina remains in state custody:

“Justina is in DCF custody because ‘a judge ruled that her parents were unfit to care for her’ in February 2013. ‘[A] decision,’ Patrick wrote, ‘based on a detailed record of the history of neglect in the home.'”

Say what? Seems Governor Patrick has some explaining to do. A careful reading of the court documents awarding custody of Justina to DCF—who now insists it’s working to return Justina to her family (an authority it does not possess)—shows no interest by Connecticut children’s services to involve itself in the dispute, nor, reports have said, had it ever been contacted by anyone concerned with Justina’s care prior to her being forcibly removed from her family by Massachusetts DCF. Rather, the judge in the case awarded permanent custody to the State primarily—no, not because of a detailed history of neglect—but because he was annoyed with the behavior of Justina’s parents, who he says behaved inappropriately after their daughter was basically taken hostage by the State. Yep, that’s what gets our children removed from their families these days. Can you blame them? All hell would break loose were it my child.

By the way, seems the online collective, Anonymous, agrees. It’s playing havoc with the Boston Childrens’ internal network.

We hope and pray that Justina will soon be reunited with her family, and that her supporters will continue to fight. And that the Massachusetts legislation, if it has legal standing, will finally require she be removed from the nightmare she and her family have been living in for more than a year.

And why should you care about Justina and what she is enduring at the abusive hands of the state of Massachusetts? Because under the ever-expanding power of the nanny state and the “We Know Best” mentality of those on both sides of the political spectrum, what is happening to Justina could very easily be happening to your family. For all it takes is an accusation, and the disjointed nose of a thin-skinned judge.

**UPDATE** “Olga I. Roche resigned today as commissioner of the state Department of Children and Families, ending her year-long leadership of the child protection agency, which has recently been rocked by the deaths of three children.” Source: The Boston Globe