.Violent, Court-Ordered Removal of Children Sparks Outcry

Two Santa Cruz County children forcibly moved to reunification camp by ‘transporters’

On Oct. 20, a group of strangers paid a late-night visit to Maya and Sebastian Laing’s grandmother’s house, where they had been staying.

After trying unsuccessfully to convince the kids to come with them willingly, the strangers carried them kicking and screaming to a waiting car. They were taken to an undisclosed location in Los Angeles, 350 miles away.

Because 15-year-old Maya expected this to happen, she had told several friends to be ready for her call. They showed up en masse, bringing families and neighbors with them.

One of them took a video detailing the strangers’ actions, which garnered more than 100,000 views before YouTube removed it. It still exists on Instagram at bit.ly/3NB3Uww and bit.ly/3WyYiay. Be warned, the content is disturbing.

The strangers were “transporters” from Assisted Interventions, Inc., a privately contracted company based in New Jersey that carries out court orders to move children in contentious custody disputes.

Maya and Sebastian’s situation is not unique. These children are often taken to “reunification camps,” where the parent on the other end of the dispute waits, along with counselors and other employees tasked with patching up their relationship.

In the days preceding that event, Maya took to her Instagram account, telling her followers she did not want to live with her mother (bit.ly/3UmGE7J and bit.ly/3hbQcnK).

The video of Maya and Sebastian has thrust a startling phenomenon into public view—one in which aggrieved and so-called “alienated” parents can have children taken away against their will—and with the full concurrence of the court.

A Closer Look

In the video, a man can be seen carrying a struggling 11-year-old Sebastian from behind. That is followed by two men carrying Maya—one grasping her legs and the other her arms—as she screams that she is being kidnapped. Witnesses say that her clothes came partially off during the struggle, and hair was stepped on and her face slammed into a car door.

All of this took place as two Santa Cruz Police Department officers stood watching. But Santa Cruz Police Deputy Chief Jon Bush says that none of what took place in the video was illegal.

The transporters, he says, were duly authorized to take Maya and Sebastian and were doing so under the order of Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Rebecca Connolly.

“The order allowed this contracted transportation company to physically take possession of the kids and to transport them to a location in Southern California,” Bush says. 

He stresses that the officers were not there specifically to assist the transporters. Instead, they were called to the scene for a report of a disturbance.

Once there, he says their job was solely to keep the peace.

On their website, Assisted Interventions, Inc. states that the company’s goal is to have children arrive at treatment facilities in a “positive frame of mind” and that it was founded “on the principles of Dignity, Compassion and Safety.”

The company has not responded to requests for comment as of Friday morning.

In a press conference Thursday, Santa Cruz Mayor Sonja Brunner and Santa Cruz County Supervisor Ryan Coonerty vowed to take action to prevent companies from violently taking children from their homes within the county.

“We regulate taxis and lots of other kinds of services, so this will be another business we want to make sure is operating consistent with our values,” Coonerty said. 

While the court system falls outside the County’s authority, a local ordinance setting standards for how minors are treated, Coonerty said, could give law enforcement officials more power to intervene in similar situations.

Coonerty also said the county would urge state lawmakers to pass policies to regulate these businesses.

Kiersten Dungy, 16, who has known Maya for two years and attended Pacific Collegiate School with her, hopes that whatever policies local leaders pass includes a “no-touching policy” for private transportation companies.

“So that kids who are court-ordered to be sent to reunification camps can be treated as human beings in their travels,” she says.

The kids’ mother, Jessica Laing, referred calls for comment to her attorney, who declined to talk on the record.

Their father, Justin Laing, declined to talk about the details of the legal case. But he said in a text message that “my heart is breaking for my kids.”

“What happened to them is not OK,” Justin wrote. “I will pursue every legal avenue to make this right for them.”

Reunification Camps

Tina Swithin, an internationally known blogger who advocates for change in the family court system, describes the industry surrounding reunification centers as “something out of a sci-fi movie.”

“I know parents who haven’t seen their kids in two years after they are taken away to these camps because what essentially the court orders give full rights to the people who own the camps, and they are making a lot of money off these things,” she says.

And a lucrative business it is. Danielle Pollack, a policy manager at George Washington University’s National Family Violence Law Center, says that a single day at one in “reunification treatment” can cost as much as $10,000.

The idea stems from “parental alienation,” a concept first defined in the 1980s as one parent engaging in a system of behaviors designed to alienate the other parent from their children. This can include maligning that parent to the kids, or keeping the other parent from seeing their children entirely. Alienation can also come from children who stop communicating with a parent because they are angry about a divorce.

Often, courts in those cases will employ counselors to try to seek an amicable familial resolution.

But parents can also weaponize the concept, using it as a counterclaim when their ex-spouse accuses them of abuse, saying the other is simply being vindictive and angry and attempting to separate them from their kids. 

In these cases, children are taken to a reunification camp, a catch-all phrase that can include hotels, nature retreats, or, in the case of Maya and Sebastian, the home of Los Angeles-based psychologist Lynn Steinberg.

Usually, Swithin says, the children are restricted from contacting anyone for at least 90 days.

“They’re not allowed to reach out to anybody,” Swithin says. “Which is part of what makes it so hard to grasp that they can do this.”

Steinberg did not respond to numerous requests for comment.

Pollack says that this strategy often works. Mothers frequently lose contested custody cases where they allege abuse, and fathers cross-claim “alienation,” she says.

“In 73% of these cases, mothers who allege abuse lose custody to the accused when the courts believe she is an ‘alienator’ sometimes even when courts acknowledge the father has abused the mother or children,” she says. “It’s an effective legal strategy. It really tears down the credibility of the person alleging the abuse.”

Pollack describes the concept of parental alienation as “junk science” that has nevertheless garnered legitimacy in court hearings since people purporting to be alienation experts testify during hearings.

“Part of the reason why it’s so effective is there is a large cottage industry serving the accused abusers,” she says. “They come in, and they testify as ‘alienation experts,’ as if their junk science theories were scientific and valid and are diagnosable. In fact, it’s not scientifically supported.”

Perhaps the most terrifying aspect of the industry is that it is largely unregulated, Pollack says. Pollack says that they are considered “educational” and therefore do not need the licenses required for psychological or counseling services. 

“Every valid area has a licensing board,” she says. “But these guys duck it.”

Once in the camps—stays could last a few days to several months—the children are forced to spend time with the parent with whom they are resisting contact. Pollack says that the children are also forced to interact with “reunification counselors” who try to convince them that the abuse they are alleging did not happen.

She says that children in the camps are forbidden to talk about the past and their parents’ divorce.

Parents are similarly forbidden to discuss cases with their kids in some places. Others have employees called “green shirts” who come to sit between the parents to change the subject if such conversations occur, Pollack, says.

A minor’s desire to stay with one parent frequently does not factor into a judge’s ruling, says Pollack.

“It matters very little,” she says. 

Part of that, she says, is due to who represents children in court.

Usually, kids are represented by a guardian ad litem—also known as a “best interest attorney”—who forms an opinion about what’s best for them. 

While this was meant to shield the kids from the often traumatic process, it usually does not represent what the children want since the guardian must consider all facts of the case.

“So, the voice of the child over the past 20 years has really gone out of the process in many ways,” Pollack says.

Community Response

The fact that what happened is legal is cold comfort for the people who know the kids and saw them being taken against their will.

“We want to spread awareness to what’s going on,” says Dungy.

Dungy helped organize an Oct. 27 candlelight vigil—which drew about 50 people—and a protest the next day in front of the County Courthouse in Watsonville, where family court is held. 

She also placed herself between the transporters and Maya to stop them before police officers told her to stop interfering.

“We want to end reunification camps because no human should have to go through what Maya and Sebastian and all these other kids have gone through,” Dungy says. 

Friends at the candlelight vigil described Maya as a quiet, bright, friendly, selfless and thoughtful girl. Friends said that she is adventurous and athletic, plays volleyball, participates in theater, and is a student government leader.

Sebastian is described as a smart, funny boy who hopes to go to Pacific Collegiate School with his sister next year.

Family friend Matt Berlin said the children’s father has no idea where they are.

“He doesn’t know if they’re safe, he hasn’t seen pictures of them, he has no idea the status of his kids, and he is heartbroken,” Berlin says. 

Berlin said his friend is “an amazing parent.”

“He is one of the best fathers I’ve ever met in my entire life,” he says. “He loves his kids so much. He would do anything for them.”

16 COMMENTS

  1. Sounds like a plot of a “Horror Movie”….
    What a terrible idea to take away these children…as if they have not suffered enough.
    Our local and state officials need to look at this more carefully.

  2. Legal kidnapping….forcing minors to be in a toxic brainwashing situation…congrats to the “mother” whose kids will probably despise her when they are 18….

    • Sad but true I feel for those kids and truly hope they have the will to resist the brain washing this nut job is gonna do to them

    • Not to mention the fact that they DO NOT want to be with their mother now

      • Please sign me up for the newsletter - No
  3. We were there when it happened. Arrived at 5 pm. The kids were taken around 9 pm. Initially, the agents were outside, and the kids safely inside. Then the police showed up, went into the house, and the kids came out. What did the police say to the kids and their aunt to make them come out? Let’s see the bodycam footage.

  4. I would use lethal force to keep my family from being taken from me under these circumstances. Is the judge getting kick-backs for sending kids to these “re-unification camps”, like we saw with the judges sending kids to juvenile facilities in the 90’s and early 2000’s for minor offenses?

    As a trained psychological counselor I can see no benefit in this program and I worked in a residential treatment facility for court ordered children. The kids I worked with were almost entirely sexually abused. Almost all of the kids were sexually abused all over again once they got into the system, and that is in the regulated industry. I know, I helped expose and break up a sex-ring in the facility where I worked that was being maintained by some of the counselors.

    The Guardian ad-litem programs are ridiculous and also subject to to abuse. They are often attorneys who have no psychological counseling backgrounds and control the fate of the kids having more weight given to their recommendations than to the therapeutic counselors who oversee the psychological state of the kids.

    As a child I grew up in a violent X-tian household and if this group tried to come for me I would have gotten away. They would have pushed me into the street life and separated me from the family and friends that looked out for me and kept me becoming a negative ‘statistic on a government chart’ (to paraphrase the song by The Police).

    Additionally, in California you cannot be an out of state bill collector. The reason for this is that companies were being hired from places like New Jersey to collect past-due debts that simply did not follow any of California’s bill collecting laws and regulations. And this would be a regulated industry. What unscrupeless practices can we expect from an unregulated industry?

    I want to say thank you to the people who are standing up to this practice and the friends and their families who showed up to support these kids. Your videos bring light to a serious issue that needs to be dealt with immediately.

  5. This is wrong what they did to these 2 kids and any other children!! Those men violated her by pulling most of her clothes off exposing her!! They Did nothing to help cover her up. I watch the video in disbelief. I understand the police officers can’t do much but when you see a child being basically being stripped down as they try to throw her in a SUV something should have be done. They should have stepped in to insure the child was clothed before placing her in the SUV. These were grown men not covering her up. In any other instance that would be considered assault! Why isn’t it in this case? Ask your self that? We need this to stop. Let get together and help these children that don’t have a voice!!

  6. The officers where there” to keep the peace”.
    Are children exempt from their right to peace?
    Maya and Sebastian’s peace was being violated on their watch. A minor girl was being exposed by adult men and physically subdued to comply by violence.

  7. Who pays for these camps? Are they tax payer funded? Is this just another way for police, judges and politicians to make their rich donors richer? Those men should be arrested for exposing a child like that. Totally disgusting. When will the court system start listening to the children?

  8. I’ll say this. My kids live w my ex, their Dad, since my youngest was 2. We proved I was the primary caregiver. We proved also that my ex husband (an “Aggie” who doesn’t lie) lied as did his witnesses. They HAD to lie about me to make me look bad because in fact I was an excellent Mother, still am although my vindictive ex disapproves of me in general because I left him. The worst thing they could say about me was that I have depression. The judge ordered my ex primary physical custody and suddenly I went from primary caregiver to non custodial parent.
    I have their Dad on video when our kids
    were 2 and 4 talking about “Mommy” in a very negative manner. And it spiraled and continued from there.
    I support and empower my children. He rules w an iron fist and has eliminated me from our children’s lives. They are now 15 and 17 and don’t want to see me. I haven’t been allowed to be a parent for years. So many milestones they (the ex and his wife) took from me. She took my daughter to get her ears pierced. I couldn’t even teach them how to drive. He is guy smiley and a master narcissistic manipulator. Everyone he works with loves him. But he has damaged our kids into believing that I am a monster all to be vindictive. He filed for divorce; not me. After only 7 weeks into our separation. We were married 8 years. But 7 weeks is all it took for him to file for divorce so he could get the judge he wanted who just happens to hate women, especially Yankee women like me ( the judge was married to female “Yankee” and had a bitter divorce).
    I can prove ALL of this with the court transcripts.
    Bottom line he took away a perfectly good decent and exceptional mother who has passed multiple FBI background checks because I am a nurse and turned me into a monster that my kids believe because that is what he was telling them since they were 2 and 4. That is a bloody sin to do to your own children.
    I keep my mouth shut which is not easy but it’s my only choice. I hope that my children believe actions and not words and realize that I have loved them and wanted them all along. All I can do is just love my kids and forgive my ex and his wife for their vile behavior. Karma is going to bite them in the ass eventually.
    Way back in 2009 when I decided to leave and he started acting ugly; I decided I would never lie to my kids; which included lying to them about their father. I wasn’t going to fight dirty. Well, my ex did. What makes someone go from telling you how you’re a wonderful Mom and keeping you in charge of all childcare decisions like choosing daycares because he trusts you; to trashing you in court by lying about you and fighting you for custody? I didn’t change. He became vindictive is what happened.
    Ugh I can’t even think about how he ruined our beautiful children. My 4 year old son became afraid of me…only when his Dad was around. His Dad never once said to him “your mother loves you” during these episodes when my son would panic in the airport when returning to me from being with his Dad. No.
    That’s child abuse to me. So is not putting seatbelts on our kids. But it’s HIM breaking the law so it’s ok. I’m over reacting getting upset about it.
    Prayer and meditation and my family and friends get me through.
    I’m not saying reunification camps are ok. They definitely are not. I don’t believe you can force anyone to love/like you either and the last thing I want for my children is anymore trauma. They’ve been through enough. They’re happy and will talk to me now some. I just love them. That’s what a Mom does. Just like the Judgement of Solomon.

    • Please sign me up for the newsletter - No
    • I’m so sorry this happened to you. It happened to me also, to a lesser degree. I had my ability to be a seen as a good mother taken from me before I ever left my ex-husband. He trained them to believe I was an idiot and crazy. I am also a nurse, currently working on a graduate degree. I loved my children with all my heart and have done everything I can try to rebuild the relationships with them that he destroyed. I believe in parental alienation, just perhaps not the industry that is addressing it with unethical behavior. Thank you for sharing your heart.

      • Please sign me up for the newsletter - No
  9. in the video the Transport agents violated there oath when they grubbed the Laing children and forced them in to the car by a court order Maya’s black long sleeve shirt was pulled off in struggle leavening her beige short sleeve shirt on and one of Maya’s shoes came off and her pants is being pulled of off in the struggle too and she get pushed into the edge or the corner of the car door causing her lip to split open

    • Please sign me up for the newsletter - No
  10. The names of the two mercenaries in the video from Assisted Interventions, Inc aka “transporters” should be disclosed if anyone can identify them that would be great.

    • Please sign me up for the newsletter - No

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

spot_img
Good Times E-edition Good Times E-edition