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The parents of a child that the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services removed because of a suicide risk and gender identity filed a motion in court on Wednesday, claiming that the state is continuing to withhold information about their case while turning over the same information to a state lawmaker.
Todd and Krista Kolstad are asking a Lewis and Clark County District judge to issue a write of mandate which would compel the department to turn over all documents related to their child’s case, including those listed on a six-page log that describes the information the state is withholding. They claim the documents listed on that document were given to a Billings legislator.
The case started nearly two years ago when the teenage child of the Kolstads had threatened suicide, after the Kolstads refused to acknowledge the child’s struggle with gender dysphoria. They have maintained that their religion considers transgenderism a sin. The child was removed by Child and Family Services and was hospitalized until a bed became available at a inpatient psychiatric unit.
Originally, the plan was for the Kolstads’ child to be put in a facility in Montana, but when a bed opened in Wyoming, officials placed the child there over the Kolstads’ objections. The parents believed that Wyoming would begin gender-affirming care for the child, whereas Montana would not without parental permission.
The legal battle that has ensued involves obtaining information about the Gianforte administration’s decision to remove the child, which at one point was being reviewed by Montana Lt. Gov. Kristen Juras — herself an attorney.
The fight has also involved state lawmakers. In court documents, both Rep. William Mercer, R-Billings, and Sen. Jeremy Trebas, R-Great Falls, have asked for documents related to the case, under a section of Montana law that allows lawmakers access to confidential documents.
In the new court filing, the Kolstads’ attorney, Matthew Monforton, said that documents that had been provided to the lawmakers involving their child’s case were denied to them. In a response document sent on Feb. 15, Montana DPHHS said those documents, including text messages and group chats, were released to lawmakers under a different section of state law than what is granted to the Kolstads as parents.
The Montana DPHHS provided a six-page “privilege log” which is a spreadsheet document that describes broadly the documents that the state is withholding and a brief reason for why they’re being withheld.
The brief motion filed on Wednesday asks the court to order those documents be released to the Kolstads, and notes that those documents were released to Mercer, according to the court filing.
According to the filing, the Kolstads did receive 2,400 pages of documents related to their child’s case last month.