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A Glasgow couple that had their child removed by employees from the State of Montana’s Child and Family Services have cleared their first legal hurdle in federal court with charges that those same employees engaged in “judicial deception” in order to convince a state court judge to remove the child to psychiatric care and later transfer her to the care of another parent living in Canada.
U.S. Federal Magistrate Judge Timothy Cavan has ruled that Todd Kolstad’s case against two CFS workers, Cyndi Baillargeon and Crystal Whitmore, can continue because the case doesn’t relitigate what Montana state courts have already decided, rather it raises a new claim that the state employees misled court officials, depriving Todd Kolstad and his wife of their parental rights.
Meanwhile, attorneys for the State of Montana argued unsuccessfully that several legal doctrines should have stopped the case in federal court. For example, a legal concept known as “collateral estoppel” stops people who are unsatisfied with a state court answer from relaunching the case in federal court as a means to get around the other court decision. And yet another doctrine, known as the “Rooker-Feldman” doctrine, also prohibits federal courts from deciding a case that was adjudicated in state court.
However, Cavan said that the Kolstads are not arguing with the decision of the state to take the child, nor does the case challenge the decision of the courts to send the child to live with the non-custodial parent in Canada. Instead, because the state courts dismissed the case without a final determination and because the Kolstads argue that the state court was persuaded by alleged lies of the CFS workers, the case will move forward in the federal court system.
Because Cavan is a magistrate judge, the state will have 14 days to appeal his decision to the district court judge, Susan P. Watters.
The case stems from a controversy in 2024 when the Kolstads’ minor child who said he identified as male, but was born a biological female, claimed to have drank poison, which prompted a trip to the hospital and calls to the state’s Child and Family Services. Although hospital tests later revealed no poison, officials with CFS worried that the child was suicidal and in need of immediate psychiatric care.
The parents saw the child’s transgender identity as sinful according to their religious beliefs and didn’t object to placing their child in psychiatric care, but did not want the child leaving the state of Montana, believing that other states would begin gender-affirming treatment without their permission. Meanwhile, a bed became available in a Wyoming facility where state officials sent the child. Ultimately, the child was united with a parent in Canada.
The Kolstads argue that their rights to parent were taken away by the deception of the two CFS workers who misused the law and courts to wrest custody away from them while ignoring their religious beliefs. The case made international headlines and several political leaders have intervened, including Montana Lt. Gov. Kristen Juras, who reviewed the case, and agreed with the CFS’ determination. Juras is an attorney and former law school professor.
Rep. William Mercer, R-Billings, has also asked to review the case and was forced to take the administration to the Montana Supreme Court, where he successfully argued that Montana law and legislative privilege allowed him to review the case, including text messages and emails among state employees.
Cavan summarized the heart of the case:
“Kolstad does not argue that the state court’s orders were wrong, but, rather, that the (CFS workers’) actions which led to the orders were wrong,” the order said. “The parents asserted that the defendants committed perjury, deceived the court and otherwise acted fraudulently during the state juvenile proceedings.”