My nonprofit dedicated to protecting children from exploitation and fighting trafficking, Freedom Forever, has been investigating the alarming truth of what’s happening at Vanderbilt Health, including Vanderbilt’s Pediatric Transgender Clinics. It appears that destructive California policies have officially made their way to Tennessee.
We discovered that Vanderbilt Health started implementing what parents have called a “mature minor” doctrine starting in 2021. Parents told us this policy allows minors, starting at age 13, to effectively take full control of their medical decisions while keeping parents in the dark.
To greet you at some of these offices you’ll see a sign warning you, “Parents of Pre-Teens Be Aware” followed by, “When your 12-year-old turns 13 you will lose access to your My Vanderbilt account. You and your teen must present yourself to the front desk with your ID and fill out a MHAV 13-17 Form to retain access.”
After this, parents report that their kids can make their own medical decisions, hide their health records, and schedule private one-on-one appointments with doctors who can begin the process of gender transition treatment without parental consent once they turn 13.
So-called “mature minor” doctrines around the country have led to dangerous drugs being prescribed without parents knowing about it and even procedures being performed without their knowledge. Once in the room with a doctor, your teen will see a sign notifying them that “We provide medical chaperones for all sensitive procedures” and assurance that “We’ll talk with you about this.”
You’ll notice on the sign illustration that no parent is in the room for this “talk.” The possible ways this could be abused seem endless. Why would a child need a chaperone that’s NOT their parent for a “sensitive” procedure?
Vanderbilt Health did not respond to a request for comment.
Is the Medical Establishment More Powerful Than State Law?
State laws didn’t even have to formally change in order for the removal of parental rights to take effect at Vanderbilt Health. When it comes to accessing children and making life-altering and potentially life-threatening medical decisions, Vanderbilt’s policies essentially mandate that parents have no rights or authority once their child turns 13.
When the parent-child connection is usurped by a higher authority injecting a new power dynamic, families experience devastating effects and all of this is happening during one of the most critical times in their child’s development. Parents bring their children in for care, and it quickly becomes evident that their involvement as the parent is not valued or necessary in the eyes of the medical establishment. This hierarchal attitude of subverting the parent’s authority, met with the hyper-fluctuating hormones of a teenager and sprinkled with gender theory confusion, makes a cocktail for family division and future, pervasive mental-health struggles for the child.
Multiple parents have reached out to me and my nonprofit, Freedom Forever, asking for guidance and support. One thing all these parents have in common is the fear of retribution from politically motivated medical professionals and/or being denied health care access for their children if they speak out. If you fear your system of health care, is that truly an ethical medical system?
One mother told me:
All of our daughter’s life we’ve been attending Vanderbilt-affiliated pediatric practices. At the stroke of midnight on our child’s 13th birthday, Vanderbilt made it known that parents are secondary to the child and they force you & your child to sign the ‘Mature Minor Consent Form.’
Essentially, this is a permission slip for the parent. Without our minor child’s signature, Vanderbilt simply strips our parental authority away. After signing the form, our daughter is still asked each appointment if she gives her consent to have us in the room. It’s just shocking. Our daughter is 13. She’s not on the eve of being an adult. She’s just entering her teens and, more than likely, the most confusing time of her life yet this is the precise time when Vanderbilt inserts themselves directly between the child and his or her parent.
Over the course of our conversations with this parent, we learned that while this document says a parent or guardian will accompany the minor, the reality is that Vanderbilt will not share information as simple as a child’s upcoming appointment time without the child signing a consent form allowing their parents to have this information. They still allow parents to pay the bills, but they won’t share the details of what they’re paying for.
This concerned mother said when she asked Vanderbilt for more information about the policy she was told, “This is Vanderbilt Policy. If you don’t sign, you cannot be with your child.” No one was able to explain to the parents how Vanderbilt could lawfully transfer care from adult to minor without cause. If a child can govern their own health affairs, what else can a 13-year-old child consent to without their parents’ knowledge or consent?
Pandora’s box has been opened. The boundaries of consent and parental rights are now in the hands of the medical establishment.
In Tennessee, a child can’t get their ears pierced without their birth certificate and a parent present giving consent yet we allow them to assume responsibility for all of their medical care? The life-altering effects of what these gender clinics are doing has far more devastating effects than a piercing.
Experimentation in the Name of ‘Tolerance’
There are hundreds of pediatric gender clinics in North America according to The Gender Mapping Project, where children as young as 13 are being given surgical referrals. The lack of transparency, the obvious enticement, and the incentives being used to find “new patients” are both unethical and immoral. From promoting services to kids at local Pride events or even appointing special advocates that they match minors up with, it’s clear the medical establishment is working alongside an embedded political agenda.
Transitioning children is quickly becoming the fastest-growing medicalized social-political initiative in America. This is medical experimentation being carried out on minors under the guise of “scientific advancement” and “tolerance.” These procedures, which lack long-term safety studies, are being done in many cases without parental consent or knowledge.
This includes mental health care and the new gold standard of “affirmative care” therapy. “Affirmative Care” only affirms what a child feels they are at any given moment and hormonally vulnerable teens and even pre-pubescent kids are overwhelmed with waves of propaganda telling them that they’ll be happier if they change genders. They’re even presented with a path marked with rainbows, unicorns, and praise for bravery and authenticity. To reject the propaganda is to yield to your lame parents giving you boundaries and telling you what you can and can’t do or be.
One mom said it best:
It’s upsetting to lay it out bare — that we’re in an adversarial relationship with our daughter’s medical team and that Vanderbilt views themselves as more important than the parents. She’s a patient at the endo clinic for a chromosomal abnormality. This is the same clinic that advertises its transgender clinic for minors and willingly prescribes hormones to confused children. With their Mature Minor policy, I have no idea if these treatments are being done with or without parental permission. You’re so scared as a parent. … I fear that if I’m not with my child, she could be coerced into a decision that’s not in her best interest or that could potentially be dangerous.
In the heart of the nation’s health care capital, children are watching as parental authority is being systematically removed. At the same time, they’re also being handed a newfound power they aren’t emotionally or physically ready to acquire. In the end, removing parents from a decision-making role in the medical care of their children is an extremely dangerous path.
We must speak up now to demand our parental rights or forever lose them as this snowballs into full normalization.
