Alyssa Johnson, a mother from Oregon, hasn’t seen her daughter in years. Not because of a crime, custody battle, or court order — but because of Oregon laws that let minors be removed from their parents and placed in host homes or foster programs without parental consent.

Under ORS 419B.150 and 419B.152, if a child tells a teacher, counselor, or youth worker they feel “unsafe” at home, they can be taken into state custody immediately — no court order, no investigation, no due process. “Unsafe” doesn’t mean abuse. It can be as simple as parents not using preferred pronouns or requiring homework before screen time.

Once classified as an “unaccompanied youth,” a child gains access to state-backed programs offering housing, stipends, and medical interventions — including gender transition services — while parents are cut out. Johnson calls it “legalized abduction,” describing it as a system that profits from keeping children in care while branding parents as the problem.

She has begged for answers, only to be met with silence. Agencies refuse to open a missing person report, enforce a return home, or even confirm if they know her daughter’s whereabouts. And it’s all legal.

In California, lawmakers are pushing Assembly Bill 495, the Family Preparedness Plan Act of 2025. It expands the definition of a “caregiver” to include “any adult with a mentoring relationship” with a child. Nearly any adult could present a signed affidavit to a school and gain custody rights — no background check, no parental notification.

Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills is urging Christians to take the threat seriously. “There’s no requirement in the bill for the school to call you, to ask you if it’s OK if someone takes your daughter out of school,” Hibbs warned. “It 100 percent strips parents of their parental rights.”

The bill would even allow these “caregivers” to authorize medical treatment, including immunizations, physical exams, or gender transitions. Hibbs has gone so far as to warn his congregation that if AB 495 passes, parents may have no choice but to “pack up and get out” of California.

In Illinois, Governor J.B. Pritzker recently signed SB 1560, a law requiring mandatory mental health screening of all public school students every year starting in third grade.

This creates a wide-open door for schools, bureaucrats, and pharmaceutical companies to label children, collect sensitive data, and funnel them into lifelong medical dependency.

Abigail Shrier, author of Irreversible Damage, called the law “a disastrous policy that will do vastly more harm than good.” Harvard-trained psychiatrist Dr. Peter Breggin warned it would lead to the “mass medicalization of children” and create “a storehouse of distorted psychiatric data and diagnoses that can ruin their lives.”

Parents can technically opt out — for now. But as laws normalize, exemptions often erode until they disappear.

What begins on the West Coast often spreads nationwide. Activist groups and government agencies are testing boundaries, and unless parents speak up, push back, and defend their God-given role, these policies will become permanent.

The greatest safeguard for children is still the word of God. We must teach them scripture, ground them in the gospel, and model daily faithfulness to Christ. Filling their hearts with truth through solid biblical literature — like Chick gospel tracts and comics — can plant seeds of faith in a world determined to confuse them.

Now is the time for Christian parents to stay alert, stay involved, and stand firm. Because if the state can take away your parental rights today, it may claim your child tomorrow.