NewsBreak Original

Protests were held today in Los Angeles and Watsonville in support of two children that a Santa Cruz court had taken from their home and placed in a “reunification camp” last week. Reunification camps and reunification therapy is not based on any proven, medically peer-reviewed treatment of abused children. Maya’s mother solicited the services of Dr. Lynn Steinberg, a self-proclaimed expert witness in “parental alienation” in family courts and “reunification therapy”, who urged the court to place the children with her in reunification. Friends of Maya, 15, and Sebastian Laing, 11, gathered in front of the Watsonville Courthouse chanting “Maya and Sebastian, hear our voices.” The Center for Judicial Excellence with support from MetooMoms picketed in front of Dr. Steinberg’s Los Angeles reunification office.

Two Santa Cruz children were physically removed from their aunt's home by “transporters” and taken to a reunification camp by court order last Thursday. Reunification camps are a controversial method in which children are removed from their preferred parent or safe parent, despite their allegations of abuse or mistreatment directed towards the other parent. After their parents divorced a few years ago, Maya Laing, 15, and Sebastian Laing, 11, live with their father and stepmother who are their preferred parents. About a year ago, Maya began to voice claims of abuse by her mother. Santa Cruz family court appointed a reunification therapist to Maya and Sebastian’s case who then had them placed in a reunification camp based on claims of their father “alienating” them from their mother. Maya and Sebastian’s story is one within the family court system where reunification is commonplace.

Maya Laing taken by transporters from a family home on Thursday, October 20, 2022.(Courtesy of Tina Swithin) Two Santa Cruz children were physically removed from their aunt's home by “transporters” and taken to a reunification camp by court order last Thursday, according to a video found on social media.