Massachusetts must not run out the clock on Sophie Kutzko’s parents
A judge blocked testosterone, but the March custody trial leaves Sophie’s parents little time to secure a ruling before she turns 18.
Massachusetts should give Sophie Kutzko’s parents a timely custody trial instead of leaving her mother begging on television for her return. During a September 14 Fox News appearance, Arlene Kutzko pleaded: “Mama miss you. Please come home. Mama miss you. Please, I’m begging you,” the Boston Herald reports1.
A complaint filed in Waltham District Court alleges that appearance violated a restraining order because Arlene pleaded for Sophie to come home and expressed that she missed her, according to the Herald1. Broyles says the Kutzkos have been unable to communicate with Sophie for nearly two years. She also told the Herald that Sophie applied for criminal charges against Arlene with help from a DCF social worker and a Victim Rights Law Center attorney; an EOHHS spokesperson told the Herald that DCF was not involved. The complaint remains an allegation, not a judgment.
How much longer must this family wait for the custody trial that could bring them together?
“Mama miss you. Please come home. Mama miss you. Please, I’m begging you,”
The trial now falls weeks before 18
The Intelligent reports that on October 29, a Worcester Juvenile Court judge blocked Massachusetts officials from beginning testosterone treatment for 17-year-old Sophie. That was the right call.
But the family’s attorney, Vernadette Broyles, confirmed to the Herald that the custody trial moved from November to March. Broyles warned: “Sophie turns 18 in April, so it just seems like they’re (the state) running out the clock”1.
A pause on cross-sex hormones protects Sophie now; it cannot substitute for deciding whether she should be home.
The school acted without the parents’ knowledge
Arlene and her husband, Joseph Kutzko, say Massachusetts took Sophie into custody in December 2024 after they refused to recognize their daughter as a boy or use male names and pronouns, the Herald reports1.
The U.S. Education Department is investigating Northborough-Southborough Regional School District over possible federal student-privacy violations, according to The Christian Post. The department said the parents reported that Algonquin Regional High School personnel facilitated their daughter’s social transition without informing them2.
Concealing a child’s transition violates parental authority: schools have no right to make parents outsiders in their daughter’s upbringing.
The abuse allegations brought no guilt finding
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey defended the removal: “DCF removed the child after there were criminal charges filed against the parents, including the father,” the Herald reports1.
The Herald also reports that the allegations produced no finding of guilt in juvenile or criminal court in February 2025. Broyles said the parents accepted pre-trial probation after legal fees exceeded $150,0001.
Healey can cite the accusations; the custody court must decide the family’s future on the evidence, promptly.
Massachusetts must move the trial forward
Protecting Sophie from testosterone was necessary. Leaving the custody question unresolved until adulthood approaches denies this family the timely decision it needs.
Parents have the primary responsibility to direct their child’s upbringing and medical care. Massachusetts should have to defend its interference with that responsibility in court while a custody ruling can still matter.
Move the trial forward, hear the evidence, and restore these parents’ authority and their daughter’s place at home.
Sources
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