Oregon Took a Daughter After Her Mother Refused to Affirm Gender Identity

A mother's right to direct her child's care does not end when she refuses to call her daughter a boy. Oregon DHS took Jane, then 15, into protective custody in July 2024 while investigating whether Nicole had caused her mental injury; the DHS notice said Nicole’s reactions to Jane expressing her gender identity had caused serious harm to Jane’s psychological functioning. On October 18, 2026, January Littlejohn, who posts on X as @JanuaryDoNoHarm, put the charge plainly: "Parents like Nicole are losing custody for not affirming the lie their child was born in the wrong body and consenting to their sterilization and mutilation¹."

After Nicole sought review, DHS said she refused to support Jane’s gender identity and that her lectures had led to panic attacks and suicidal ideation; on October 17, Nicole Calaway wrote: “Please help parents like us in this battle, who just wanted to help our children from permanently damaging their bodies.”

“Please help parents like us in this battle, who just wanted to help our children from permanently damaging their bodies.”

Oregon took custody after a gender dispute

Nicole's battle began with a phone call to a therapist. The Daily Signal reported that Nicole and her daughter called therapist Jennifer Forster on July 17, 2024, and ended her services. Mother and daughter both accused Forster of hiding information from Nicole. The family's lawsuit says Oregon Department of Human Services caseworker Rachel Woods then recommended that Forster call the child-abuse hotline².

On July 18, the state took custody of the girl, then 15, who is called K.A. and Jane Doe in the filings². Nicole told The Daily Wire that when she asked what would happen if she did not let her daughter go, a police officer told her she could be arrested³. Officials placed the girl with her biological father, according to the family's complaint⁴.

In September 2024, the department notified Nicole that the allegation she caused her daughter a "mental injury" by not affirming her transgender identity was "founded," The Daily Wire reported. The department withdrew its dependency petition that November, but it kept the child-abuse findings². Nicole has not seen her daughter since the day the state took her³.

Oregon required families to support gender identity

That finding did not come out of nowhere. The Daily Wire reports that Oregon adopted a policy in 2018 requiring foster and adoptive families to “respect, accept, and support” a child’s gender identity.

A federal court has already seen what that rule does to a family. In Jessica Bates's case, the judge's final opinion found that Oregon "cited Bates's refusal to 'encourage' children 'in this behavior' as grounds for denying her certification as an adoptive parent³." Nicole is a birth mother, not a foster applicant, yet the finding against her applies the same test.

DHS called Nicole’s response serious harm

The department has put its case against Nicole in writing. In a Sept. 13 letter, Woods told the Calaways: "Your adverse reactions to [K.A.] expressing their gender identity have caused serious harm to [K.A.'s] psychological functioning²." When Nicole asked the department to reconsider, it answered: "You refuse to support JANE DOE's gender identity and instead provided hours-long lectures that have led to JANE DOE experiencing panic attacks and suicidal ideation³."

That is the state's best case, and it rests on one evening of videos. Nicole told The Daily Wire that she and her daughter watched them for about two hours, ate dinner and went to bed³. The Daily Signal reports that the girl later apologized to her mother and thanked her for helping her "acknowledge reality²." If an evening of videos counts as mental injury, which parent who questions puberty blockers is safe?

Courts must protect parents’ right to resist

The Calaways are now putting that question to a federal judge. Their case, Calaway et al. v. Forster, LPC, et al., was filed July 15, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon. It alleges that state officials violated the couple's First and Fourteenth Amendment rights by removing the teenager and penalizing them for their religious beliefs about sex and gender identity. It also alleges that the department directed the girl's school to block Nicole from her daughter's educational records without a court order. The family asks the court to declare that a parent's religiously and medically grounded refusal to affirm a child's transgender identity is not child abuse or mental injury⁴.

"Parents do not surrender their constitutional rights when government officials disagree with their religious convictions," said Ray D. Hacke, the Pacific Justice Institute attorney representing the family⁴. The cost is not confined to Oregon: the child-abuse finding has followed the Calaways to Florida, where they moved in July 2025².

We hold that the court should grant that declaration. Lawmakers in every state should bar child-welfare agencies from treating a parent's refusal to affirm a transgender identity as abuse. A mother who says no to puberty blockers and sex-change procedures is protecting her child, and no state should take a child away for that. Parents should watch the Oregon docket.

Sources

1. @JanuaryDoNoHarm on X, 2026-10-18: Gender ideology destroys everything it touches, including families. Parents like Nicole are losing custody for not affirming the lie their child was born in the wrong body and consenting to their sterilization and mutilation. How is this still happening?, 2026-10-18
2. ‘It has destroyed our lives’: Christian parents sue after state takes daughter when they didn’t affirm trans ID * WorldNetDaily * by Tyler O'Neil, The Daily Signal
3. She Wouldn’t Call Her Daughter ‘Trans.’ The State Took Custody.
4. PJI Challenges Oregon Child-Welfare Actions in Federal Religious Liberty Case - Pacific Justice Institute