Justin and Kimberly Cleburn* were facing a very difficult time in their family. Their fifteen-year-old son Logan had just told them that he was transgender and would start identifying as a girl.

Justin and Kimberly told Logan that they loved him and would care for him. They made it very clear to their son, however, that they would not call him by a different pronoun or by another name. Justin and Kimberly also told Logan that they would not allow him to bring hormone drugs or women’s clothing into their home.

At first, Logan seemed to respect their rules. But one day, Kimberly found Logan messing with some of her clothes and their daughter’s clothes too. Kimberly told her husband, and Justin went to talk to Logan.

When Justin asked Logan about it, Logan got loud, yelling at his dad. Justin tried to get him to calm down, but Logan became violent and also began to make threats of self-harm.

The encounter quickly escalated when Logan physically attacked his dad. Both Justin and Logan were students of judo.

Attempting to keep Logan from hurting either of them, Justin reacted with a move that laid Logan down on the beanbag in his room with Justin restraining him. Logan then got loose and punched his father, who defended himself. Logan then stormed out of the house.

Justin called the police, who soon found Logan. Everyone told their side of the story, and the police officers told Justin and Kimberly that they needed to take Logan to the hospital for a mental health evaluation.

Kimberly took Logan to the hospital while Justin talked with the police. Kimberly arrived at the hospital, and Logan was admitted. Before long, a hospital social worker talked to Kimberly. She asked a few short questions and then left.

Back at home, after hearing from everyone what had happened, the police told Justin that he would not be charged with anything since he was just defending himself and trying to restrain his son.

The next morning, there was a knock at the door. Justin and Kimberly were not surprised. Upon opening the door, Justin was confronted by a CPS worker. The worker told Justin that they were there to follow up regarding the situation of the previous day.

Justin asked the worker to wait one moment while he got his attorney on the phone. Justin then stepped inside and called the Heritage Defense 24/7 emergency hotline. Justin was promptly connected with an attorney and explained what had occurred.

After asking a few questions for clarification, the attorney advised Justin not to allow the CPS investigator in the home, but to let her lay eyes on the rest of the kids outside. Justin and Kimberly brought the rest of their kids onto the porch. The Heritage Defense attorney handled the situation on speakerphone.

After the CPS investigator left, the attorney told Justin and Kimberly that Heritage Defense would contact one of our local attorney contacts.

Once on the case, the local attorney promptly contacted Justin and Kimberly and then contacted CPS on their behalf.

Meanwhile, the hospital where Logan had been admitted told Justin and Kimberly they felt Logan needed to be placed into a more specialized mental health institution for treatment. Justin and Kimberly agreed.

After some back and forth between CPS and their local attorney, Justin and Kimberly eventually received a letter from CPS stating that they were closing the case. Heritage Defense contacted Justin and Kimberly to close the case officially on their end as well.

Justin and Kimberly thanked Heritage Defense for everything and relayed the good news that Logan was back at home with them, getting help, and seemed to be doing better.

Justin and Kimberly gave their feedback on how Heritage Defense handled the case.