Swiss court takes trans child away from parents over their objections to puberty blockers
"Marginalized," "powerless," living in the "Twilight Zone."
Parents of a trans teenager living in Geneva used those words to describe how they have lived in shock and fear over the last 19 months after their then 15-year-old daughter was removed from their home by court order following their objections to giving her puberty blockers.
Now, they are fighting under threat of criminal charges to preserve her identity and stop her from making potentially irreversible changes to her body.
"This is not a question of human rights," the father told Fox News Digital. "This is a question of conducting medical experiments on children."
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The parents of the now 16-year-old – who wish to remain anonymous to preserve their family’s privacy – claim they have struggled to combat the institutional powers that have accused them of parental abuse for their refusal to give their daughter elective medicine.
The tumultuous journey began when the girl sat her parents down in 2021 and told them she identified as a boy.
"It was an absolute surprise. She was 13 at the time, and she had never previously demonstrated any inclination toward masculinity or any proclivity for masculine behavior ever," the father explained.
The father – who said he and his daughter were always very close – detailed how she reached this conclusion following a difficult time for their family after first his work took him abroad for several years, and then the coronavirus pandemic hit.
The pandemic forced school closures, which meant increased isolation for kids around the globe, and a significant amount of time spent online.
"We said to our daughter, ‘Well this is a surprise, but we will listen to you, and we will seek medical advice. We will all learn together and make decisions together,'" he said.
At the recommendation of their child’s pediatrician, they took their daughter to the public children’s hospital in Geneva, where she was shown a "gender unicorn" and was asked to identify with various aspects of the image, after which it was determined that she was "likely experiencing gender dysphoria."
The director of the ward then met with the parents and explained that the hospital was conducting "rigorous research" around the question of gender identity and that their daughter would receive a "comprehensive and serious assessment."
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The advice was to "support her in her identity" by allowing her to cut her hair, dress as a boy and wear breast binders if that’s what she wished.
"And so, initially, we did that. We followed the medical advice," the father said.
However, after seeing a psychiatrist at the hospital for a few months, the parents were told the next step they should pursue for their daughter would be to begin the use of hormone blockers – a medication that prevents puberty-related changes to the body, like breast growth.
"We’re not at the stage where we're going to be giving our daughter any medication," he said, reflecting on their response to the psychiatrist.
"We saw firsthand in our interaction with the hospital, that there was no serious medical assessment being conducted. It was simply, well your daughter has pointed to these elements on the gender unicorn, and therefore, she’s a boy because she says so," he added, noting that they then sought out a private psychiatrist.
In response to Fox News Digital's questions, the Geneva University Hospital (HUG) said they could not comment on individual cases but said in cases of gender dysphoria the hospital works "to promote dialogue between the child and his parents."
Spokesperson for the hospital, Nicolas de Saussure, also said the "HUG does not push any patient in the direction of a legal or medical transition but supports them in their individual journey according to their values and preferences by referring to existing scientific data and international recommendations."
According to the statement sent to Fox News Digital, the hospital has received roughly 100 minors with gender dysmorphia, about half of which have begun hormonal treatments after they have reached the age of 16.
However, the father described a sense of frustration regarding what the parents felt was a lack of adequate medical care and support offered for their daughter and their family – a frustration that marked only the beginning of what would become a long and arduous journey as they struggled to maintain their parental rights.
Against the parent’s wishes, the private school their child attended began to "socially transition" their daughter and connected her with a transgender advocacy organization.
By the time their daughter was 15, a school psychologist – who she saw in addition to the private psychiatrist hired by her parents – reached out to the Swiss Child Protection Agency (SPMI) and claimed the minor needed protection from her "transphobic" parents following their continued objection to puberty blockers.
"The school was facilitating meetings between our daughter and [the transgender advocacy agency], and our daughter and the SPMI – not only without our knowledge, but fraudulently because they were marking her absentee form as if she was doing school activities," he told Fox News Digital. "We later found out she wasn't. She was out of school meeting with [the transgender advocacy group] and meeting with the SPMI."
The school, which Fox News Digital has not named for the sake of the family's anonymity, rejected the accusation that it did anything untoward and said, "The school abides by Swiss law and complies with the decisions of the child protection authorities.
"We refute all allegations implying otherwise," a school official added, though questions regarding how the child was marked absent were not directly answered.
Eventually, based on alleged mental and physical health concerns, a Swiss court decided their daughter should be placed in a supervised home run by social services known as a "foyer" – where the now 16-year-old has remained for more than a year.
"International law holds that a child shall not be separated from her parents against their will, except in cases of abuse," legal counsel for ADF International, Dr. Felix Boellmann, said in a statement.
The father told Fox News Digital that it is still unclear to him and his legal team what abuse was identified in order to allow them to remove his daughter from her home.
In return to Fox News Digital's questions, Swiss authorities with the République et canton de Genève said they would not comment on "individual situations" but provided a broad response to Switzerland's legal system.
"The SPMI respects parental authority, unless the exercise of this authority endangers the child concerned, in which case it is up to the judge to decide the child's best interests," communications officer Constance Chaix said. "No child is removed from his or her parents because of ‘a lack of consent to the transition.'"
"No child is placed for lack of consent or opposition to treatment," Chaix said.
A series of battles have ensued as the parents desperately try to maintain a relationship with their daughter and return her to their home.
But as their daughter continues to age, the harder the fight becomes.
In Switzerland, minors are allowed to legally change their name and registered sex at the age of 16, which her parents fear could make it that much easier for her to physically transition.
"We've met too many other parents and kids who have been victimized and now regret the situation they're in, in life. And we are up against these institutions," he said, referring to the court, the school and the SPMI, which he argues have not taken an evidence-based approach when it comes to minors experiencing gender dysphoria.
"Our inclination was to not only, of course, follow doctor's advice, but LGBTQI – everybody – we support that," he continued. "But as we started to get educated about gender identity, we started to understand that this was not a question of sexual orientation, but a question of cosmetic surgeries, hormones and other sort of Frankenstein-like experiments on children."
The father said the education system in Switzerland has put trans children on a "pedestal for being somehow more courageous," which influences hasty solutions like puberty blockers that could have lasting consequences.
The effects of hormone blockers are reportedly reversible, though government institutions like the U.K.’s National Health Institute have noted the limited research there is on its use in children, and the unknown long-term effects it could have on physical development like bone density or reproductive health.
"We [need to] start taking decisions based on facts and evidence instead of a radical, harmful ideology," the father said. "This is not a question of human rights. This is a question of conducting medical experiments on children.
"I want her to come home so that we can get her back on a healthy track," he said. "For her own well-being and that of her entire family."