Teen Seized By State Has Successful Surgery, DHS Officials Backpedaling After Denying Mom Visitation
The Kylee Dixon saga is showing signs of finally coming to a happy conclusion, despite some questionable behavior by Oregon Department Of Human Services officials. Kylee’s surgery took place on January 14th, and appears to be successful.
You may recall Kylee is the cancer stricken 13 year old who was seized by the state after her mother took her out of chemothrapy treatments that weren’t working. The mother, Christine Gale Dixon, was later indicted on charges of “custodial interference” and “criminal mistreatment.” Judge Heather Karabeika eventually awarded custody of Kylee to the state, where she was later abused at one of the foster homes.
Representing herself again, Christine called for a short notice hearing today before the same judge, offering evidence that DHS officials, namely Marty McMahon, violated the judge’s orders by not allowing for Christine to visit with her daughter before and during the surgery. In fact, one of the primary reasons Kylee finally agreed to the surgery is because she was told she’d be able to see her mom more often.
The courthouse was swarming with more deputies than usual, even a command level Captain, all fixated on this hearing and the small protest that was taking place outside. This hearing took place in a smaller court room with noticeably fewer seats for an audience than previous proceedings on the matter. Every seat in the room ended up being filled by supporters of the family, and the deputies even opened the doors to the hallway to allow for overflow.
Kylee entered the court room through the judge’s chambers, as she’s not allowed to mingle with her family and supporters. Wearing a pink beanie and a Friends TV show hoodie, she appeared to be in good spirits. You probably couldn’t tell she had major surgery 2 weeks ago if you didn’t already know it. As with past hearings, she was to sit in the jury chairs.
State attorney Catherine Terwilliger tried to make the excuse that Christine wasn’t allowed visits because they were concerned about security and protests. Terwilliger tried to explain that there were “security concerns” at the hospital due to possible “disruptive protests” as well as the possibility of inclimate weather, so they moved the surgery ahead one day.
The “security concerns” ended up being one woman holding two signs in front of the hospital. Thankfully, they didn’t call in the SWAT team to deal with her. Terwilliger also cited protests at the DHS office in Clackamas County, and tried to paint those out to be threatening, despite there not being a single instance of an arrest or citation issued to anyone involved, and no actual evidence of any threats.
Here are some of the scary *dangerous extremists* that officials were so concerned about:
Terwilliger claimed several times that they want to lift the no-contact orders and work toward re-unification and getting Kylee back in her mother’s care as soon as possible, but Terwilliger’s actions seem to speak louder than her words.
Christine countered by saying proper communication never happened until after the surgery, and they cancelled possible visits with Kylee. They never even notified her on the day her daughter was taken in for the procedure. DHS “child welfare” caseworker Marty McMahon was slow to respond to Christine’s correspondence.
Christine’s supporters held prayers and encouraged others to write letters to the White House in hopes of grabbing Trump’s attention on the matter. In documents procured by Christina, DHS officials referred to this as “dangerous activities” and noted that the DHS officials never provided any hard evidence of this, such as images from social media. “Anything less than that is superficial” Christine said, as she started to rip Terwilliger.
“It’s inflammatory to call protests ‘threats,'” she continued, “These unfounded fears from the acts of strangers are unworthy for a state agency.” To make matters even more unsettling, DHS officials didn’t even inform her when Kylee was allegedly sexually abused at one of the foster homes. Christine had to find out via a 3rd party, just minutes before the previous hearing on January 6th.
Contrary to their own policies, DHS has provided no written plan for re-unification and they have failed to facilitate the approval for Kylee’s extended family to foster her, which the judge previously told them to do.
Ultimately, Christine asked the court to revoke DHS’s authority for visits and to transfer that to another agency.
Terwilliger tried to blame the no-contact order involved in Christine’s criminal case, despite the judge in that case being lenient on the issue of allowing visits. Remember she’s being charged for kidnapping her own daughter. The deputy district attorney in that case, Christine Landers was not present at this hearing.
Apparently there was some sort of written court order that went out that Christine never even saw regarding the visits, which only stated Christine could visit with Kylee after the surgery, which is different from the judge’s own words in the on-record proceeding.
Rebecca Schaleger, the state attorney assigned to look out for Kylee’s interest, spoke on behalf of the 13 year old, saying she’s feeling good, recovering, and appreciated all of the support, to the point where it can get overwhelming at times. Kylee wants unfettered contact with her mother. In fact, Kylee herself thought her mom would be with her at the hospital, asking “Why isn’t mom here? What’s going on?” and receiving vague run-around answers from the Dr. Jason Glover‘s staff and DHS officials.
Schaleger would then condemn the aforementioned Martin McMahon saying his communication is lacking, late, and not thorough. “DHS handled this inappropriately” she proclaimed.
Kylee further stressed “I want to go home” and also reiterated that she’s not happy having her father, James Dixon, in the courtroom, and it makes her feel uncomfortable, as he apparently hasn’t been involved in her life. According to court records he has recently been investigated for rape, but the charges were dismissed earlier this month. Mr. Dixon’s attorney stated that James thanks DHS, the doctors, and Marty McMahon, which came off sounding more like a backhanded compliment just to irk Christine.
The foster mother currently looking after Kylee was allowed to speak, and she said she’s had nothing but good experiences with Christina, that she’s been polite and respectful the whole time. The foster mother wants to support the family as much as possible and is more than happy to facilitate video chats, in-person visits, and even made accommodations for Kylee’s sister, Jasmine, to have a sleepover recently.
After all parties had their say, Judge Karabeika stated that she was “dismayed” the lack of visits, saying “We need to make things better for the family.” She pushed DHS to provide for more visits and improve their communication. The judge stated that the goal is to get Kylee back with her family, and will work with the judge on the criminal case to provide for more visitation.
After the hearing officially ended, Kylee was allowed to hug and briefly visit with her family, including Christine.
Out front, supporters rallied around Christine, where they held a prayer before Christine thanked everyone for showing up and said their support and unity is what’s driving the case into her favor.
You can keep up with the latest on the facebook page Kylee’s Fight. There’s also a Go Fund Me page.
Kelli Stewart, who did several live stream reports during the Bundy and Hammond trials, was on hand and offers this recap:
