Authorities Hunt Down Family Who Refused to Vaxx Their Infant, Now They’re Being Accused of “Kidnapping” Their Own Kids

* A Fitchburg, Massachusetts family were terrorized and put in grave danger after they declined vaccinations for their nine-month-old baby on religious grounds.

* The parents, Isael Rivera and Ruth Encarnacion, were arrested and charged with “familial kidnapping” after fleeing to Texas to avoid the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) and local police.

* The coercive and vindictive pediatrician who reported the parents to DCF is under scrutiny for overstepping boundaries, and violating the family’s fundamental rights.

* The case has sparked national outrage and calls for reform in how DCF and law enforcement handle parental decisions regarding unnecessary medical interventions.

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A family’s fight for freedom and faith In a shocking turn of events that has sent ripples of outrage across the nation, a Fitchburg, Massachusetts family is now at the center of a heated debate over parental rights and government overreach. Isael Rivera and Ruth Encarnacion, a homeschooling couple, found themselves in the crosshairs of the Department of Children and Families (DCF) and local law enforcement after they made the informed decision to decline vaccinations for their nine-month-old baby based on their religious beliefs.

The ordeal began in February when the family’s pediatrician, a mandatory reporter, threatened to report the parents to DCF if they did not vaccinate their infant. Despite Massachusetts law allowing for religious exemptions to vaccinations, the doctor proceeded to file a 51A child “neglect” report, setting off a chain of events that would terrorize the family and would ultimately lead law enforcement to tear the family apart.

“The doctor said if we didn’t vaccinate, he’d have to report us,” Rivera told an advocate who provided safe harbor for the family in Texas. “We were clear that our decision was based on our religious beliefs, and we were confident in our ability to care for our child.” Massachusetts statutory law includes religious exemptions for parents, but these exemptions are for school attendance, and this family home-schooled to begin with, so the pediatrician had no justification one way or the other. The pediatrician had no legal grounds to harass this family, not for school attendance, nor for any reason whatsoever. Vaccines are not a mandatory requirement for school or life in general, so the pediatrician is acting unlawfully and against any basic medical standard. He has not only violated basic medical ethics and his oath, but he has violated the parent’s fundamental rights in the most egregious and coercive way imaginable.

DCFS and local PD escalate situation, prompting family’s exile from Massachusetts

After the disgusting pediatrician conscripted law enforcement to further the harassment and abuse, what followed was a dramatic and terrifying escalation. DCF left a notice on the family’s door demanding a home visit, which the parents refused, citing their rights. Fitchburg police, at the direction of Leominster DCF, surrounded their apartment, banging on doors and circling the property for up to 30 minutes. Encarnacion, fearing for her children’s safety, hid in the closet with the five children.

The next day, the situation worsened as police and DCF returned in greater numbers. The family, feeling cornered and fearing for their lives, decided to flee Massachusetts for Texas. They embarked on a three-day journey, aided by a Texas woman who provided them with an RV, food, and supplies.

For a brief moment, the family found refuge in Texas, but their peace was short-lived. A credit card charge for baby formula revealed their location, and on March 8th, authorities tracked them down in Whitney, Texas. Rivera and Encarnacion were arrested and charged with five misdemeanor counts each of “kidnapping a minor by a relative.” The children were seized by Child Protective Services (CPS).

The case has sparked national outrage, with many questioning the actions of DCF and the Fitchburg Police Department. Kevin Larson, Encarnacion’s attorney, accused DCF of overstepping their bounds. “There was no basis for the neglect report,” Larson said. “The doctor’s appointment confirmed that the child was healthy. This is a clear violation of the family’s rights.”

Ron Bouchard, a constitutional law strategist, emphasized the broader implications of the case. “This is a blatant violation of fundamental rights on multiple levels,” Bouchard said. “By what authority has this family been apprehended and for what? A family has the right to travel with their children. How and why have they been reported missing, and by whom? What laws have they broken, and what imminent danger exists to justify the drastic action of DCF and the Fitchburg Police Department?”

The pediatrician’s office, DCF, and the Fitchburg Police Department have declined to comment, further fueling suspicions of a cover-up. Advocates and legal experts are calling for a thorough investigation into the actions of the pediatrician and the agencies involved.

As the case continues to unfold, the Rivera-Encarnacion family remains in a state of limbo. Rivera is being held in Worcester County Jail on a $200,000 bond, while Encarnacion is incarcerated in Chicopee. The children have been placed with family members in Massachusetts, but the trauma of the experience has left deep scars.

“This case is a wake-up call for all parents,” said Ann Vandersteel, an activist supporting the family. “We must stand together to protect our rights and prevent government agencies from weaponizing medical mandates against families.”

The family’s plight has also drawn attention to the need for legislative reform. “Doctors should not have the power to report parents to DCF based on personal beliefs,” said Texas Republican congressional candidate Ava Zolari. “This is a clear case of government overreach and a violation of constitutional rights.” Congress should act on this issue, making it illegal and punishable for doctors to retaliate against parents who decline childhood vaccinations.

As the nation watches, the Rivera-Encarnacion family’s story serves as a stark reminder of the importance of parental authority and the dangers of a medical-police state. The fight for their rights and the safety of their children continues, and the outcome of this case could have far-reaching implications for families across the country.

The Fitchburg Police Department (978) 345-4355 are responsible for escalating this further. This must stop. There is no evidence of abuse or neglect on part of the parents. The abuse and neglect stems from the false authorities – the pediatrician, the compliant police department, the out of control DCF and CPS, who think they can harass, separate, punish, terrorize, and extort this family.

This Rivera-Encarnacion family should immediately be released and reunited, and charges should be pursued against all false authorities acting unlawfully against them!

Paul Revere’s Ride

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
1807 – 1882

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Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five:
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

He said to his friend, “If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry-arch
Of the North-Church-tower, as a signal-light,—
One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country-folk to be up and to arm.”

Then he said “Good night!” and with muffled oar
Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore,
Just as the moon rose over the bay,
Where swinging wide at her moorings lay
The Somerset, British man-of-war:
A phantom ship, with each mast and spar
Across the moon, like a prison-bar,
And a huge black hulk, that was magnified
By its own reflection in the tide.

Meanwhile, his friend, through alley and street
Wanders and watches with eager ears,
Till in the silence around him he hears
The muster of men at the barrack door,
The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet,
And the measured tread of the grenadiers
Marching down to their boats on the shore.

Then he climbed to the tower of the church,
Up the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread,
To the belfry-chamber overhead,
And startled the pigeons from their perch
On the sombre rafters, that round him made
Masses and moving shapes of shade,—
By the trembling ladder, steep and tall,
To the highest window in the wall,
Where he paused to listen and look down
A moment on the roofs of the town,
And the moonlight flowing over all.

Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead,
In their night-encampment on the hill,
Wrapped in silence so deep and still
That he could hear, like a sentinel’s tread,
The watchful night-wind, as it went
Creeping along from tent to tent,
And seeming to whisper, “All is well!”
A moment only he feels the spell
Of the place and the hour, and the secret dread
Of the lonely belfry and the dead;
For suddenly all his thoughts are bent
On a shadowy something far away,
Where the river widens to meet the bay,—
A line of black, that bends and floats
On the rising tide, like a bridge of boats.

Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride,
Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride,
On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere.
Now he patted his horse’s side,
Now gazed on the landscape far and near,
Then impetuous stamped the earth,
And turned and tightened his saddle-girth;
But mostly he watched with eager search
The belfry-tower of the old North Church,
As it rose above the graves on the hill,
Lonely and spectral and sombre and still.
And lo! as he looks, on the belfry’s height,
A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!
He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns,
But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight
A second lamp in the belfry burns!

A hurry of hoofs in a village-street,
A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark,
And beneath from the pebbles, in passing, a spark
Struck out by a steed that flies fearless and fleet:
That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light,
The fate of a nation was riding that night;
And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight,
Kindled the land into flame with its heat.

He has left the village and mounted the steep,
And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep,
Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides;
And under the alders, that skirt its edge,
Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge,
Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides.

It was twelve by the village clock
When he crossed the bridge into Medford town.
He heard the crowing of the cock,
And the barking of the farmer’s dog,
And felt the damp of the river-fog,
That rises when the sun goes down.

It was one by the village clock,
When he galloped into Lexington.
He saw the gilded weathercock
Swim in the moonlight as he passed,
And the meeting-house windows, blank and bare,
Gaze at him with a spectral glare,
As if they already stood aghast
At the bloody work they would look upon.

It was two by the village clock,
When he came to the bridge in Concord town.
He heard the bleating of the flock,
And the twitter of birds among the trees,
And felt the breath of the morning breeze
Blowing over the meadows brown.
And one was safe and asleep in his bed
Who at the bridge would be first to fall,
Who that day would be lying dead,
Pierced by a British musket-ball.

You know the rest. In the books you have read,
How the British Regulars fired and fled,—
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard-wall,
Chasing the red-coats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.

So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,—
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo forevermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.

This poem is in the public domain.

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