“They said our view was dangerous,” Christian Holm said of social workers for the Cleburne County, Ala., Department of Human Resources (DHR). “We were just trying to follow the Bible as close as we could and speak for Jesus.”
Christian and Danielle live off the grid. They traded in their belongings, house, and permanent lifestyle in favor of an alternative lifestyle of camping and hiking. Danielle went into labor in October, while the couple was camping at Cheaha State Park in Alabama. DHR social workers at the Regional Medical Center in Anniston, Ala questioned the couple about their alternative lifestyle.
Christian said state officials opposed their religious beliefs about “man’s creation destroying God’s creation” and also had concerns that the couple didn’t want to give the baby a Social Security number, according to The Anniston Star. Police and social workers took the baby and did not tell the couple where they could find it, The Star reported.
“They took the baby, said Christian, ‘He’s ours and this is the court date. Be there.’” Danielle told the newspaper.
The baby had still not been returned to its parent's custody two months later. The parents were still waiting for a court date to be set as the initial date of December 20th was canceled after Judge Melody Walker recused herself.
Supporters in Anniston, who have adopted the tagline #freebabyholm, gathered around the courthouse to picket after the hearing was canceled.
“You can see when you talk to them directly that they are very loving and caring people,” Jonathan Payton, a friend and supporter of the Holms, told The Star. “That’s what really hit home.”
On January 15th Christian Holm shared the news via Facebook that the couple will be allowed to visit their baby once a week for a period of two hours.
“They say well you can have another ISP and arrange more visits,” he wrote. “What? Another organized coercion and conversion meeting just to have more visits? This is nothing but psychological control tactics to force submission at the expense of our little baby boy. Where is his so-called attorney to protect his rights?”
Social media reveals that the public opinion remains divided. The fate of baby Holm remains undecided.
***Update: Per Christian Holm's Facebook Page as of August 2017 their baby has still not been returned to them.
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I bet you if i was in thier postion they wouldnt have made it out of the room alive.
I would fucking kill you if you touch my child.
If somebody wants to live off of the Grid it’s their business and not the government’s or nobody’s it is their god-given right
Kids have died in foster care after being taken from their “dangerous” parents. if you can be arrested for collecting rainwater, why should they not kidnap your child for not paying your protection fees
Not saying it’s right, but they weren’t living off grid like we normally think of in a cabin or something. They traded their home and were living a “camping and hiking” lifestyle. No permanent shelter. That’s called “homeless.” No source of income it sounds like.
To the state, they removed a baby from a homeless couple with no income or resources in the middle of winter. A situation that lead to a high infant mortality rate throughout history, and even today.
It’s Alabama. Alaska doesn’t have counties. Ala. is Alabama.
Off grid or not, any attempt to take away my children, and you see your last sunset.
This bullshit is really getting out of hand.
Breast milk is 100 times better than any formula, you don’t know who makes it for starters even if it say’s made in the USA, you don’t know whats in it, look at China a few years back… the Us buys most garbage from China anyways.
I used formula on both my kids sense birth so should my kids be taken
a shotgun will say otherwise…
Ummmm…I’m going to go ahead and state, categorically, that there are about a bajillion differences between AK and AL….or between AK and anywhere else in the US, for that matter.
The system wants there money that’s why!
They say we’re free! lol Are we? Yes we live better than most countries and that our distraction! We are owned! CATTLE!!
How the Hell diff you get that out of the equation thomas Yates? Lmao talk about off topic search for an argument..
I agree with Kendra but at the same time the mom should have moved back in to the city with her baby even for safety reasons!
kid had to have been born addicted to drugs then.
I had our school ask us how we heat our home, I told them with a wood stove. They said I should have a gas furnace for backup in case the power goes out, they didn’t understand that I can still burn wood without electricity but a gas furnace will not work without power. They also wanted to know if we had any guns in the home, my response was that it is none of their business to know any of this and walked out.
If living a nomadic lifestyle, with no permeant housing , unfortunately this is bad environmental for a newborn child. Article is kinda misleading.
So a baby comes into the world, in a tent, (camping lifestyle, etc.). Baby has no voice to speak for itself.
DSHS comes in on the behalf of the kid’s welfare.
Why is it that it seems like nearly everybody living a DIY/less grid/less govt. lifestyle complains about the reach of Govt. but as soon as their house is on fire, reaches for the fire dept. or home is burglarized, people want to call the cops?
http://www.annavonreitz.com. And Continental marshals. Are your only hope