In October 2022, a Santa Cruz teen and her younger brother were taken from a relative’s house, driven to Los Angeles and forced into a family therapy program with their mother. They were then taken to Washington to live with her. Seven months later, they snuck out in the pre-dawn hours and went into hiding.
After more than two months living in a variety of places, they are now back with their father—who they say they wanted to be with the entire time—after a Santa Cruz County Superior Court judge granted temporary shared custody to the parents.
“It’s been really good to be back, and to be doing normal things,” Maya Laing, 16, said.
A HARROWING ORDEAL
The story of Maya and her brother Sebastian, 12, garnered international attention when on Oct. 20 2022, a company called Assisted Interventions, Inc. sent several employees to their grandmother’s house to take them to a court-ordered “therapy” program.
The siblings did not want to go, but despite their protests, were forced into a waiting car—both of them crying and struggling—as Santa Cruz Police stood by and friends and family watched. Several people took video of the incident and posted it to social media and it went viral. (To watch, click here. Be warned; it is disturbing.)
Assisted Interventions has not responded to numerous requests for comment regarding the incident.
Laing and her brother were then forced to undergo “reunification therapy,” a program often ordered by family court judges in contentious custody disputes. This occurs when one parent accuses the other of parental alienation, an emotionally abusive strategy that severs a child’s relationship with the targeted parent.
The practice is controversial among psychologists.
Court-appointed therapist Jeanette Yoffe said in June that forcing children into reunification therapy is an “unethical and immoral” practice that will cause further trauma.
After the kids ran away, Maya took to social media, detailing the trip to Los Angeles and the intensive four-day reunification program with their mother. This included being kept in a locked room, threatened with being placed in a locked facility and denied the ability to contact their friends and family.
Even as Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Rebecca Connolly granted dual custody, the kids’ mother tried to convince her to order another transportation company or a local police agency to take them again.
Connolly, who had granted the previous order, rejected this request.
That decision came as no surprise to their father Justin Laing.
“I don’t think it’s a publicly tenable situation for them to take the kids again,” he said.
FIGHTING BACK
In the wake of the kids’ removal, Maya’s friends took to the streets, protesting against reunification therapy in busy intersections and at courthouses. They contacted state and federal lawmakers and urged them to enact laws that would curtail the actions of transporter companies and therapists who engage in reunification therapy.
They have been largely successful.
The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors in March passed an ordinance that prohibits the use of force by companies that transport children.
In addition, Senate Bill 331—also known as Piqui’s Law—would make it illegal for a judge to order reunification therapy that uses threats of force or coercion to transport children.
That law passed unanimously out of the Senate on May 24.
The Assembly Appropriations Committee will consider its financial impact to the state on Sept. 1, Assemblywoman Gail Pellerin said.
The kids’ mother, her attorney and Lynn Steinberg, who runs the reunification program, did not respond to a request for comment.
Justin Laing said that while the kids have been unwittingly thrust into the national spotlight, his daughter’s advocacy efforts in the wake of their ordeal could change public perception of the family court system. Maya has networked with children across the U.S. in similar situations and hopes to transform the laws regulating the reunification industry.
“This is way bigger than Santa Cruz and it’s way bigger than California,” he said. “There are thousands of families affected by this right now, and these kids have basically joined forces and are working to help each other.”
To see Maya tell her story on Instagram, visit instagram.com/maya.and.sebastian.
MAYA YOU ARE A ROCKSTAR! My heart is leaping, my tears are happy and my mind is screaming Praise You Lord these kids are in the arms of their daddy. ❤️❤️❤️
The problem lies with the Board of Psychology who licenses all the reunification therapists, polyvagal therapists, re-connection therapists and anyone practicing unethical abuses of people under the false pretense of therapy. There have been thousands of complaints by thousands of victims documenting this but the Board of Psychology has been ignoring the people. I re-iterate my stance that no new laws will change this. Hold the Board of Psychology accountable. Shut them down. Go to the root of the problem. We need to install new watchdog agencies who legitimately investigate people who abuse their positions of power over others.