Family fights Massachusetts for child custody after refusing to affirm daughter’s gender transition, citing Catholic faith 

A Massachusetts family is fighting the state for custody of their child after the Department of Children and Families (DCF) removed their then-15-year-old daughter from the home under accusations of parental abuse and neglect for refusing to affirm her social gender transition.

The parents, Joseph and Arlene Kutzko, told Fox News a school counselor at Algonquin Regional High School in Southborough, Massachusetts, socially transitioned their daughter and then reported the parents to DCF.

The Kutzkos cited their devout Catholic faith as the reason for opposing the transition of their daughter, Sophie.

“They’re a very well known, very Catholic, devout family. They serve in the community. Sophie was very devoutly Catholic, for that matter,” chief counsel Vernadette R. Broyles, founder and president of Child and Parental Rights Campaign, Inc., said as the Kutzkos’ attorney.

“They believe in male and female. Dad is a scientist and has science-based objections to the idea of ever telling a child that you can change sex because that’s impossible, as well as faith-based objections to the idea of a child rejecting how God has made her. And of course, they have medical objections to the idea of the child ever getting cross-sex hormones, which has irreversible and damaging effects on a female’s body,” she continued.

But DCF removed Sophie from the Kutzkos’ home in December 2024. The state has assumed guardianship of the minor and issued a permanent restraining order against the parents and Sophie’s older brother, according to Fox News.

The parents allege the state has placed Sophie in male housing and forbidden her from attending Sunday Mass, according to an episode of Fox News’ America’s Newsroom. They also fear the state has allegedly put Sophie on birth control and psychiatric drugs and may prescribe testosterone.

Last Friday, a judge temporarily blocked Massachusetts from prescribing testosterone to Sophie, now 17, according to Fox.

But Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, is defending DCF, saying the parents face criminal charges, investigation and prosecution, The Boston Herald reports.

“Let me be clear about the facts in that matter. First of all, DCF did not remove the child because of a health issue or a gender-affirming care issue. DCF removed the child after there were criminal charges filed against the parents, including the father,” Healey told media following an event in Boston, adding that she won’t comment on the case. “As you know, DCF is responsible for the care and well-being of kids, and that’s what happened in this instance.”

But Broyles told The Boston Herald that Healey’s claim is false, adding that a juvenile court ruled the charges of physical and sexual abuse were unfounded in February 2025.

“It’s very dishonest, because there are no standing charges against them. There is no finding that these parents have committed any abuse against this child in the criminal court, nor is there any supported allegations of abuse or neglect against them, even in the juvenile court,” Broyles said.

Heartlander News contacted both Algonquin Regional High School and The Public Schools of Northborough and Southborough (NSBORO), which provided the official statement from Superintendent Gregory L. Martineau.

“The district unequivocally denies the claims made about the school district in a recent national media podcast as not merely baseless but grossly insensitive, intrusive and dangerous toward the child who was named in the media report,” Martineau said in the statement.

“Public school educators are mandated reporters” of any suspected “injury, abuse or neglect,” he said, adding that the district is “not at liberty to comment directly on anything concerning any student’s health and privacy.”

DCF did not reply to Heartlander News’ request for comment.

The next court date for the Kutzko family is scheduled for Oct. 29.

The case is attracting widespread attention, including from New England Patriots running back TreVeyon Henderson, who quoted Proverbs 22:6 in an X post about it: “Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.”

“Yet, this God given right that these parents have is being stripped away from them by the state,” he said. “These parents who want to honor our Lord and lead their daughter into the truth, and away from what she can’t see what will destroy her just as God has entrusted the parents to do. May justice be served.”

(Image credit: Screenshot/Fox News)