Kansas Parents Sue Children’s Mercy After Abuse Diagnosis Cost Them Their Kids for a Year

Kansas City, Kan. — A Kansas City couple who lost custody of both their children for nearly a year after a hospital abuse diagnosis that was never substantiated is now suing Children’s Mercy Hospital in federal court. Sarah Goble and Brian Boxx filed a 52-page, 10-count civil-rights lawsuit on Sept. 28 alleging that hospital doctors wrongly labeled their infant son’s injuries as abuse and fed misleading medical information to the state, leading the Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF) to take their baby and his older sister.

The case, Goble et al. v. Frazier et al., No. 2:26-cv-02584, is pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. The court docket lists Children’s Mercy Hospital — also doing business as Children’s Mercy Kansas City — and two individuals, Terra N. Frazier and Ruairi E. Smith-Dewey, as defendants. FOX4 reported the suit targets the hospital and two doctors and alleges violations of the parents’ constitutional rights to family integrity and due process. The allegations have not been proven in court.

A feeding problem became an abuse case

According to FOX4, the family’s ordeal began in October 2024 when their 2-month-old son had trouble swallowing milk. Worried, they brought him to Children’s Mercy. Doctors found a fracture — but the parents say they were initially told the baby appeared to have 14 fractures. Goble has called that assessment categorically untrue; in earlier FOX4 reporting, the parents said only two of the alleged fractures were real.

They just said it was abuse and everybody followed suit.

Sarah Goble, to FOX4 Kansas City

In November 2025 FOX4 reported that the family was barred from being alone with the baby during the hospital stay, and that the hospital’s SCAN team handles suspected abuse cases. Within days, both children were removed by court order.

“There was no investigation”

Goble told FOX4 the state moved within a day of the hospital visit, before anyone had looked into the family.

We went in on October 2nd. KS DCF had applied to take the children out of the home on October 3rd. There was no investigation, nothing was done.

Sarah Goble, to FOX4 Kansas City

The parents were then forced to defend themselves in court against accusations that they had broken their baby’s bones. With a lawyer and a second medical opinion, they challenged the diagnosis. The abuse allegations were never substantiated, the case was dropped, and the children came home — after roughly 11 months apart from their parents.

Hoodline, summarizing other reporting it had not independently verified, noted claims that Goble has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a genetic connective-tissue disorder, and that doctors did not evaluate the condition before diagnosing abuse. FAN has not independently confirmed that claim.

Medical kidnapping and the child abuse pediatrician pipeline

The lawsuit seeks damages for emotional trauma, financial losses and lasting harm to the family. It is the latest in a string of cases nationwide in which families say a hospital abuse diagnosis — delivered by specialists working hand-in-glove with child-welfare agencies — became an automatic trigger for removal, with caseworkers and courts deferring to the doctors rather than investigating.

Kansas law requires medical providers to report suspected abuse, and failing to report is a misdemeanor. Families and advocates argue that the system punishes doctors for under-reporting but carries no consequences for false diagnoses that separate healthy families. After the family’s case became public in 2025, FOX4 reported that Amanda Liebig, a Missouri mother appointed to that state’s Child Abuse and Review Board, was working with lawmakers on legislation to guarantee parents a second medical opinion and access to their child’s full medical records in suspected abuse cases.

Children’s Mercy did not respond to FOX4’s request for comment. Kansas DCF is not listed as a defendant on the docket.

For Father’s Advocacy Network, the case is a textbook example of what parents call “medical kidnapping”: a worried family seeks care for their baby, a hospital team declares abuse, the state takes the children within a day — and nearly a year passes before anyone admits the accusation could not be proven. Parents deserve a second opinion before removal, not after.

Key facts

• Plaintiffs: Sarah Goble and Brian Boxx of the Kansas City area.
• Case: Goble et al. v. Frazier et al., No. 2:26-cv-02584, U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas; filed Sept. 28, 2026 (civil rights).
• Defendants per docket: Children’s Mercy Hospital (Children’s Mercy Kansas City), Terra N. Frazier and Ruairi E. Smith-Dewey.
• Oct. 2024: 2-month-old taken to Children’s Mercy for trouble swallowing; abuse diagnosed; Kansas DCF applied to remove both children the next day, per the mother.
• Children were out of their parents’ custody for nearly a year; abuse allegations were never substantiated and the case was dropped.
• Allegations in the lawsuit have not been proven; the hospital did not respond to FOX4.

Sources

• FOX4 Kansas City (WDAF) — Kansas City parents sue Children’s Mercy after children taken from home for nearly a year (2026-09-29)
• Justia Dockets (U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas) — Goble et al. v. Frazier et al., No. 2:26-cv-02584 (2026-09-28)
• Hoodline — Kansas City Parents Sue Children’s Mercy Hospital Over Misdiagnosis (2026-09-30)
• FOX4 Kansas City (WDAF) — A newborn taken, a family torn apart: KC family reunited after child abuse allegations dropped (2025-11-25)

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