She was transitioned by her school – without her parents’ knowledge.
Earlier this week, during the State of the Union address, President Donald Trump introduced a 14-year-old girl named Sage and her mother to the nation. He told the story of how her public school sought to socially transition her to a new gender while hiding it from her parents. That story is not political theater. It is a real-life nightmare.
She was gone for 344 days.
Three hundred and forty-four days of fear, confusion, courtrooms, and silence.
Sage was only 14 when her public school began treating her as a boy. After watching videos and reading about transgenderism online, she told a teacher she wanted to identify as a boy. According to the Family Foundation of Virginia account, her counselor asked if she wanted to use a boy’s name and male pronouns. She said yes. School staff began calling her by a boy’s name and directed her to use the boys’ bathroom. But here is the kicker: Her parents were never told.
As her mother expressed, “I never knew any of this. I was entirely kept in the dark by the school staff.”
When Sage used the boys’ restroom, she was threatened and assaulted. Yet her parents were kept in the dark. Afraid to return to school and carrying the confusion alone, she connected online with a man she believed was a teenager. He was actually a sex predator. He lured her away and sex-trafficked her across state lines to Washington, D.C., and then to Maryland.
Sadly, when federal authorities finally found her, the nightmare did not end.
Because her parents would not immediately affirm that their daughter was their “son”, a judge refused to return Sage to her parents. Instead, her trauma was furthered when she was placed in a boys-only facility in another state. Her court-appointed activist lawyer used Sage as part of a precedent-setting transgender rights case. Rather than seeing a scared young girl, administrators and attorneys treated her as a tool for a radical political and ideological agenda.
But the story gets worse. Sage’s mother was not allowed to visit her. She was not allowed to speak to her. The public defender even told Sage that her parents “didn’t want her anymore because she was transgender.” In her pain, confusion, and loneliness, Sage ran away again.
The story is so shocking that it is hard to believe. But it didn’t stop there. She was captured again by sex traffickers and taken to Texas.
Months later, when U.S. Marshals located her and returned her to Virginia, the state again placed Sage in a residential treatment facility away from her family. There, staff continued to push her toward transgenderism despite her parents’ and even her own stated desires.
Her mother describes calling attorneys for “hours and hours” with no help. Finally, the Founding Freedoms Law Center at the Family Foundation of Virginia intervened, challenged the state’s actions in court, and fought to return Sage to her parents.
By God’s grace, they succeeded.
Though Sage was gone for 344 days, she is now home, safe, and studying at Liberty University. “God is in the details,” her mother said, “and he’s working on her testimony.” Without that legal intervention, her life would look very different.
But do not miss the bigger picture.
This was not simply a family tragedy. It was the predictable outcome of a system that believes schools can “socially transition” a child while deliberately keeping parents in the dark.
That is not compassion. That is government intrusion into the sacred bond between parent and child.
This Is Not Isolated
Sage’s story was highlighted at the State of the Union because it represents a growing national crisis. For years now, schools across America have hidden gender identity changes from parents using written policies in far-left school districts and hidden “shadow” policies in more conservative-leaning areas.
Millions of students are in districts where policies require keeping parents uninformed about life-altering health and gender dysphoria treatment decisions.
It Has Happened Here
A few years ago, the Independence Law Center helped a Pennsylvania family get their teenager back home after a teacher reported the parents to Children & Youth Services for not supporting the teen’s identification as the opposite sex.
That is why our Independence Law Center legal team has been working directly with multiple school districts here in Pennsylvania to ensure that this never happens in those districts.
In addition, ILC attorneys filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of 38 school board directors from 12 Pennsylvania districts, asking the Court to take a secret transition case, Foote v. Ludlow. The goal is simple: restore parents’ fundamental right to direct the upbringing of their children and bring legal clarity to this issue nationwide.
The Supreme Court may decide as soon as Monday whether to hear this case. If they do, the outcome would impact families nationwide.
Parents Must Be Ready
Sage’s story is a warning. When schools hide identity changes from parents, they isolate vulnerable children from the very people who love and care for them the most. When government officials condition custody on ideological compliance, they weaponize state power against families. When activists treat confused children as pawns and collateral damage in their ideological indoctrination campaign rather than a child in need of stability and truth, real harm follows.
Parents must know their district’s policies. They must ask direct questions. They must refuse to accept sex-rejecting ideology as the truth and refuse to accept secrecy as “care.” Children do not belong to the state. They belong to their families. And Pennsylvania must be ready.
Related Video:
Stand with Parents. Stop Secret School Transitions.
If you believe parents, not government bureaucrats, should direct the upbringing of their children, now is the time to stand with us. Give today to support the Independence Law Center’s work defending Pennsylvania families and ensuring no child here is ever secretly transitioned behind a parent’s back. Your gift right now helps equip our legal team to confront school districts, challenge unlawful policies, and protect families before another child is lost to a system that shuts parents out.
Our Vision: A Pennsylvania where God is honored, religious freedom flourishes, families thrive, and life is cherished.
