DALLAS — An employee from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services showed up at a 13-year-old transgender boy’s middle school to interview him as part of an investigation into his family over the use of gender-affirming medical treatments, according to newly filed court documents.
The child, identified in court documents under the pseudonym Steve Koe, was interviewed in a school conference room for an hour about his gender identity and mental health history, his mother, called Carol Koe, said in a signed declaration. The surprise interview, along with interviews of his parents, has caused the child significant mental and emotional stress, and even caused him to miss school for multiple days because of anxiety, his mother said.
“Steve told me he had a ‘meltdown’ and became very fearful and upset that something might happen to me or his dad because of who he is,” Carol said in the declaration.
