Spike Cohen's Fight To Reunite Families

Summary

Kennedy Saves the World: Spike Cohen's Fight To Reunite Families

Episode Overview

In the episode titled "Spike Cohen's Fight To Reunite Families," hosted by Kennedy on Fox News Podcasts' "Kennedy Saves the World," listeners are taken on a profound journey into the challenges faced by families wrongly accused of child abuse. Spike Cohen, the founder of Youf Are the Power, shares his personal and professional battles against systemic flaws in child protective services (CPS) that have devastated countless families. Through a combination of heartfelt storytelling, legal insights, and calls to action, Spike illuminates both the dark realities and the hopeful victories in the fight for family reunification and justice.

Introduction to the Hernandez Family Case (00:00 - 03:37)

Kennedy opens the episode by referencing a previous discussion about the Hernandez family, whose tragic experience with CPS serves as a cornerstone for Spike's advocacy work.

• Kennedy (00:09): Introduces Spike and the Hernandez family's plight, highlighting how Spike's initial efforts led to more victims coming forward.

Spike begins by recounting the heartbreaking story of Matt and Tucky Hernandez, parents of two daughters, Emma and Aria. Shortly after Emma’s birth, she exhibited unexplained swelling and fractures, which led to a severe misinterpretation by CPS.

• Spike Cohen (01:14): Details how medical examinations suggested a chronic health condition rather than abuse, but instead of investigating further, CPS accused the parents of abuse, leading to their arrest and the separation from their children.

Despite presenting compelling medical evidence, the Hernandez family was denied reunification and faced potential 40-year prison sentences based on flimsy statistical claims about abuse.

• Spike Cohen (02:57): Expresses frustration with the family court judge's dismissal of exculpatory evidence, relying instead on an unsubstantiated assertion that fractures indicate abuse.

The Systemic Flaws in CPS Funding and Operations (03:37 - 09:35)

Kennedy voices concern over the alarming system that pits parents against the state without adequate evidence, emphasizing the fear and uncertainty it instills in families.

• Kennedy (07:00): Highlights the terror parents face, as fear of losing their children deters them from seeking necessary medical help.

Spike delves into the root cause of the problem, citing Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, which inadvertently incentivizes CPS agencies to make abuse allegations merely to receive funding.

• Spike Cohen (05:46): Explains, “Under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, the federal government is essentially paying state CPS agencies every time they accuse someone of abuse.”

This perverse incentive has transformed CPS into an "accusation mill," where the priority shifts from genuinely protecting children to meeting funding quotas, often ignoring actual evidence of abuse.

• Spike Cohen (07:00): Discusses how this system discourages thorough investigations and leads to an increase in wrongful accusations, as seen in the Hernandez case.

Furthermore, Spike highlights the repercussions of this system on genuine abuse cases, noting that the focus on quota fulfillment diverts attention from actual abusers, thereby undermining the safety and welfare of children.

Turning the Tide: Public Advocacy and Legislative Change (09:35 - 17:56)

Kennedy commends Spike for his relentless efforts and asks for positive updates, leading to an inspiring narrative of resilience and triumph.

• Spike Cohen (03:42): Promises a positive outcome despite initial setbacks, building anticipation for the turnaround story.

Spike recounts how publicizing the Hernandez case on Kennedy's show ignited a wave of support, prompting thousands to contact relevant authorities and ultimately leading to a dramatic reversal of the case.

• Spike Cohen (06:00): Shares the turning point where the judge ordered reunification and CPS closed their case after public pressure.

The organization also facilitated legislative breakthroughs, notably the passage of Ridges Law in Georgia, which imposes stricter requirements on CPS and child abuse pediatricians to prevent baseless accusations.

• Spike Cohen (07:24): Announces the successful passage of Ridges Law, which mandates that pediatricians must provide concrete evidence before making abuse allegations.

Moreover, Spike emphasizes the broader impact of these legislative changes, inspiring similar advocacy and reforms in other states plagued by the same systemic issues.

• Spike Cohen (16:05): Describes how Ridges Law was unanimously passed and signed by Governor Kemp, marking a significant victory for family rights and justice.

The Hernandez Family's Journey to Reunification (11:10 - 14:19)

Spike provides a detailed update on the Hernandez family, revealing the emotional reunion after nearly two years of separation.

• Spike Cohen (11:13): Shares the joyous moment when the Hernandez family watched a movie together for the first time since the accusations.

Despite initial legal hurdles, including suppressed exonerating evidence and biased judicial processes, the family ultimately achieved a not guilty verdict, ensuring their freedom and the return of their children.

• Spike Cohen (14:18): Reveals that the jury voted not guilty on all counts, acknowledging the family's innocence and dismantling the false abuse narrative.

Calls to Action and Future Goals (17:56 - 18:24)

Kennedy and Spike conclude by encouraging listeners to engage with the movement to protect families from unjust CPS actions. Spike outlines the next steps, aiming to address these issues at the federal level to prevent similar injustices nationwide.

• Spike Cohen (17:56): Urges listeners to visit youfarepowers.net to get involved and support efforts to safeguard families.

Kennedy expresses unwavering support for Spike’s mission, reinforcing the importance of collective action in combating systemic injustices.

Notable Quotes

• Spike Cohen (05:46): “Under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, the federal government is essentially paying state CPS agencies every time they accuse someone of abuse.”

• Kennedy (08:03): “It's terrifying for all parents because... parents with young kids might be scared to go to the ER if something happens to one of their kids.”

• Spike Cohen (07:24): “Ridges Law... was signed by Governor Kemp back in May.”

• Spike Cohen (14:18): “The jury saw through it and voted not guilty on all counts.”

Conclusion

This episode of "Kennedy Saves the World" shines a spotlight on the harrowing experiences of families ensnared by flawed CPS systems and celebrates the tireless efforts of activists like Spike Cohen who strive to restore justice and reunite families. Through compelling narratives, informed discussions, and actionable insights, listeners gain a comprehensive understanding of the systemic issues at play and the critical need for continued advocacy and legislative reform.

Learn More and Get Involved

To support Spike Cohen’s mission and stay informed about ongoing efforts to protect families, visit youfarepowers.net and consider joining the movement to ensure that no other family has to endure the trauma faced by the Hernandez family.

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This summary is based on the transcript of the "Kennedy Saves the World" podcast episode released on July 16, 2025, featuring Spike Cohen's endeavors to combat wrongful child abuse allegations and restore family unity.

Transcript

[Spike Cohen]

Foreign.

[Kennedy]

Hello, and welcome to this episode of Kennedy Saves the World. Not long ago, Spike Cohen, who is the founder of youf Are the Power, he was telling us about families that had been ripped apart by the state and, you know, the tragic stories of parents who had done nothing wrong, who were demonized and essentially stripped of their parental rights. And it's story after story after story. After that podcast was released, even more people came forward to tell Spike what had happened to them. And Spike, who is one of my good friends and one of the greatest champions of liberty this movement will ever know, he's back for an update that Spike, welcome back to Kennedy Saves the World.

[Spike Cohen]

I'm so happy to be back on Kennedy.

[Kennedy]

Well, you are doing truly incredible work. And if you can reach back into your memory bank and sort of refresh our memories about some of the stories that we talked about, I would love to know the state of those families today.

[Spike Cohen]

Yeah, absolutely. So probably the easiest thing to do is kind of retrace what brought me on your show the first time. It's a family named the Hernandez family. Matt and Tucky Hernandez have two daughters, Emma and Aria. Emma, the youngest one, when she was still just, I believe, a few weeks or months after she was born, she started having some swelling in her legs and she was fussy. So Matt and Tucky took her to the hospital. She had X rays done, which showed that she had a bunch of different fractures at various levels of healing in her legs and a bunch of blood work done showing that this was probably being caused by some kind of chronic health issue. So instead of treating the chronic health issue or doing more testing to see what could possibly be causing it, they accused Matt and Tucky of abuse. They took their children from them. They arrested them both for abuse and then as a condition of their bond, to be allowed to bond out and go home. They weren't allowed to be near each other or speak with one another indefinitely. So overnight, not only did they lose both of their children, but they lost contact with one another. They. They lost their entire family overnight. They both went and fought to get their medical records from the, from the kids. It was an uphill battle to begin with. They were being told they weren't allowed to see the medical records. They spent thousands, finally got the medical records and saw what I just said, that it looked very much like they had chronic, that Emma had a chronic health condition. They went to medical experts who did more, ordered more testing to be done, and confirmed that Emma had chronic health issues that were causing the fractures that she was experiencing. They took it to the family court fully confident that the judge would go, oh good, this is a big misunderstanding. Instead, the judge completely refused to allow that testimony to be heard or any of the evidence to be presented, and instead took just the testimony of the so called child abuse pediatrician who brought no paperwork, did not seem all that familiar with the case. And his one bit of evidence was he said, yeah, statistically these kinds of cases, these types of fractures tend to be caused by abuse. And when he was asked to cite the source of that statistic, he said, you can look it up on the Internet based on that stellar evidence. The judge ordered non reunification, which means that Emma and Ario were facing being placed in permanent adoption and Matt and Tucky would never see them again. They were also facing criminal charges where they could both be put in prison for 40 years each. That's about the time that I came on your show.

[Kennedy]

Wow. So please tell me you have a positive update.

[Spike Cohen]

Oh, we have a very positive update. But first I want to tell you a bunch of like how we got there because it actually, it was going to continue to get a little bit worse. But then, yes, it will end in a positive. I do promise that. And you can trust me because I'm a Lutheran. But so, so anyway, so the, everyone's gonna be very confused by that. But anyway, so the, so Matt and Tucky Hernandez, when they, when the, it was actually the foster, one of the foster families that reached out to us initially and told us about what was happening. And we vetted it very heavily. We did not want to even inadvertently be helping abusers in any way. And after spending dozens of hours vetting the cause, we saw that it was every bit as bad as they said it was. And so we brought it to the public. We came on your show, we, we blasted it out all over the Internet and two things happened. One, we had thousands of people who were contacting the judge, the caseworker, the caseworker supervisor, everyone involved in this, because we didn't just put the, put the content out and say, hey, you know, be mad about this. We said, here are the people to contact to say to give Matt and Tucky Hernandez their children back. And so all of these people contacted them and suddenly the judge did a complete 180 ordered reunification and said that she'd close it out entirely once the criminal charges were dropped. And then the, the, the defects, which is Georgia's Child Protective Services, they did a complete 180 and closed out their case. And the other thing that Happened was we had families from across the country who reached out to us with the exact same story. It was over and over again. We have children. We brought them to a hospital because they had some kind of, you know, injury or they were swollen or they had bruising or something like that. They were. Obviously, they have Ehlers Danlos or some other kind of chronic health condition that causes this kind of thing. And we're being accused of abuse with no evidence of abuse. Then we found out why it's happening. Under Title 4D of the Social Security act, the federal government is essentially paying state CPS agencies every time they accuse someone of abuse.

[Kennedy]

Yes.

[Spike Cohen]

And so, you know, if you subsidize apples, you get more apples. You subsidize corn, you get more corn. They're subsidizing abuse allegations, and even if they're not, they don't have to be proven true or false or anything. It's just all they have to do is make the accusation and they get more money. So they're. So now. So at the. Because that's how it's set up. It's a perverse funding incentive. I'm sure it was introduced with. I don't think anyone was like, wow, this will. This will lead to nationwide child trafficking. I think that whoever introduced it thought that this was a good way to fund things when they first introduced it in the 70s. But. But what has happened over the last few decades is you see states that are putting quotas on their caseworkers saying, you have to accuse this many. You have to find this many abuse accusations that you can credibly make. And so now you have CPS workers. They're not looking for abusers. They're looking for kids with fractures, whatever the cause is. And that's the problem. So we had all these people reach out to us, and. And so that's. That's. That's where. Where that has been. We do have a positive to this, though. Not only have we helped reunite many of these families and with more. More reunifications to come. And not only were we able to eventually get Matt and Tucky Hernandez, their children back.

[Kennedy]

Oh, thank God.

[Spike Cohen]

Yes. Yes, we did. And there's actually, I. We can get back to. They actually. We also kept them out of prison for 40 years, but we also got legislation passed in Georgia called Ridges Law, which addresses many of the common things that allow these child abuse pediatricians to make these accusations in the first place with zero evidence.

[Kennedy]

That's a horrible system. I mean, that is absolutely an awful system, especially when you Know, the government is constantly talking about how kids need to be supported and, you know, parents need to be with kids and, you know, families that are functioning or the best. Like, it's, it's what an awful system. And, you know, for the architects of that system to not anticipate the outcomes when it was first enacted and then seeing those bad outcomes, the fact that it's gone on for so long and hasn't changed, it's. It's kind of terrifying.

[Spike Cohen]

Yeah.

[Kennedy]

I mean, it's terrifying for all parents because, you know, parents with young kids might be scared to go to the ER if something happens to one of their kids. I mean, I think I told you this last time, but. Yeah, a doctor friend of mine had taken, you know, four boys rough and tumble. Kids, as boys are. They're always falling out of trees and getting hurt and just, you know, doing fun boy things.

[Spike Cohen]

Yeah.

[Kennedy]

So one broke his arm. The next week, another one cut his leg open. And so he. He was like, if I take my son, and this was in Los Angeles, if I take my son to the doctor, they're going to take him away from me. They might take all of our kids. Because that's what the, the aggressive doctors, the ER doctors were doing. They were giving these cases immediately to social workers. And he was like, you. You get the wrong social worker, they will take your kids for a month minimum. So he took his son to his medical office and numbed him up and, you know, did the sutures himself.

[Spike Cohen]

No. And so what ends up happening is you have people that are having to make these, like, judgment calls as to whether they should take their kids to the hospital or not, which can potentially lead to other problems. Right. Like they can. They can now be accused of neglect if they don't take their kids to the hospital. And it turned out they needed to. The other thing that happens is, is that we believe that there are fewer actual abusers that are getting caught. Because it's not about finding abusers. It's about looking for a kid that has something that you can potentially label abuse. Well, an abuser is probably more likely to try to do things to cover their tracks. And if the.

[Kennedy]

You gotta kick kids in the stomach.

[Spike Cohen]

All sorts of things. And so what ends up happening is instead of caseworkers being able to look at cases that are put in front of them more holistically, because they have fewer cases they're looking at, and they can really dive into it to see if they really think there's abuse or neglect going on. Instead, they're like these accusation mills, they have to be run through, and it leads to good foster families being, you know, leaving the system, which is why there's a shortage of foster families. Case in point, the Jennifer and Jonathan Williams, the family that brought this to our attention, they first went to defects and said, you know, we're looking into this. We don't think Emma was abused. Emma looks like she has some kind of health condition. And we've looked online and, you know, the family who, you know, her parents have put out all this stuff with, you know, they're saying that they have medical evidence that she's, that she's sick and needs treatment. Defects response was your 13 years of service will no longer be required. Wow.

[Kennedy]

Good people who are doing the Lord's work, trying to do what's best for children, like, actually what's best for them.

[Spike Cohen]

Yeah, man.

[Kennedy]

Inviting good parents out of the system because they dared to express a little bit of skepticism and ask a question that might have reunified this family even soon. Don't go anywhere. More Kennedy saves the world right after this.

[Spike Cohen]

Fox News Audio presents Unsolved with James Patterson. Every crime tells a story, but some stories are left unfinished. Somebody knows real cases, real people listen and follow [e-mail] how much time did.

[Kennedy]

The Hernandez family spend apart?

[Spike Cohen]

They. Almost two years from when they were first accused to. When I got to talk with them and was told that they were watching a movie together at home as a family for the first time. Now when. The last year when the, when the family court judge ordered reunification, they were allowed to see their kids again, but it was supervised visitation, so they were actually living with the aunt and uncle. Because as long as the criminal charges were still pending, the, the family court judge could not allow the kids to go back as long as that was going. But, but so they were able to see their kids, but it was always supervised. Their church actually got involved. Vision Baptist Church actually got involved and allowed for the, for their facility to be the place where the supervised visitations were happening, which allowed them to be able to see their kids more often and amongst their church family. So that was very helpful. So as we're reunifying families left and right, we get Ridge's law passed in Georgia. We've got state lawmakers reaching out to us, saying, hey, I, I hear this is a problem in my state, too. How can we fix this? But the Hernandez family still didn't have their kids back. They were able to see them, but they had these, these pending criminal charges. Now we were working with their attorneys, providing all the evidence and everything to be able to. To help them. But we were pretty confident everything was going to be okay. Because unlike in a family court, where the family court judge, it's pretty arbitrarily up to the family court judge to decide things. This. The burden of proof is basically whatever the judge thinks happens in a criminal court. Obviously, it's, you know, there's a jury of your peers. Burden of proof is beyond a reasonable doubt. We thought, yeah, this is going to be like the other trials we've helped with. They're going to be found not guilty or they're going to drop the charges. What we didn't know was that the Forsyth county judge was going to not allow the jury to hear any of the exonerating evidence. They were. He was not going to allow them to hear that. He wasn't going to allow them to see any of the medical evidence except for the X rays showing fractures. And he didn't allow them to hear from the arresting officer who didn't think they did anything wrong. Have you ever heard of a prosecutor saying, we don't want the officer to testify? They weren't allowed to hear that. The family court judge and defects both closed their cases out because they thought that nothing had happened. They realized there was no abuse that was happening. They weren't even allowed to hear that Emma and Aria, the children loved their parents. The only thing that jury was allowed to hear was that. Or the only thing they were allowed to see was, was that. That initial X ray showing fractures. And the opinion of that guy who said, look it up on the Internet, saying that Emma was. That he. That she was abused. And so he was trying to railroad them again. They were facing 40 years in prison, and even with all the work we'd already done, if they went to prison for this, Emma and Arya would be placed in adoption, more than likely, and they'd spend their entire lives until at least their 40s believing that they were. That they had been abused. Thankfully, due to the very incredible work of all the. You are the power volunteers and Katherine Bernard, who is just a defense attorney powerhouse, one of my heroes. The jury saw through it and voted not guilty on all counts. They saw that the fix was in, and they voted not veiled.

[Kennedy]

Oh, my God.

[Spike Cohen]

Yeah.

[Kennedy]

Oh, okay. And juries oftentimes get it right. I have to say that. And I still very much believe in the jury system in this country. But that must have been absolutely terrifying for them in that final chapter, really not knowing the fate of their freedom. You know, the very things that we take for granted every single day. You do phenomenal work, and I'm so happy that people get to hear these stories. You know, you talk about some of the positive changes that have happened in Georgia because of the hard work of your organization. What's essential state that is the worst.

[Spike Cohen]

Well, Georgia was, I would say, if not the worst, certainly one of the worst. And this has been a real Saul to Paul situation in Georgia. We went in there and the entire political establishment. And by the way, this is not a red state, blue state problem. Another really bad state is New Hampshire. Another really bad state is Texas. And there are. There are states. I mean, it really doesn't matter whether Democrats or Republicans are in charge. They. This is not about red or blue. It's entirely about getting federal green. That's. That's literally all it is, is getting that subsidized money. And I'm sure that they convinced themselves that they have to break some eggs to make their omelet eggs, meaning entire families that get destroyed and put in prison. But so in Georgia, Candice Bros. Who is the head of defects, she was one of our greatest opponents after viewing one of the a documentary by a lady named Rebecca Lindstrom with 11 Alive. After watching that documentary, which talked about the families we were helping, she reached out to us and said, I didn't know how bad this was. How can I help? What do I need to have done? And it's reached a point. Here's what happens with the heads of these agencies.

[Kennedy]

Resign immediately.

[Spike Cohen]

No, you know what? If someone's reaching out to me and saying, how can I help? That's the last thing I want them to do, is quit and hand it off to some other political crony. The problem is the heads of these agencies, they're going with what the people under them are telling them. And it's reached a point where she kind of trusts us more than them, because when she saw what was happening under her, under her watch, and she was talking to the people under her and they were all saying that everything was fine. That's why she reached out to us. And we said, here are the changes that need to be made immediately. Number one, parents need to be able to get a second opinion. Right now, the way that you're interpreting the laws, you're saying that the parents aren't allowed to get a second opinion. So it's not just. It's not innocent until proven guilty. It's not even guilty until proven innocent. It's guilty. And cannot prove yourself innocent because you can't get the, the, any, any kind of medical records. And so we said so they need to be able to get the medical records easily. They need to be able to get a second opinion and they need to be notified of that. The other thing that needs to happen is very often when these child abuse pediatricians make their accusation, you don't even know which of the pediatricians made the accusation. You just get a form letter with every single pediatrician that works for that hospital listed saying that this accusation was made. And we said we need to know who made the accusation and we need them to affirm that they actually reviewed the medical evidence in its entirety before doing this. We need some kind of attestation that's legally binding that says that, you know, that they actually looked at the kids medical records and didn't just sign something saying abuse. And so she made that policy immediately. And then it ended up getting introduced as law called Ridges Law and it passed unanimously in both, both chambers of the legislature and it was signed by Governor Kemp back in May.

[Kennedy]

Well, continued success in rewriting these laws and protecting families and children. Where can people go to learn more about these stories, Spike?

[Spike Cohen]

Absolutely. Well, our next goal is, and we're probably a couple years out from reaching the critical mass we need, but the next goal is to fix this at the federal level. The federal government needs to stop. However they fund these agencies if at all, they shouldn't be paying them to make accusations. So that's, that's the end goal here. But we're going to work state by state. In the meantime, if people want to be involved with this and any of the other work that we do to work with people who are having their lives upended by out of control local and statewide government officials, go to you are the power.net and sign up today.

[Kennedy]

I'll do it. Spike Cohen, thank you so much and we'll talk to you very soon about your other pursuits of liberty.

[Spike Cohen]

Thank you. Kennedy.

[Kennedy]

He's a Lutheran, you can trust him. This has been Kennedy Saves the World along with Spike Cohen. I'm Kennedy. Listen ad free with a Fox News podcast plus subscription on Apple Podcasts and Amazon prime. Members can listen to this show ad free on the Amazon music app. Oh, go ahead and leave me a review while you're there. I'd love to hear what you have to say. You've been listening to Kennedy Saves the World on the FOX News Podcast Network.

[Spike Cohen]

This is Jason Chaffetz from the Jason in the House podcast. Join me every Monday to dive deeper into the latest political headlines and chat with remarkable guests. Listen and follow [e-mail] or wherever you download podcasts.