Note: due to legal restrictions, the Lyashchenko’s aren’t allowed to say their daughter’s name publicly. As such, I will refer to her as S.L.
Andriy and Alexandra Lyashchenko are living a conservative dystopian nightmare, only everything is real.
A summary
Approximately, three years ago, their daughter experienced gender dysphoria. They went to a therapist, Dr. Michelle Sager.
Dr. Sager, instead of helping, encouraged S.L. to transition; later, Dr. Sager even recommended a clinic, the Stonewall Alliance.
When the Lyashchenko’s wouldn’t go along, Shasta County, California child protective services (CPS) were called, and they were cited for emotional abuse.
AB 957
There is no law in California which requires parents to encourage gender transitioning; however, AB 957 was vetoed by California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom in September 2023.
AB 957 would have made affirming a child’s chosen gender- by calling them by their preferred name- in the best interest of the child.
In vetoing the bill, Governor Newsom stated that the court, under existing law, is already required to consider a child’s health, safety and welfare when determining a child’s best interests, and this included the parent’s affirmation of a child’s gender identity.
Shasta CPS applied Governor Newsom’s philosophy to this case.
The roots of crisis
Alex Lyashchenko told me the roots of S.L’s emotional issues started when the family lived in Massachusetts. She described the bully S.L. faced in the interview. That portion is below.
Alexandra explained S.L. was hyperactive and bullied. The school, rather than helping her, punished her. Often S.L. wound up in the principal’s office, Alexandra said.
The family moved back to their native Ukraine for a period before settling in Northern California.
Alexandra said that things initially went great with their daughter in California. She was sociable and active, but after a while, she came to them and asked to be tested for disorders like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
That brought them to a local hospital, which tested for an alphabet soup of disorders.
The quack doctor
At the end of 2022, S.L. started cutting her hair short and asking for lithium. The family went back to the same hospital, which recommended Dr. Michelle Sager. The Lyashchenko’s said that Dr. Sager encouraged their daughter’s gender dysphoria.
“I trusted her,” Alexandra told me.
Alexandra explained further below.
“The year of 2023 was the year of heavy indoctrination by Sager,” Alexandra said. “So, the butch haircut came out, the unisex name.”
I spoke with Dr. Sager. She was forbidden by the Health Insurance Protection and Accountability Act (HIPAA) from speaking about the case, but she answered questions about her treatment methods for gender dysphoria.
“Do you encourage children who say they’re a boy when they’re actually a girl to be a boy,” I asked?
“No, no I don’t.” She responded. “I haven’t converted anybody. I haven’t transitioned anybody.”
Referring to the Lyashchenko’s, she said, “They’re really off base.”
A social worker report from the Shasta County CPS (the report is at the top) painted a different picture.
“Dr. Sager explained that S.L is really interested in getting connected to medical treatment for transitioning from female to male. Dr. Sager stated that she connected S.L to the Stonewall Alliance a center out of Chico that is centered on LGBTQ therapy and medical and mental health care." The report states.
Alexandra explained that after seeing Dr. Sager S.L. found a Discord group with LGBTQ people including one going by the handle, Markymoo, who said he was a seventeen-year-old boy.
That group encouraged transitioning, and S.L. told her parents she felt safe and understood in the group.
In May 2024 Dr. Sager pressured the Lyashchenko’s to sign a “testosterone consent page.” They refused and in early June 2024, CPS arrived.
CPS custody
On June 3, 2024, a Sheriff’s Deputy, Jared Foster, arrived with a Shasta County CPS social worker to the Lyashchenko home.
The accompanying police report paints a picture of abusive parents.
In the report, Alexandra called her daughter, “fucked in the head.”
Alexandra told me that she referred to the people encouraging her transition as “fucked in the head.”
She said she never called her daughter less than human.
I emailed Jared Foster, but he didn’t respond. An email to the Shasta County Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees CPS, was also left unreturned.
Since being placed into foster care, S.L. is on birth control, put in a room with a teenage boy, and she took a pregnancy test.
Shasta County CPS explicitly stated in records that the Lyashchenko’s were not encouraging enough of the transitioning, and this was emotional abuse.
The progressive reports removed allegations of emotional abuse, and an order dated August 29, 2025, from Judge Molly Bigelow found the parents weren’t emotionally abusive and could care for S.L.
That court order gave custody back to Alexandra and Andriy, “The court orders that physical custody be returned to the parents, Andriy and Alexandra Lyashchenko.”
Despite that order, S.L. remained in CPS custody, and a subsequent order took away their medical rights.
S.L. will turn eighteen later this year. Andriy and Alexandra told me they don’t expect to get custody back before then.
Andriy and Alexandra moved to Florida to get away from Shasta CPS and protect their younger son from also being taken.
The Lyashchenko’s document their plight on their Substack.
