Less than a year ago, Rebecca Sandgren had physical custody of her children.
Last month, a Jackson County, Oregon, judge, David Hoppe, ordered her to have two hours per week of supervised visits.
In between, one of her kids disclosed that her father, Joel Sandgren, was molesting her.
Rebecca’s daughter disclosed not only to her mom but to numerous mandated reporters, including teachers, doctors, and therapists.
Rebecca told me that calls to social services came from mandated reporters, not her.
Besides the disclosures, there was physical evidence, like a rash in the private area and male DNA found in the private area.
Rebecca described the evidence to me.
When social services investigated the allegations, the investigation was perfunctory.
Rebecca told me that upon finding DNA in her daughter’s private area, the social worker told her, “We don’t have a suspect.”
Social services and police did not force Joel Sandgren to take a DNA test, and they dropped the matter when he refused.
Social services later claimed that they didn’t believe Mr. Sandgren was getting “sexual gratification” from his molestation and cited it as a reason for the unfounded determination.
The courts and social services turned their sights on Rebecca.
Social services fixated on an incident from 2023, when Rebecca left her kids alone for approximately an hour overnight while they slept.
She was founded for neglect for that near three-year-old incident.
Social services and the courts labeled her with parental alienation and claimed she was mentally abusing her children by forcing them to go to numerous unnecessary examinations.
“Ms. Frish {Sandgren} displays behavior of parental alienation, clearly attempt to keep the children from having a positive relationship with their father,” the social services report stated.
The main case worker investigating was Carly Davy, who declined to comment when I reached her by phone.
An advocate who has been helping Rebecca said this case demonstrates clear bias by social service and the courts.
“Rebecca did everything right,” the advocate told me, while stating further that this was another case of a protective parent being punished for reporting abuse.
The advocate singled out one part of the report which was especially troublesome. The report claimed that Rebecca pressured her children to speak to an investigator.
The advocate said she was there and Rebecca never pressured her kids to speak to an investigator.
“If they’ll lie {social services} about that, what else are they lying about,” the advocate stated rhetorically.
Rebecca also told me she didn’t pressure her kids, while noting all forensic interviews are done without the parent.
Joel Sandgren’s lawyer is Jim Wallen, from the law firm of Hornecker Cowling LLP. He did not respond to an email for comment.
Rebecca told me that Wallen pushed parental alienation on the court repeatedly in hearings.
Joel Sandgren denied molesting his kids emphatically when I spoke with him.
“Absolutely not,” he responded, when I asked him, but declined to answer further questions. The full interview is below.
On March 26, 2026, Rebecca attended a hearing where the court was perturbed that she dared to go to her kids’ baseball game. The courts and social services believe she’s such a danger that she’s only allowed to see them supervised.
Judge Hoppe acknowledged that Rebecca’s kids loved her and wanted to spend time with her, but he declined to increase her custody time. The full hearing is below.
