A Father’s Nightmare: How Lies and a Broken System Stole His Children

Bend, Or. - The weight of this story is nearly unbearable. It is a chilling testament to how easily a father can lose his children, not through wrongdoing, but through a system that too often favors the first to accuse and asks questions later. Last month, I reported on the horrifying case of Sarah Session and her parents, Paula and Gary Hardenburg. Sarah stands accused of abusing and nearly killing her 9-year-old stepson, Braxton, while her parents allegedly enabled the abuse and helped cover it up. The details of this case are some of the most horrifying I have ever come across, acts of cruelty inflicted upon a helpless child, short of death itself. But beyond the gruesome abuse lies another devastating truth: Sarah was only able to harm this child because she manipulated the court system, weaponizing lies to gain not only custody of her own two children but also temporary custody of Braxton, her husband's son from a previous relationship. She stole them, not with force, but wit...