HHS To Investigate Midwestern School Accused Of Vaccinating Child Against Parents’ Wishes

WASHINGTON—The Department of Health and Human Services took momentous action Wednesday to protect the rights of parents to know what medical procedures their children are being subjected to.

The department opened an investigation into a Midwestern school that allegedly illegally vaccinated a child, ignoring a religious exemption request the parents had submitted under state law. Additionally, HHS issued a “Dear Colleague” letter to health care providers emphasizing that federal law requires them to let parents access health information about their children. The department also ordered its Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to add a grant requirement noting that any funding recipients must comply with federal and state parental-consent laws for any “services or care provided to minors at HRSA-supported health centers as a condition of receiving Health Center Program funds.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., said in a statement Wednesday that HHS was “putting pediatric medical professionals on notice.”

“You cannot sideline parents,” the HHS secretary said. “When providers ignore parental consent, violate exemptions to vaccine mandates, or keep parents in the dark about their children’s care, we will act decisively. We will use every tool at our disposal to protect families and restore accountability.”

The action is particularly momentous given the progressive activist push in recent years to promote “Adolescent Medicine” — the idea that medical professionals should be able to give medical care to children without telling parents. In many blue states across the country, particularly under President Joe Biden’s administration, activists were pushing the notion that young girls and boys struggling with their gender identity should be able to transition without their parents’ knowledge or consent, or that young girls should be able to obtain abortions or other medical procedures their parents were unaware of.

HHS Office of Civil Rights Director Paul Stannard told The Daily Wire in a phone interview that the department was first made aware of “Adolescent Medicine” and its dangers through a report issued by “Do No Harm,” a group that fights back against gender ideology, and has raised many concerns about the medical community transitioning children without parental consent. Stannard called this activist push for “Adolescent Medicine” very “concerning,” particularly from her perspective and her role in enforcing HIPAA.

US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (L) looks on as President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet Meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on December 2, 2025. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images)

“Part of what the HIPAA rules outline are the rights that individuals and their personal representatives have with respect to their health information,” she noted. “And one of those rights is the right to access. Starting in the first Trump administration, we had begun an initiative to enforce the individual’s right to access of their medical records. And so when I saw this, I immediately decided and recommended to the secretary that we further emphasize this particular aspect of the privacy rule in our enforcement efforts under this initiative.”

The HHS Office of Civil Rights is reminding health care providers, in very plain terms, of a parent’s right to access their child’s health information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule, which states that a parent is the personal representative of their child and has the legal authority to make health care decisions for the child. In the department’s “Dear Colleague” letter, HHS emphasized that parents are indeed their children’s personal representatives and absolutely have the right of access to their child’s health information.

Additionally, the HHS Office of Civil Rights says it is initiating compliance reviews of many health care providers to make sure that parents are not just receiving their child’s health information, but are also receiving it in a timely manner.

“Both the president and the secretary are very focused on making sure that parents’ rights are respected and enforced,” Stannard explained. “We are investigating the particular healthcare provider, as well as the state, to find out what the facts are and to make sure that the state and the providers understand what federal law requires with respect to parental rights and religious exemptions for vaccination or the vaccines for children program,” noting the investigation into the Midwestern school. 

HHS’ Office for Civil Rights will be investigating whether the school, which it did not name, failed to comply with the requirements of the Vaccines for Children Program (VFC). It will also scrutinize how the state agency and the school district are processing religious exemption requests to make sure they are in compliance with state law as they interpret the Vaccines for Children Program — a program which Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary and CDC Acting Director Jim O’Neill says should “never circumvent parents’ rights.”

“Secretary Kennedy’s decision to probe potential abuse of the VFC is a necessary step in restoring public trust in immunization policy,” O’Neill said Wednesday.