My name is Shannon Kennedy, and I’m a mother — not a lawyer or a politician — just a mom fighting for my son’s life.

In December 2024, during a crisis I could no longer manage alone, my son TJ — who has severe autism — was admitted to Nexus Children’s Hospital in Dallas, Texas. Making the decision to send him there was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do as a mother. We were told he’d receive a comprehensive, 90-day behavioral treatment program covered by Medicaid, with intensive therapy, skill-building, communication support, and medical oversight. What actually happened was something out of a nightmare.

TJ spent five months confined to a hospital room, heavily sedated with dangerous psychiatric medications — including Clozapine, a black-box antipsychotic that I explicitly revoked consent for multiple times. He was not given the therapies we were promised. He was not taught the life skills he was supposed to learn. He was not helped — he was chemically restrained, medically neglected, and emotionally abandoned in plain sight.

At one point, his white blood cell count dropped to 0.0 — a life-threatening side effect of Clozapine. There was no record of proper medical follow-up. No emergency protocol. No documentation of informed consent. And no explanation.

TJ came home worse than he left. Traumatized. Overmedicated. And robbed of months of precious time that could have been used to actually help him.

📢 This is not just about my child. I’ve since connected with other families who experienced similar — or worse — abuse at Nexus. And I know there are more.

Nexus Children’s Hospital is billing Medicaid for services they are not providing. They are warehousing disabled children, sedating them into silence, and disguising it as “treatment.” This is not healthcare. This is Medicaid fraud. This is systemic abuse. This is a human rights violation.

💥 I am calling for an immediate federal investigation into Nexus Children’s Hospital and any affiliated facilities receiving public funding to detain, medicate, and “treat” children with disabilities.

We need:

A full audit of Medicaid billing records.
Investigations into unlicensed or unqualified staff.
Accountability for the misuse of powerful medications.
Testimony from affected families and whistleblowers.
Oversight from federal agencies — not just local licensing boards that have failed us repeatedly.
🧩 The agencies designed to protect us have failed. So now, I’m getting creative. And I’m not alone.

Sign this petition if you believe our most vulnerable children deserve real care — not sedation, isolation, and silence. Sign if you believe in accountability. Share if you know that our tax dollars should fund healing, not harm.

For TJ. For every child locked away and forgotten.

— Shannon Kennedy
Mother. Advocate. Witness.